The Boomerang Effect

Dear Reader,

Thank you for being here and reading The Better Place Newsletter. If you’re enjoy what you get here, forward to someone you know that needs it! 

Let’s get back into it. 

The biggest problem with modern leaders is that they keep talking like they did decades ago. It's easy for a manager or VP to speak like they did ten or even twenty years ago to a young person just starting their career. It's second nature. This is also why many younger people are saying goodbye to the corporate world and choosing to live out of a van, down by the river, and work remotely.

When you first got a job, especially those of you in management positions, you probably expected a good run—get paid well, promoted, get a raise, and keep doing this for 30 years until they came to you with a fat retirement pension and a nice pen or watch, said goodbye, and you moved to Key West to enjoy a nice cold beverage of your choice. All that is out of the window now, and young people have figured it out.

Young people are more disengaged from work than ever before; they are less likely to stick around at a job for more than two years, and they are constantly annoyed at people who criticize how they live their lives. If you lead these people, you probably struggle to understand them, their aspirations, and what motivates them. You might even wonder, what am I supposed to do about it or how can I understand them? I’ve tried doing lunch, doing coffee, and I can’t seem to get through to them.

There is fear in a connection nowadays because social media makes everything feel like it's a stage and the world is watching. More and more people are concerned about what others say, and this causes people to be hesitant. One might think that if I say something they don't like, im screwed, and ill end up on TikTok or something else. The thing about it is that when you focus too much on that, you make the problem larger than it needs to be.

At the heart of these relationships and generational differences is one simple tool to help you bridge that gap.

The Boomerang

The boomerang effect when applied correctly is one of the most powerful tools for building relationships.

Here’s how it works:

When you throw a boomerang, you have to take the initial action of winding up and throwing it. It cannot come back to you unless you have thrown it in the first place. Counterintuitive right? Well, the key is to throw it first. If you want to build a relationship, then be interested first. Don’t show off or boast about yourself and your accomplishments. Make sure you make the conversation about them in a natural way.

We call that being interested before being interested. Being interested before being interested before being interesting means asking questions that are stimulating for the other person while maintaining the focus on them. They will then feel a sense of importance and focus that will allow them to feel valued and heard. Do this enough time and you’ll notice them opening up to you more and more. The more they open up the easier it will be for you to learn them and their aspirations.

They might aspire to be a writer or a painter one day. Sure, that might not have anything to do with “accounting.” but it’s something they spend their time doing on the weekends, and taking an interest in it shows them you care enough about them. Over time, if you do this correctly, you should automatically start seeing the relationship grow, and what’s more, you’ll see that it becomes easier to lead that person. It becomes easier to hold them accountable, and it becomes easier to keep them motivated.

One thing is for sure: they aren't motivated by the pension you have or the one they are promised. They may never see their pension, but they’ll always remember the leader who helped them progress in their life, and that might be worth just as much as a pension.

Go throw that boomerang!