In this episode of College Admissions Decoded, host Eddie Pickett and NACAC members Kimberly Rutland West and Brooklyn Duong unpack how Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers approach work, communication, and collaboration. We dive into the historical events and cultural shifts that have shaped each generation, explore strategies for fostering understanding and communicating effectively, and look ahead to Generation Alpha's arrival to the workforce.
Bridging Generations: Navigating Workplace Dynamics in Higher Education
In this episode of College Admissions Decoded, host Eddie Pickett and NACAC members Kimberly Rutland West and Brooklyn Duong unpack how Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers approach work, communication, and collaboration. We dive into the historical events and cultural shifts that have shaped each generation, explore strategies for fostering understanding and communicating effectively, and look ahead to Generation Alpha's arrival to the workforce.
Guests: Kimberly Rutland West, Director of National Recruitment at the University of Oklahoma, and Brooklyn Duong, Regional Representative at the University of Oklahoma.
Moderated by Eddie Pickett, Senior Associate Dean of Admissions and Director of Recruitment at Pomona College.
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Eddie Pickett: Hello and welcome to the College Admissions Decoded podcast, an occasional series from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, or NACAC. NACAC is an association of more than 28,000 professionals at high schools, colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations, as well as independent counselors who support and advise students and families through the college admission process.
I'm your host, Eddie Pickett, and my pronouns are he, him, his. I'm a longtime NACAC member and former member of the NACAC board of directors. In my day job, I'm a senior associate dean of admissions and director of recruitment at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Thanks for joining us.
In today's rapidly evolving higher education landscape, generational perspectives shape how we view collaboration, communication, decision making, and much more. For today's episode, we will explore the challenges and opportunities of working in multi-generational teams, from baby boomers to Gen Z. Join us as we discuss strategies for fostering understanding, leveraging strengths, and navigating workplace expectations to build stronger, more cohesive work environments for all generations.
For this episode, we're happy to welcome Kimberly Rutland West, director of recruitment at the University of Oklahoma, and past president at the Texas Association for College Admission Counseling, also known as TACAC. Welcome, Kimberly.
Kimberly Rutland West: Hi, Eddie. Thanks for having me. We're so excited.
Next, I'd like to welcome Brooklyn Duong, regional representative for the University of Oklahoma.
Eddie Pickett: Welcome, Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Duong: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.
Eddie Pickett: Yeah, thank you both for joining us today. I'm excited for this conversation. I've grew up in a multi-generational house. I work in a multi-generational house. I'm willing to, you know, Gather some more insights. I also had to do this in grad school too.
So our, our final presentation for business class was actually on the different generations in the workplace. So it's time to add some more tools to my belt as well. So the first question we'll ask is just about today's workforce, what generations are present and how did they show up in the workplace?
Kimberly Rutland West: Oh, that's a great question, Eddie.
There are four generations present in today's workplace. And so the first being the baby boomers. And these folks came around post World War II after all the gentlemen and ladies came home from fighting in the war. And there was a baby boom. They loved making babies in the mid to late forties and early fifties.
And then Gen X, their generation started about 1965. These folks from 1965 to 1980 were either the children of older baby boomers, or they were children of folks who were traditionalists who came before baby boomers. And then of course we have millennials, and I will go ahead and raise my hand as a millennial, an older millennial, and we are somewhere between 1980 and 1980.
And the mid to end of the 90s, think 96, 95. And then of course we have Gen Z, right? Gen Z are probably my favorite generation these days. They are from 1997 up to 2010-ish. So they are leaving college, entering the workforce as we speak. So we're excited to hire them.
Eddie Pickett: And so what are some of the key historical events or cultural moments that shape the values and work ethic of each generation? And how do these shared experiences influence the approach to work and communication?
Kimberly Rutland West: I think it's really important that we think about that the term generation is a relatively new term. It's less than a hundred years old. And so a sociologist, Carl Manheim, is a person who kind of invented this term where we categorize people by the times in which they were born and how it really solidified how they grew up based on what's happening in the world. And so major things that happened post World War II, right? We're thinking the assassination of a lot of Americans with a plate out on television, think JFK in the streets of Dallas, think MLK, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, all of these folks, Bobby Kennedy as well.
All of these folks were killed in very dramatic, traumatic events that oftentimes we saw we had video of, and this is the first time that we were able to see that so baby boomers seen that in very, very pivotal time in their lives were truly affected by that. So that's a huge historical thing. I'm dating myself by this, but we all remember when they used to roll TVs into the classroom, and you would watch The space shuttle missions go off.
