As restaurants prepare to deal with the dramatically increased minimum wage requirements for front-line service employees, technology is emerging as a solution to higher payrolls. A recent article in Business Week reveals the new table top self service touchscreens that allow patrons to place food orders without having to interface with humans, and without having to leave a tip. The computerized terminals are growing in consumer acceptance because they also provide entertainment, allowing diners to play interactive games and test their trivia skills.

While this trend impacts all workers, none are more affected than America’s teen employees who rely heavily on restaurant jobs as their entry point into the workforce. Ironically, surveys show that it is these techno-savvy teens who are the least resistant to use the touch screens to place orders.

I’d like to think I’m ahead of the technology curve compared to most of my baby-boomer buddies, but the communication trends and techniques of my twenty-something kids and their cohorts absolutely astounds me.  I can barley keep up with mobile phones and email, so ‘texting’ and ‘IMing’ have me have me as confused as an Amish preacher at Circuit City.

I remember the days when teens and young adults spent far more face-time with their friends than they did talking to them on any kind of phone or electronical device.  Today, it’s a completely different story, and our kids are always on and always connected.
You’ve got to read this article featuring a 19-year-old kid trying to explain the concept of ‘texting’ to his grandma.  It will blow you away!

Why make a four-year-old wait for their wedding day — or even their Senior Prom — to experience a professionally-planned party complete with celebrity entertainment, a white-linen dinner, and thier friends arriving in stretch-Hummer limos? If you think this is something that only happens in Beverly Hills or Buckingham Palace, look down your block. It’s happening ieverywhere, and this story illustrates how a group of concerned parents are fighting back.

The children are not the ones to blame. Parents who overindulge their children to this extent deserve the spoils they create.

Here is another great article citing research from Harris Interactive that further corroberates my previous blog.

Study after study continues to confirm that today’s teens and young adults want to be rich and famous. What they have and who knows their name appear infinitely more important to them than how they’ve gone about acquiring their celebrity status and wealth. But does their unending exposure to the media have anything to do with fanning the flames of their selfish desires?

If you don’t believe that television, music, and pop culture have significantly stimulated their relentless quest for rockin’ cribs, hot rides, flashy bling and red carpet paparazzi, simply read the comments Gen Y’s have provided in today’s excellent article appearing in the USA Today.

Knowing how they are wired is a prerequisite to connecting with them, and ultimately leading them and your organization to a future that is both rich and famous.

I’ve heard it said that when it comes to kids, you spell love ‘T-I-M-E’. Sadly, parents in today’s world spend only three to five minutes per day in meaningful dialogue with their children. Those kids, however, will spend between five and seven hours in front of a screen; i.e. television screen, video game screen, iPod screen, cell phone screen, etc.

This Christmas, parents will break all spending records buying toys, electronics, and fashion items for their kids. While this is indeed good news for Wall Street, no amount of spending will ever atone for the lack of face time that Gen Why is hungry for. It’s your presence, not your presents, that they truly desire.

I wrote a poem called Christmas Presence that I get a lot of requests for. Here it is for you, along with my sincerest wishes for all the richest blessings of Christmas for you and your family. Stay Whys! Eric

As I write this from my home in Golden, Colorado, there is nearly four feet of snow on my driveway, and no end in sight. Schools and offices are closed due to this blizzard, and even the malls are not open for holiday shoppers. I don’t like being cooped-up any more than the next guy, but I am thankful I’m not at DIA with 4,900 holiday travelers. These poor souls, many on their way to share Christmas with friends and family, spent the past 24 hours camped out under the large white tent of DIA’s main concourse. Most have no idea when they’ll get a flight out, or when the roads will be clear enough to catch a cab to a nearby hotel for a shower and a real bed.

Televised news coverage features a wide array of human interest stories. One moment you’ll see angry travelers frustrated beyond belief, and the next, smiling travelers who are singing Christmas carols and making friends out of strangers. Situations like this bring out the best and the worst in people. Everyone is stranded and wants to go home. No one signed up for this. It makes me wonder how I would be holding up if I had to fend for my family under these desperate conditions, but I’m sure I wouldn’t be a happy camper.

