Just heard about this blog post where Cindy Butts argues that a group shouldn't use the tag "young" if it includes people who are "not" young. Hmmm.... wonder what that might be directed at...?
She says,
"When you're a young professional, there's absolutely no problem finding colleagues one, two, three, or four decades older than you are. A real challenge is finding your own peer age group, with a shared experience. I love the experiences of working with many generations that association management provides - both from standpoint of members and employees - they're all crucial to our effectiveness. But when any professional group is given a descriptive label for networking or gathering purposes, should it describe?"
I have actually found, as a young professional (with the title to prove it), the TOTAL OPPOSITE of what she describes, in my personal experience. It's EASY, for my generation and the ones following, to find lots of people our own ages to hang out with online or off. And then we work with people in other age groups, and we try to find our feet in what might be the right career path, and we find that we're not (necessarily) taken seriously and not (always) allowed to be strategic thinkers and innovators.
A group of us - all young, but not all in our twenties - created YAP for a whole bunch of reasons, some social, others just to annoy the establishment just a wee bit, some more serious, but the WHOLE POINT is that we are moving towards an open social world where rigid rules are totally unnecessary. Who cares if some of us are older than 30? Not one of the under-30's have complained about that - and they wouldn't anyway, they would just go start their "babyYAP" subgroup (feel free, by the way!). Why limit ourselves all the time? It's so unnecessary, unproductive and the opposite of innovative.
Here's the comment I posted:
Since this is clearly directed at YAP, I am happy to respond to your question. The group was created as a forum and network to support young association professionals and to nurture and encourage their already proven abilities to be strategic. Did I and my fellow (young) admins request that they actually be young? Yes - young in age or young in imagination. The group has a spirit of openness, experimentation and innovation which means no limits - no age limits, no silos, no rules. The rules are specifically that there are no rules (beyond the common sense ones like no spitting and no pulling hair). So, yes, I agree that some people may think "young" is a specific age range. But what might that be? Is 30 too old? Is 40 too old? In this industry, a "young association professional" is really anyone either starting out and learning that there might actually be a cool career to be had here, all the way up to upper-level Gen-X execs who want to figure out how to navigate those top rungs while perhaps being younger at this stage in their careers than their predecessors were when they got to that same point. There is no doubt that there is a serious crisis brewing where there is a tiny and shrinking pool of talented Gen-X-ers willing to take over when the HUGE crowd of boomers start to retire. But Gen-Xers need to engage, encourage and trust their Millennial colleagues in order to create an industry that will innovate and thrive. And we like to have fun, and connect, and IM, and Tweet, and post videos and photos on Facebook, and party, and buy T-shirts with logos, and think up cool titles for ourselves, and dance, and drink, and get to know each other online before we meet IRL. The day I am too old for any of that is the day I crawl under a rock and die... or start an "old farts on Facebook" group.
What do you think? Are we (YAP admins) being dishonest because some of us haven't seen 21 for a while now and are really really psyched when we still get carded? Is "thinking young" a cliche? I'll tell you straight - not to me.
5.07.2008
Old is the new young - or not!
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Really interesting post Maddie. You really do tend to find yourself in the midst of a lot of controversy but knowing you, you wouldn't want it any other way. With regard to affixing any descriptive adjective to a title you are bound to alienate somebody especially when it comes down to age, race, gender...e.g. the typical dividing lines for most Americans.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I would contend that YAP is being used both literally and figuratively and so long as nobody minds (and you would know if they did) there really doesn't appear to be any harm in it.
My biggest gripe about this whole scenario is finding out that there are literally folks out there that take themselves that seriously. Give me a break, it's an informal group used to connect people for social and professional reasons not the name of a new manifesto describing the normalization of relations between Republican and Democratic parties in Congress.
However the fact that the comment was made and presumably directed at you / YAP is precisely the reason why the group exists in the first place...to transcend our differences and come together in a meaningful way and possibly have some fun too!
Keep up the crusade...I am with you 100%
For what it's worth--and obviously Cindy's the person to say this for certain--I didn't read her post as being about YAP at all. I read it as being about "Young Member Committees" or "Young Member Sections" formed by associations (since she opens with, "If your association forms a group for young professional members ...") and not about YAP.
ReplyDeleteI think the YAP approach is perfect for YAP, but there can be situations where it is appropriate to keep a young members group within an association separate, for young members only. I've been at associations before where the young member group was opened up to older members due to pressure from those older members--which meant that the limited number of scholarships and other opportunities aimed at bringing new people into the profession were less available for the younger members they were aimed at in the first place. If the young members want to open things up to all ages, great! But I think the decision should be theirs, and not made for them. And in YAP's case, YAP members clearly are very happy with the decision they've made!
I never paid attention to age when I was young. I served on boards since my early 20s and was accustomed to being one of the youngest people in intergenerational groups - board, committee, task force, etc.
ReplyDeleteAt 30, I was an Executive Director, and the youngest person on the staff.
I would never have joined a "young" group. I would have thought it was merely a way to segregate young people and keep them from making decisions for the organization.
Besides, I came to work, not to socialize.
I have a diverse professional background and I consider the Association world as my second career. There are other organizations whom offer a Young Association Professionals category, but it never gave me the benefits I was seeking. I also found it disturbing when I was asked to verify my "youthful" age otherwise be transfered into the "normal" membership category. Isn't 30s suppose to be the 20s?
ReplyDeleteWhen YAP came into existence, and networked on the platforms I am accustom to, I found a place where I can comfortably post questions towards my real peers. Non-graphic listserves just doesn't do it for my anymore...reminds me of my days of using my lightning speed 24K baud modem to access several BBS (Bulletin Board Systems).
Does the fact of the unique YAP position titles really bothers our peers from different generations or reminds us of Silicon Valley during the Dot Com era? So be it, but I don't see this platform, social network, or their stock tanking anytime soon. I'd rather have some fun while finding out the answers to my questions.
What about those "young professionals" still in college like 18-20 years old. I'm 20 turning 21 in 3 months and am already the director at my company. I was interested in joining your group but since I'm not 21 it won't allow me to join. Are you trying to say that only people 21+ are considered "young professionals" and the rest of us are still babies? I was extremely disappointed in that fact because I know a lot of people my age that are young professionals and we are actually taken seriously. I think you need to actually do some work instead of socializing all day...
ReplyDeleteThere are many association execs who appreciate diverse opinion about how to handle a wide variety of issues that impact associations - for consideration within their own association. Many associations are discussing if or how to deliver programs to demographic segments of their diverse memberships, including an age demographic.
ReplyDeleteConversations inside many organizations actually aren't about you personally. But if something I write challenges anyone who reads it to step back and consider decisions they've made, even if it's to decide they much prefer their own approach - well that's the reason I blog. The ability for someone to believe any particular post "speaks to them" might be considered a skill - but there's actually a universe of shared experiences out there. As unique as you may perceive yourself to be, there are thousands of organizations engaged in similar conversations about how to serve diverse memberships. No need to fret.