It was a big deal. And so, Brooklyn is saying, no, it's not a big deal. And she doesn't remember. And that's totally fine. Right. Before my time.
Eddie Pickett: Brooklyn is over here like, nah, what is she talking about?
Kimberly Rutland West: What do you mean? They roll TVs in?
Eddie Pickett: Yes, Kimberly, I remember too, as an early millennial.
Kimberly Rutland West: Thank you so much. Brooklyn was coming for me.
But, in 1986, they rolled the TVs out and watched the Challenger go up and then it exploded. So people literally watching real time Americans die. These are things that truly changed how we operated both inside and outside the classroom. I think September 11th is a huge one, obviously. Even before that, the proliferation of mass shootings in high schools and K-12 education was huge.
So Columbine in 1999 was the first one that took a big national notice. And I will tell everyone that I was a freshman in college when that happened. Then, of course, September 11th, I think Barack Obama's election as a person of color, as the first person of color to be elected, was huge. And then we can't forget COVID, right?
These are things that, and we're talking about mostly just the United States, right? We didn't even talk about things that happened, the fall of the Berlin Wall and things of that nature that happened outside of our country that affected how folks were raised, essentially.
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, I think as someone on the younger end of the spectrum, I think when we're talking about all these new things, these firsts, we grew up in a world as Gen Z of these things like already being so ingrained in society.
So, we grew up in a world where mass shootings are pretty common, and there was never like that first initial shock of something that happening. And we also have grown up in a world, and I mean, you could say this for generations, but a world of racial upheaval for our entire lives. And so seeing Obama being elected was a huge one.
George Floyd, seeing that play out. Things of that nature. Those are things that we just experience in our day-to-day life. And I think that has what really made Gen Z focus on diversity in the workplace and just in life in general. And then also, of course, COVID 19 really kind of shaped really just everything, especially for those going into the workplace. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. I graduated college in 2021, my husband in 2020, and we were worried that we were not going to have jobs at all entering the workforce.
And the whole idea of was college even worth it in a sense, whenever you're going out with these college degrees with nothing to fall on to. So I think that has really made us a little more picky when it comes to the workplace in a sense of we know what we want. And now that we are out in the world, we're not going to settle for anything less. If that makes sense.
Eddie Pickett: It's interesting that you say that on the coming out of COVID and like, would you have a job? I graduated in 2008. So my concern was similar, but not the same. It's like, the economy is on a downturn. Are there jobs even available? And so we had the similar concerns. It was for a different reason.
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, that is interesting. I think we also grew up seeing our parents deal with the crash in 2008. So we're seeing this financial struggle. And so that's why I think for Gen Z, a major driving factor in the workforce is financial compensation. We've seen what it looks like to see our parents struggle and we don't want to have to deal with the same struggle, especially going in with the economy, how it has been in the last couple of years, post COVID 19, just seeing what that looks like when we're entering the workforce, it's super important to us to make sure that we're going to be able to be financially stable.
Kimberly Rutland West: Yeah, I think that's something that previous generations wanted. You got a job because that's what you're supposed to do. You go to college. That's what you're supposed to do. But I think younger folks are really invested in the return on investment. What am I going to get for this? What am I getting for my time?
And that's one of the differences of how they approach work. Gen Xers, baby boomers had to get a job. That's what you did. Our younger millennials and our Gen Zers are like, “Do I have to adhere to this eight to five to this? How can I make the ends meet?” Right? Essentially, that's the bottom line. It's how am I going to pay my bills?
How am I going to do the things? How am I going to travel? What are the things I want to do? And how do I. It's a means to an end. There's often not, this is the purpose of my life. And what we see with especially our baby boomers is work ethic equals worth ethic. Right? So they put a lot of who they are in their jobs.
Whereas I may just drive for Uber or Lyft to pay my bills and I do something else that satisfies my purpose. Right? It's what we see a lot of Gen Zers do.
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, it's that idea of living to work versus working to live. And that is something that Gen Z is so, so passionate about. Really. Working to live, rather than vice versa.
Eddie Pickett: I was going to say something very similar there, Brooklyn, so you were reading my brain there. I've been thinking about these, like, what are some of the assumptions that we make about generational differences in the workplace?
