5 things I learned from a bunch of freshers, I called them : Young Guns
If you are a 90’s kid, into rock and roll, then you probably may be reminded of Bon Jovi’s Blaze Of Glory reference to Young Guns! Trivia apart, let me get right into it…
Making us relevant
As you go thru your years at work and in your personal life, certain preferences grow on you, and for many, the drive to continuously try new things out, dies out. This ain’t just about technology but things such as music, fashion, food, places. Fatigue and stress from work takes over and lethargy kicks in. Oh yeah, the boomer syndrome! And they may be blissfully unaware of it and become “grand-parents-like” to the newer generations
These new kids on the block, help you keep all of the aforementioned aspects at check. With each of the interactions in and out of the work-life, they can pull you right out and keep you relevant with times just beyond the tech-stack or domain or business advancements.
Adding speed to our work
Remember that time when you are cruising at your own pace in a car or on the marathon, and when somebody goes past you. 9 out of 10 times, the immediate reaction is to step-up your pace. Whether or not you will be able to beat them is a different question, but in the end goal is your average speed shooting up.
That is what these young guns do. They rub off their speeds to the ones around them, and indirectly challenge you. And before you know, the average velocity of the team (like the scrum masters would love to call it), is on steroids.
Taking us back in time and then drawing us to the current and future
When you have the young lads around you, fresh off the college, there are always going to be conversations in that vicinity. Be it some music gigs, or bike rides, or movie outings (bunking work now!), hang-outs with homies and so on. You cannot help, but go back in time to your own days when you were fresh off the college and the things you did, whilst at your first job with the lads around you from the same time!
This provides an environment boost — and they happen in snippets over meetings, lunch conversations, hallway and pantry conversations, packing up talks and what not.
And before you know, you are “exchanging” thoughts and soon after, your life does have more interesting things going on! Perhaps you are now more aware of the latest lineage in bikes, the latest chartbusters, soccer team line ups, some cool hang out places and the list goes on
While the deal is the same, there is a freshness now. That boost in environment fosters rapport and deeper levels of trust, bonding and understanding amongst the different generations
Fearless feedback
It doesn’t matter how many years you have behind you in the corporate jungle, providing feedback is such a tricky proposition. Especially when it has to do with someone’s shortcomings or course corrections. Many of us do it, and most of us don’t fearing rifts and repercussions. In the end, the product suffers the most and most of us are unhappy.
When it comes to the young guns, they offer as-is feedback. They are fearless, for them welcome the same treatment from you. They bring the power to change people, processes and products for good, but being upfront about things. And when you let this happen, good opportunities for the product are no more leaving by the midnight train.
Teaching us new skills
The new generations have come thru a different upbringing. Exposed to environments that are different to the ones that preceded them. Be it tech, life-skills, hobbies, fashion, food, adventures and what not. When you blend in with some or many of those (not all, you’d be an outright outlier :D ), you are perpetually upgrading yourselves!
They operate with far less inhibitions than the generations prior to them. They teach you its OK to try something new, fail and bounce back again. Open horizons into new businesses you can experiment with. Make your life at work a whole lot interesting, fruitful and cool. Catalyse fronts more than one in our lives. The new gen, are powerful. As the senior and more experienced, it’s not just about guiding, mentoring and evaluating them. It’’s more about seeking, learning and working as one with them. The lines of age will blur, more smartness will occur, far more from life will we infer — only when we give them the right space and join hands! The path to the future, is ridden with SMILES.
P.S: I am one of those lucky ones, to have worked with the best young lads i’ve met so far who made it all very interesting. Sumukha, Pooja, Shubha, Rakesh, Aravind, Shyam — they represent the young-guns of the world. Every interaction has been a sack of memories I added on. This article is for you. Thanks for hanging out with me, making me a part of your lives, we will always be a team! the times and gigs I can never forget ❤
