Gen-Y professionals seem to generate 2 responses from people. The first is that they’re honest, capable, resourceful, valuable and enthusiastic individuals and a valuable asset to an organisation. The second is that they’re they’re a bunch of selfish, needy, disloyal know-it-alls who are headed for the biggest of reality-checks.

I’ve come across both of these Gen-Y types in my time, both personally and professionally (and I know which I prefer), but I don’t think this is particularly new. There have always been ‘good guys’ and there have always been ‘jerks’.

In a recent article in Business Week, Jack and Suzy Welch argue that there are two reasons why Gen-Y gets a bad rap -

“The first is the age-old human propensity to worry about the wayward values of ‘kids these days’. Your grandparents worried about your parents, who worried about you, and someday your kids will worry about theirs. The second reason is something we call trend inflation. With the explosion of media outlets in every form, all of them needing content, there has emerged a relentless parade of so-called cultural phenomena backed up by little more than the vague phrase, ‘experts say’.”

I think it’s a little more than that. We’re so indundated by media messages that the emergence of online digital media has helped shift things from a ‘push’ environment where information and ads are pushed onto the consumer to a ‘pull’ environment, where the consumer is massively more selective and able to filter what they see and when they see it.

This seems to have fed into the Gen-Y attitude, putting them in a much firmer position of choice about what happens and how. Undoubtedly there’s more choice these days – from what work you do and how you get it done, to what you eat and how you socialise, to where you live and how you pursue success.

And this is where Gen-Y can turn into a bunch of needy know-it-alls. The problem comes where they pursue an idea of success that they’ve absorbed rather than developed for themselves. Taking on an idea of success from the outside means that it will never mean much – it’ll only appear to mean something until that inevitable day when you wake up and find your life meaningless. It’s typically these people who go around with a sense of entitlement, acting like they know it all and (when you get right down to it) chasing something for no other reason than it looks good and keeps them busy.

The other approach, adopted by the kind of Gen-Y people that I love, is to figure out what success really looks like and get clear on what you want to build for yourself and those you care about. This comes from a place of knowing who you are and what you’re about – yep, a place of self-confidence.

Jack and Suzy echo this:

“…the question ‘Does success only have to be about money?’ came up just the other evening at dinner with a Gen Yer we know who earns a modest salary as an assistant golf pro. ‘I wake up every morning thrilled about getting to work and helping people,’ he told us. ‘That’s what makes me feel successful.’”

The Gen-Yers who understand that they’ll be able to live a full life and contribute to whatever rocks their world as long as they’re living life from the inside-out are the ones who will succeed. These are the folks who are making change happen, who’re setting up businesses in line with what they care about and who’re being snapped up by organisations around the world.

Remember who you are and what’s important to you; then you’ve got it made.