August 14, 2008

Last year, I did more than 20 presentations to hundreds corporate managers on the subject of working with Gen NEXT (a.k.a. Gen Y, Millennials, etc.). The first part of my presentation outlined why I believe they are a generation that deserves our attention and compassion. As you can imagine, when I opened with that statement, the usual group response involved lots of snickering and comments that included ‘lazy’ and ‘entitled.’ However, within one-hour, that always changed. In fact, by the first bathroom break, I was regularly approached by attendees who would say, “I”m guilty of being a helicopter parent. What can I do?” I always hated that I couldn’t recommend a good resource or take the time to discuss what I had seen work well in the parenting department with this generation. I’m no child psychologist, but I do feel my extensive interactions with young professionals have helped me see parenting styles that have paid off for some moms and dads of Gen NEXTers. So, the idea to write something to help parents understand how to take control and ’stop hovering’ loomed in my head, but only recently did I finally find the time to complete an e-book on the subject. Here it is!

“STOP HOVERING: 10 Rules for Effective Elevator Parenting”

is now available as a FREE e-book. Simply sign-up below and you’ll receive an e-mail with a link to the book.

What’s the difference between a helicopter parent and an elevator parent?

Well, the book goes into much greater detail, but the key difference is that instead of smothering their children, elevator parents act like their name - they elevate their children to the right floor, but then let them get out and navigate themselves to their final destination solo. In my observations as a career coach to Gen NEXTers, here’s what I’ve learned: the balance of help and empowerment is a fine line that elevator parents seem to master better than helicopter parents. This book focuses on the 10 ways in which I’ve seen elevator parents excel over helicopter parents.

So, if you think you might be guilty of being a helicopter parent, then this e-book is for you. It’s a quick read that can help you immediately assess and ‘tweak’ your approach to helping your child become more independent. Simply register above right now and you’ll automatically receive a link to this FREE e-book. Enjoy!

It all started with a simple post on my Twitter account in which I invited all my on-line friends to e-mail me and I would give them a compliment. One of the first to take me up on my offer was Etienne who writes The Happy Employee.

It snowballed into a post on my new blog, www.careerealism.com, in which I explain the difference between appreciation and compliments, as well as the best way to give an effective compliment. But it didn’t stop there….

Etienne and I decided to throw down the gauntlet and put out a workplace challenge to employees and managers everywhere: Give a really, truly great compliment to someone at work who annoys you - and then tell us about it. So far, the response is great, but we want more!

To sum it up: Compliments are free to give and receive, and thus, in a tight economy, they have the potential to be 2008’s #1 Job perk. So we ask you this:

Do YOU have what it takes to give a great compliment?

Why not try it (and pass the challenge along to others!) and see if we can’t all change a few workplace relationships for the better!

JT