Book Review: Generations at Work

by Ron Zemke, Claire Raines, Bob Filipczak

Even though this book is nearly 7 years old, the information within is still valuable. Where "When Generations Collide" was conversational in its approach, this book is a much more studious read. The descriptions of the four generations are very detailed and offer suggestions on how to manage them, communicate with them and (most important) motivate them.

In addition, the case studies and assessment tool and FAQs at the back of the book make for great resources. The overall writing style is easy to read and informative. I particularly appreciated that the divisions within generations were further defined: older Boomers vs. younger Boomers and older Xers vs. younger Xers, for example.

As we've been reading and discussing this topic in our workplace, it's been fun and challenging to look at our own preferences while trying to understand our customers experience from different generational perspectives. Some really good advice from this and "When Generations Collide" made it into our recent job postings written for Millenial and Xer candidates. I'm sure after reading these two books, you'll see all kinds of applications for this information.