Kimberly Rutland West: I think that we make assumptions that someone's generation is the sole thing that defines them. And that's absolutely not true, obviously. So, I am a person born in 1980. And so I would, generally speaking, lean Gen X. But my siblings, I only have younger siblings. And so they are very heavy millennials. So I think that we don't realize how, much birth order, socioeconomic status, rural versus urban, all of that plays into that.
So we make some assumptions about Gen Zers, millennials, or boomers that may or may not be true based on the situation in which they live.
Eddie Pickett: Thinking about those assumptions and what we're thinking and how we're getting there. What are some of the challenges that arise from those assumptions in multi-generational workplaces? And how can they be addressed?
Kimberly Rutland West: I always think that as you become older, you get this,” Oh, those young whippersnappers.” Like these new people are turning things upside down on their heads and things of that nature. There are some assumptions, obviously, that I would think both sides of the coin make upon each other.
So I think Gen Zers and millennials think that boomers and Gen Xers are unmoving, that they're okay with the status quo, that they just, you know, work to live and not live to work. Some of those assumptions I think are made for folks. I always think that we can address challenges by over communicating, making things very clear and learning how to communicate to where the person with whom you're communicating understands and gets it.
And so that means a boomer needs to text and use shorthand for millennial, then let's do that and vice versa. So we have to be able to tell folks, “Hey, TLDR in your email. This is what the main point of it is. Here's some details if you need them.”
I think it's hard for people to get out of what their norm has been to adjust to other folks in the workplace.
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, I think some of the assumptions, at least where Gen Z is, is just this idea we've talked about of really wanting to live outside of their work. Their work is not their entire life. And I think that really comes with this idea that Gen Z is very apathetic and maybe lazy. And so there is kind of that, idea and that drive of Gen Z entering the workforce of trying to overcome that stereotype.
And I think it really does help, like Kimberly was saying, communicating, over communicating, and learning how to communicate with that generation. Something that works for a millennial or someone in Gen X is not going to work for Gen Z. And I think learning how to take things that have been working and learn.
Use innovation to kind of alter those or improve those is something that is important for us moving forward, especially as we go forward in the workforce in time and eventually welcoming that next generation, Gen Alpha. Which I think is going to be really interesting. They're different. And I think that is very interesting to think about what that will look like, especially whenever it comes to technology and things like that.
The world is changing and so we have to change with it.
Eddie Pickett: I had those moments when you said they're different, like that Kendrick moment, like they're not like us, but how many different generations are saying that? It's not just from Gen Z to Gen Alpha, it's every different generation.
And so you talked a little bit about the workplace priorities for Gen Z. So Kimberly, I'm going to throw this next one to you. How does each generation typically review workplace priorities like flexibility, hierarchy, and innovation, particularly outside of Gen Z since Brooklyn just talked about Gen Z.
Kimberly Rutland West: Yeah. So our boomers, our baby boomers. Seniority comes with time served. So in terms of hierarchy, I think they are a little more reluctant to have folks who are younger than them, who may not know all the things and been around as long as they have, supervising them and being in leadership because time served equals tenure, right?
Not about what you know, not about all the experiences you bring in, but how long have you been here? So I think that provides a little angst or consternation between the two generations, original generations that way. For our Gen Xers, I think they are the first ones who kind of introduced this work life balance type of conversation.
And so they are a little bit better about flexibility, right? Because they did watch their parents work a job for 30 or 40 years and probably weren't fairly compensated in their minds. And that meant that they had to Unlock the door, fix their own dinner, be latchkey kids. And so they're like, I don't want to do that.
So they are looking for a little more flexibility and then enter millennials, right? Who are like, Hey, if I finish my work at noon, I should be able to go home. What am I doing here? Or why do I need to be in the office? And they were knocking down this door pre COVID. Like if my work can be anywhere, then why must I be here?
And so you can see each generation is getting more and more, much more closer to this hopeful work life balance that we all talk about. That's one thing that I really admire about our Gen Zers, because they are very big on talking about mental health. Protecting their mental health, many of them have had a diagnosis or seen therapists for much of their lives, and it's just part of their vernacular, it's part of who they are, and they expect a workforce, a workplace, to accept them for all of themselves.
And I think that's beautiful, and I think that's something that all the other generations can learn from them, is to be able to say, who I am as a person is, and being a full person is important. paramount in my life. And so that means that I need to take off every single Friday. I need to take mental health days or whatever that case may be.
They're going to do those things. I think that's perfect. I mean, we can learn from that as other generations.
