Technology and demographics are on a collision course. Digital Natives, Boomerang Boomers, and Generation X-ecutives are all grappling with the transformative implications of Web 2.0 technologies, and organizations are scrambling for the best ways to unlock the talents of a multigenerational workforce in a connected world. Generation Blend ventures deep into the technology age gap and provides real-world solutions to combine the best that younger and older workers have to offer.

Generation Blend explores how generational attitudes toward technology affect issues as diverse as recruitment and retention, employee training, management decision-making, collaboration, knowledge sharing, work/life balance, and ordinary workday activities. How can your organization promote the continuity of knowledge and culture in the face of the coming demographic transition? What hidden factors put new technology deployments at risk? How can IT departments manage the growing demand for social and collaborative software while maintaining governance and security? What initiatives can you launch to bridge the divide in work styles and tech-savvy that separates veterans and newcomers in the workforce?

In Generation Blend, author Rob Salkowitz builds on the groundbreaking work of Don Tapscott (Wikinomics, Growing Up Digital), William Strauss and Neil Howe (Generations, Millennials Rising), and many others to connect the dots of sociology, technology, and management, and trace a roadmap for decision-makers. Generation Blend is rich with research and includes two original in-depth case studies from organizations that have developed unique approaches to bridging the technology age gap: Microsoft's Board of the Future project, which assembles college-age students from around the world to discuss a wide range of workplace issues, and Older Adults Technology Services, a New York based nonprofit dedicated to intergenerational technology training and reciprocal mentoring programs. Organizations of all types and sizes can profit from their methods.

The retirement of the Baby Boomers, the arrival of the Millennials, and the impact of Web 2.0 technology in the enterprise create unprecedented complexity for employers and workers in the 2010s and beyond. Organizations looking to solve the puzzle of productivity across the technology age gap should start with Generation Blend.

Generational attitudes towards technology affect diverse areas of our lives--from business management decision-making to knowledge-sharing to work/life balance. Salkowitz explores how technology and demographics are on a collision course and how organizations are scrambling for ways to unlock the talents of a multigenerational workforce. Bill Weiderman delivers this material with verve and panache. He provides a smooth narration of a subject that could lose the reader in a collection of statistics and anecdotes. His inflection and emphasis accentuate the author's keen observations while inspiring leadership teams to bridge the generational divide to increase productivity. There's no mistaking the relevance of this topic as new generations enter the workplace in full force over the next ten years. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

 

Rob Salkowitz is a writer and a consultant specializing in the social implications of new technology. He has worked with leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, to help formulate market strategy and articulate business goals. Rob is coauthor (with Dan Rasmus) of Listening to the Future: Insights from the New World of Work. He lives and works in Seattle, Washington.