Happiness is built on happenings. When something good happens, it’s hard not to feel happy. When something bad happens, happiness heads to the locker room. But joy is very different. Pure joy comes from deep within and is not rooted in happiness or based on any single event or situation. Joy transcends bad happenings and radiates peace, love, and warmth. Joy is a smile and a song long after happiness has left the building.

No one at DIA is happy today, but joy is apparently still alive and well. I’ve seen a lot of joyful people interviewed on television. They’re smiling, and singing, and making new friends. These people have become my heroes, and I am going to learn from them as I head out to shovel my driveway for another three hours, and I’m going to try my damndest to smile and sing as I do it. My wife will think I’ve gone completely bonkers, and that, my friends, will make me happy.

Okay, so the supreme buzzword of the new millennium is ‘flexibility’. To survive, organizations, companies, leaders, and managers have had to exercise flexibility in policies, procedures, practices, and scheduling. Their customers, and their employees will accept nothing less! Unfortunately, this shift towards extreme flexibility has Gen Why believing that everything is arbitrary and that nothing can withstand a strong argument or excessive pleading.

You and I, however, know that there many things that are not negotiable, and not up for sale to the highest bidder.

Take a moment to consider what you and your organization stand for; those things you will never compromise for any price, to any person, for any reason. Then, when the time is right, share this list with those around you in your own unique style. You may decide to talk about your list over a cup of eggnog with your Gen Whys in a one-to-one, and ask them to share their list of “foundational pillars” with you. This could be their best gift of the season, as they discover that, even in turbulent times, there are certain values/things that can withstand any storm and will never be put on the trading block.

The Christmas stories/movies of yesteryear featured children who may have been poor, but were always smiling and hopeful. “Merry Christmas! God Bless Everyone!” exclaimed Tiny Tim. Today’s holiday stories/movies feature completely different characters who will only feign temporary happiness if they get the gifts they ask for. Is life imitating this art? Is is from what I see in the stores and the malls. Crowding, pushing, shoving, me-first-thinking and tempers flaring. Rarely do we experience a sincere wish for a Merry Christmas and seldom do we see a smile that comes from within a person’s heart. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that you and I can change that. We can give good cheer to everyone we encounter, and show the kids who are watching what Christmas is truly about in the process. GCG (Good cheer giving) costs nothing and it means everything, and we have within us an endless supply. If we smile brightly, act courteously, think only the best thoughts, and speak kindly to others, we are literally radiating good cheer to everyone around us. We become the Christmas spirit Gen Whys have only heard tales of, as we infect them with our joy.

There has never been a better time to give good cheer. The price is right, it’s in high fashion, and it’s the one gift no one will take back for a refund.

Want some Christmas spirit? Go make someone’s day by wishing them a warm, sincere, ‘Merry Christmas’ and you’ll get back more than you ever imagined.

After losing an elderly parent, most Americans receive at least some kind of inheritance. I lost both of my parents in recent years, and I inherited only funeral expenses. Mom and Dad were great parents, and they gave us wonderful gifts at Christmas. But aside from gift-giving occasions, they made poor financial choices and put nothing away for retirement. When they hit their twilight years, this caught up with them and their welfare became our burden. My sisters and I got pulled in to their spiraling debt to the point that several of my sisters had to declare bankruptcy. I became a poster child for the “sandwich generation” supporting my dependant children, and my aging parents. After they passed, my wife and I agreed that, although we might not be able to leave our children untold riches when we die, they would never have to take a dime out of their pockets to pay for our care as we grew older. Our gift to them was our being financially independent of them.

As we approach this special time of year, remember that although it makes you feel good to give nice presents to your children, make certain your gift giving comes after you have adequately prepared for the road ahead so that you never become a financial burden to those you love.