Eddie Pickett: I also think, is there something we can learn from non American countries? So, Latin America, the siesta's in the middle of the afternoon. In Europe, like, everybody's gone in August in certain countries.
And so, is there something we can learn from that versus the U. S. model where it's work, work, work, work, work. You know, there's a Rihanna song stuck in my head with that one. But that's what it feels like being in the U. S. at times. Like, you just work, and work, and it's like, okay, how do you get to enjoy this, the fruits of your labor?
So, just a, a pondering of mine, personally. I'm definitely all for siestas and months off. Bring it. Let's do it. I have a pillow in my office. I won't lie. Sometimes I just lay down on the floor.
Kimberly Rutland West: I love that for you.
You just need to clear your brain sometimes. And that's an easy way of doing it. Now, five minutes, not even a closing of your eyes, but just like relaxing.
And now I can get back to my work. But anywho, as we continue to move on, just thinking about some of those different challenges we're seeing, there's also some positives with that. And so particularly in the collaboration space, are there notable differences on how generations collaborate in teams or approach conflict resolution, both positive and negative?
Kimberly Rutland West: Yeah, I think so. I think one thing we can learn from boomers is to tackle things head on. They were not taught to sugar coat things. And so they may be, I think some people have called them abrasive in the way in which they communicate with others because they don't believe in having a lot of fluff, right?
And I would say Gen Xers kind of fall towards that as well. And so we can learn that clear is kind from them and being very clear about our needs, our expectations, what the conflict is, when it arose, those kind of things. Absolutely, we can take that from them. I think from millennials and our Gen Zers, and maybe Brooklyn can speak to this too, but they are really good, especially millennials, at adding humor to tough situations, right?
If you think about a millennial and the time in which they were in their formative years, what was on television constantly? Sitcoms. I mean, they laughed their way through some really difficult things that happened. So they've used humor to kind of make it through hard situations, and I think they bring that to the workplace to. That's something we can take from them as well.
Eddie Pickett: And Brooklyn, what do you think about our Gen Zers and conflict?
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, I think whenever we talk about like that multi-generational workplace, I think it's super important the idea of like balancing one another out. I think there's this beauty of bringing different experiences and priorities to the table so that not only are we able to voice our own opinions, but we're able to listen and learn from others.
I think that's something that is really fun about a multi-generational workplace because my experiences are not the same as your experiences or someone in a different generation. And I think that's something that really helps us be able to problem solve in a different way. So we have all of these different perspectives coming together.
I think for Gen Z specifically, this idea of like shaking things up is super important. We know we've seen these things of it's always been this way, and we're there to ask why, and why does it have to continue to be this way? And I think that's something that Is interesting whenever it comes to traditional workplaces.
I think that is definitely something that we can move forward and kind of see. Yes, it is the way it is because it's worked for so long, but how can we change it and make it better? Innovation is something we should always be striving for.
Kimberly Rutland West: To that point, I think that our older generations have to get comfortable with the question why. And that is really difficult because the answer is often because we've always done it this way, or this is the way it's done. And they take the question of why as a slap in the face, as to like, why would you even consider asking me these questions? But I think that it's important that sometimes we've got to shake things up to get the best thing out of whatever we're trying to produce, right?
To get more application numbers, to increase yield, to whatever that case may be. Having someone ask us why is not a slap in the face. It's just gaining information and knowledge.
Eddie Pickett: Absolutely agreed. I think we as managers particularly need to be comfortable with why. So I'm going to throw two different questions.
So Kimberly, as a potential manager or supervisor of some programming, what's a situation where somebody came to you with a why and you had to somewhat humble yourself? And in Brooklyn, where's a time that you asked why and got a really good answer to move you forward with your work?
Kimberly Rutland West: As Brooklyn's supervisor, I hope that she says, I'm a person that gave her a really good why or helped her move forward.
I think it happened when we, it's an event that we host here in the North Texas area for OU, where we invite students and parents who've been admitted to the university and are still trying to decide if OU is the place for them. Somebody, a former person, asked, “Well, why don't we try this? And let the students meet each other.”
And I was like, no. Students just really want to come here and learn information about what the next steps are to get to OU. And the person kept pushing and really felt like there should be a place where students can meet and chat and I was thinking to myself in my mind, I'm thinking, “Well, the venue that we use is not conducive for this.”
