on Aug 14th, 2006Baby Boomers Form Gray Ceiling over Generation X
I can’t say I’ve ever read such a blatant article about how one generation of workers is a stumbling block to the careers of the next generation. It’s rather bizarre to read how Baby Boomers are “in the way” of Generation X workers who are feeling stymied in their efforts to “get ahead” in the corporate world. Is this the way they expect to be treated once they have worked their way into those positions.
Prepare, my friends, the rear flank is under siege! Time to get your Myspace account, learn how to text message and start posting homemade videos to YouTube. Otherwise you just might find yourself slurping down cups of coffee at your local Starbucks wondering how the hell that kid with a laptop stole your job.
But increasingly, younger workers are finding that no matter how many hours they put in or how much their bosses rave about their work, they’re just plain stuck. An entire generation is bumping against something no amount of youthful vigor can match. Call it the Gray Ceiling.
The Gray Ceiling is purely a function of mathematics. Jon Ciampi, for example, was born in 1973, when the birthrate hit a quarter-century low. Just ahead of him and his peers is the anomaly known as the baby boom, the 77 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964.
Are you stuck in middle management hell?
A generation of workers can’t get ahead - because aging boomers above them won’t budge. Here’s how to break through the gray ceiling.
FORTUNE Magazine
By Anne Fisher, Fortune senior writer
August 9 2006