I don't know if they can really, if this can really work. She pushed. I relented. And it worked out really well, and we're looking at bringing that same type of situation back. So, I think that we have to get outside of ourselves. What I have to say is, she's not attacking my idea, or me. She just sees a need that needs to be met, and that's what we have to do. We have to remove self out of that, and think about what is best for this situation.
Brooklyn Duong: I actually ask why quite often, and I think Kimberly can attest to that truly. I remember entering into college recruitment, kind of learning this whole new idea of how we recruit students as a professional and on this side.
And I think I started to see. Maybe some ways that we've been doing things for a long time and I asked, “Why do we recruit this way when students are changing? And why is it the way it's always been when students are so different than they used to be?” And I think I did ask Kimberly this and she was actually so great to say, “Well, it is how it's always been, but if you can come up with a better solution, I would love to hear it.”
And that also put the ball in my court. One, validating that the question was something that could be explored, but also allowing me to really analyze what could be different, what should not be different, and also how we can successfully achieve that. And it really has been so great to be able to see a shift start to happen whenever it comes to communications with students as that obviously will continue to change as the students change. And I think it's something that was really fun to explore.
Kimberly was super supportive of me exploring that. And even if I couldn't have found an answer or come up with the perfect solution, it allowed me as a student, someone who is often very curious about why we do things the way that we do, to explore it for myself and be able to realize that rather than just being shut down.
And I think that was really helpful to me. And it also opens a door for innovation if there is an opportunity for it.
Eddie Pickett: I like that. And as you know, you've talked about coming into the profession, you're newer to the profession. Welcome, by the way. It's a great profession. You should stay. It's lovely. You get to meet a lot of great people and do a lot of great things.
And most importantly, you get to impact students. I always talk, we all have to be teachers in different ways. Like even if you work in education of any sort, you all have to be a teacher, and that is including admissions officers. So, welcome to the profession.
Brooklyn Duong: Thank you.
Eddie Pickett: I think the next question is going to be for both of you.
We'll start with Brooklyn first. Just thinking about a piece of advice that you got from a person from a different generation. And so what piece of advice is kind of held with you as you started your career. And Kimberly, for you, similar question. When you started your career, what was a piece of advice that you got that has held with you?
Brooklyn Duong: Ironically, it also is from Kimberly, and I swear I'm not working for a promotion. Like I am not being paid to say these things, but I remember I had a really hard time transitioning from being a student to recruiting students. And just this idea of being seen as someone who was younger and experienced, especially when I'm working with a lot of parents who are significantly older than me.
So this idea of having that imposter syndrome of entering the workforce was very hard for me. So I actually got the advice just to remember that you are the expert. And I feel like that is something that we can all take with us in any season of life. We're always going to be new at something and learning to have confidence in your expertise.
And as a young professional, as a professional who's been doing it for many years, I think is something that has really helped me when interacting with people who are older than me. Ultimately, as someone who is very young, who graduated just a few years ago, I often don't work with people who are the same age or younger than me.
So learning to work with people who have been in the business for a long time and respect their experience, but also understand that I also have experience an expertise in the area because I was trained to have that and I am working hard to continue to gain more experience, more information. I think that was something that was really helpful in learning how to interact with people who are older than me.
I feel like that works for any workplace, but especially in college recruitment. When I am primarily working with in my region with a lot of parents and that has been super helpful to learn how to communicate with them properly.
Kimberly Rutland West: Thanks, Brooklyn. I oftentimes don't remember the things I tell people, so I'm glad I try to give some sound advice every once in a while.
For me, it was an older person, I think that she would probably consider herself an older Gen Xer, who said to me when I first moved to Texas for OU is that you're always interviewing. And she said, no matter where you are, whether it's a school visit, it is a college fair, whether it is a social event at a conference, you're always interviewing. Meaning that someone's always watching you and you never know where your next job will be, or your next opportunity for leadership will come from based on who sees you. And what now, thankfully, I've had a great career at OU
I’ve been here for over 20 years, and so I haven't necessarily changed jobs, but the like tech leadership or things that I've been a part of lets me know that people are always watching right. People are looking at you and watching how you carry yourself, how you speak with students, how you care and the ideas that you say, and even just having a sandwich before a college fair is an interview.
And so that's been really helpful. I think for me in my professional career, just knowing that it's not just about the work you do for your institution. But this thing is bigger and, and the admissions world is very small, so you don't really know who knows whom.
Eddie Pickett: Oh, it is a very small world. There's no six degrees of separation. It's usually one, maybe two max. That's about it. So, you have these close connections and learning and working with each other. How can older and younger generations learn from each other to create a stronger, more cohesive work environment?
Kimberly Rutland West: I think we've talked about this a little bit, is to not be put off by the new things that the younger generation are bringing to the workplace.
Their sense of self and the protection of themselves. We cannot be put off by those things. We also can't be put off by what the older generations know and hold near and dear because that worked for a long time and it's continuing in some ways, working for them. And so I think that's. Anytime you have differences, whether they're cultural, generational, whatever, is that you have to remember that there's something to be taken from that.
My great grandfather used to say, old folks don't get old by being fools. So that means that they learned something. They're still here to teach you something. He used to always say, all the fools are dead. So you would know to bring something from them or take something with them from what they've told you.
So I think that's one way. And that we can learn to create a stronger, more working environment, that everyone has something to learn and to teach.
Eddie Pickett: Yeah. My grandpa says, “Keep on living, son.” And he's 88 from Mississippi with that thick accent. So keep on living, son. You're like, I understood about half of what you just said.
But as you talk to him more, it's like, yeah, it's like, there's so much to learn and to grow from. And so keep on living. So I'll pass it back to Brooklyn though.
Brooklyn Duong: Yeah, I was just gonna say I feel like that idea of a strong work ethic is something that we can all learn from and we've talked about this. For a lot of older generations that was really a driving force.
I was always told when given interview advice, when you're going into an interview, you might not know everything about that role. You might not know everything about the industry that you're entering, but what you need to convey is that no one will work as hard as you will in that job. And I feel like that's something that we can all take with us from those older generations. This idea of hard work really does pay off and we can see that in them and respect those older generations for that and learn how to take that into our own day to day work.
Eddie Pickett: The idea of respect is a big one as well and so respect is both given and received. It's a two-way street and not everybody understands it's a two-way street but you know something as we talked about a little earlier just in the communication side same thing showing and given respect in there too.
Now that we're getting to the end, we have our crystal ball question since we can all see into the future. That'd be lovely. Maybe not. I don't know. But that's a different story. So since we have this crystal ball, what can we expect from Generation Alpha as they eventually enter the workplace?
Kimberly Rutland West: They not like us, like you said before. They are built different. They built not differently. I'm purposely using incorrect wording. They're built different. And I read this book called The Anxious Generation. It's a really great book by John Heidt. He talks about the great rewiring of childhood. Two things he says.
One, the proliferation of phone-based play instead of like, play, just regular play. And social media and how that has really affected this generation. So when they come to our workplaces, they're about to start entering high school, right? When they come to our colleges and institutions and workplaces in a few years, just know that their concentration is different.
Their attention span is different. These are folks who were raised by millennials often times and they had the TV going the phone and the iPad probably at the age of four or five, right? They are doing all of these things. They also, because they're raised by Millennials, have schedules. They're very scheduled as well. So the few times that they have that free time, it's spent on devices. They've never been without the device and they've always been on social media from utero to now. I remember getting pregnant and posting a picture of my kid when they were 12 weeks old in utero.
I'm going to be very interested to see how they enter high school. They also have been protected, very protected by their parents, mostly because us as millennials, we're taught that the world is dangerous, right? It's 9 pm. Do you know where your children are? The world is dangerous and you should not be let outside without supervision.
To be honest, the world is just as dangerous as it was in 1985 as it is this point and will be in 2025. It's not any more dangerous. It's the fact that we know about it that makes us seem like we need to protect our kids when they don't get to play outside. They don't learn the same social skills that we were taught in terms of things that aren't fair and you handling a disagreement amongst yourselves as eight-year-olds.
They weren't allowed to walk to the store, purchase something, and come back. That was not something that was happening. So they're going to need to be taught a lot of things that many of the older generations think are just a part of life. And we have to be prepared for that. It's going to be a time.
Brooklyn Duong: I think specifically the idea of these, of this generation having technology their entire life, social media their entire life, I think is going to be really formative.
And going to really form how we communicate when Gen Alpha, when they enter the workforce. There's also this idea, I think that we've even started to see in college admissions now, this idea of the millennial parent and that idea of groupthink. These students have grown up in an environment where their parents are present and where every decision is a family decision, especially whenever you add in the idea of these parents were with their children were at home with their parents during the COVID 19 pandemic.
And so there was never really any separation or that whole idea of independent thinking. I think we're seeing that now with parents being so involved in their child's college search and admissions process. And I think we're only going to continue to see that as this next generation enters into higher education.
And I think that'll be something that we have to learn to alter our communication for, especially whenever it comes to this idea of from Millennials to Gen Alpha, all wanting that information instantaneously. So how can we fast track our communication so that they can get succinct information whenever they need that, which is immediately.
So I think that will be really interesting to see how we have to alter communication, alter how we work together to accommodate those characteristics.
Kimberly Rutland West: It will be really interesting, to Brooklyn's point, because higher education tends to move slowly in terms of change. It doesn't turn over real quickly.
And so it started with Gen Z on asking more and more about the return on investment, and that's going to be very, very key for Gen Alpha. If I'm going to spend a quarter of a million dollars over four years, show me the money when I leave. And I think that's going to be because the parent is thinking that, and like Brooklyn said, there isn't going to be much gap between what the parent thinks and what the student thinks because of how close knit the family has become post COVID.
Someone who was Gen Z, not Gen Alpha, but they said that they always know where their mom is, and their mom always knows where they are, always know. And I was thinking to myself, why would you always want to know where your parent is, but that kind of connection, coupled with gentle parenting and coupled with the rising cost of higher education and not being able to say, “here's what it's going to get you.”
I think higher education, before they get to the workplace, higher education has to say, “here's why we're relevant and will continue to be relevant for generations to come.” Because you're going to have folks who say, “I don't want to take this Western civilization class because it's never going to help me be an engineer.”, louder than we've heard it in the past. So we have nimble as higher education professionals. And I think that means workplaces have to be nimble as well.
Eddie Pickett: Okay, I lied. I got one more question. I'm gonna let Brooklyn finish this as the youngest person on the call, and you can enlighten us a little bit as well.
There's this fear of the unknown, and so people are fearful of Gen Z coming in now that you're in the workplace. As you're thinking about Gen Alpha coming, what's your thoughts on that? Excitement, fear, worries, happiness? I'll let you finish this out.
Brooklyn Duong: I think, I mean, there's a combination of all of it.
There is this excitement in the sense of technology can be so useful and so helpful. And so having a generation that even more so than Gen Z did, growing up in that technology world, I think it's going to be really interesting, especially as we have so many technological advances as AI continues to advance.
I think having a generation that is more familiar and grows up being familiar with those kinds of technologies will be so helpful and exciting for the workplace and just for society in general. I think we're going to see a lot of moving and shaking with Generation Alpha.
Now on the flip side. I would say as an older Gen Z, I think I'm starting to see this phenomenon of children, of students, not being able to communicate properly face to face. They haven't had to have that face to face interaction. And I think it's really interesting to think about you could have all of us together in a room, but we're all living a different reality because we all have our own personal device in front of us.
So we're all having different conversations via text. We're all surfing the web. We're all, you know, scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, reading different stories, learning about different perspectives, but we're all collectively in the same room. And I feel like that's something that we haven't seen in older generations.
If you're in the same room, you're having the same experience. You're chatting, you're, you know, conversing, exchanging ideas, asking questions. Whereas we're kind of seeing a different trend with Generation Alpha. So I think there is this idea of fear of how will we communicate as a society as we continue to be more and more dependent on technology.
So there's just that duality of the double-edged sword, if you will, of technology being so innovative and great and can also be destructive in a way when it comes to communication between human beings. And so, I think it's going to be really exciting to see what new challenges we have to overcome, whether it be communication or something of that nature, but also just really excited for the innovation. Like I said before, the moving and shaking that I see Generation Alpha bringing to society and to the workplace.
Eddie Pickett: Thank you for closing us out so strong there, Brooklyn. I'm afraid that's all the time we have today. Many thanks to Brooklyn and Kimberly for being my guests today and adding to my tool belt. And thanks to you, our friends in the audience, for joining us for another great episode. College Admissions Decoded is a podcast from NACAC, the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
It is produced by Resonate Recordings. If you'd like to learn more about NACAC's mission and the college admissions process, visit our website at www.nacacnet.org. That's N A C A C N E T dot O R G. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and rate us on your favorite podcast app. And don't forget to subscribe.
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CITATION: National Association for College Admission Counseling. “Bridging Generations: Navigating Workplace Dynamics in Higher Education” NACAC College Admissions Decoded, National Association for College Admissions Counseling, December 13, 2024.