16. Talking About My Generation

In this episode of The Imperfect Podcast, Wendy shares the story behind a new research project that has quickly grown into something much bigger... an exploration of how different generations approach networking, relationship building, and business development. Inspired by a chapter she has written for an upcoming book, Wendy reflects on the similarities and differences she sees between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers, and why understanding those perspectives matters more than ever. 

If you've ever wondered whether age, personality, upbringing, or experience has the greatest influence on how we connect with others, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into a conversation that is only just beginning.

Want to contribute to the research? We'd love to hear your perspective. Complete the Networking Across Generations Survey here: https://strategicnetworking.com/networking-across-generations-survey-page

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Well, hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Imperfect Podcast, where I bring to you my thoughts and musings about strategic networking and other things that might pass through my little brain synapses as we go. I'm Wendy Lloyd Curley, I'm your host today, and I just wanted to share with you, first of all, that the reason I decided to name this the Imperfect Podcast is that perfect gets in the way of progress too often. And so I had been thinking about doing a podcast for years and was waiting for the perfect time, the perfect scenario, the perfect recording studio, and all of that. And I decided one day, you know what, I'm just gonna do it and make it imperfect and get the content out. So, welcome to the podcast. Uh, there's a lot of people who might be listening to this. You could be BI members from all around the world because I certainly am a big advocate for BI. I'm also a business owner of BI, and you also could be uh business owners who are looking to improve your strategic networking and the results that you get from that. And I do a lot of presentations in that regard. And one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, and that is what this podcast is about, is I would like to write a new, completely brand new keynote presentation. And it's based on the fact that I was invited to present and deliver a chapter in a book. And that book is coming out later this year, and I've written my chapter and I'm very, very happy with it, but it actually has ignited a flame for me. So the chapter was about what are the differences in the way that networking is done, strategic networking, in the generations. So people who are Gen Z, Gen X, Gen Y, baby boomers, and um millennials, how do all of us really network strategically? And what are the gaps between what we do? How can we learn about each other and make sure that we are able to communicate and network well? It's a fantastic research study. And so that is what I wanted to talk to you about because I've already named my presentation. You know, if if you know me, you know that my current keynote, the one that I've been taking around the world so far, is called Rock and Roll and Networking. And I use rock and roll lyrics and titles to enable me to embed the principles of my keynote. And it's really fun and it's really energetic, and it's it really does have a great amount of content that changes the way people think about networking. Well, this one, I've already titled it. It's going to be called Talking About My Generation, and it's going to be Strategic Networking Across the Ages. And what I would really love to do is I'd like to start a survey and get your feedback. I'd like to enable you to tell me a little bit about your experience learning about networking, your experience when you were a child, and whether or not you had conversations and networking as part of what you learned. I want to talk about when you finished school and what you did in order to get your first job or to start your first business. I want to talk about what you do today. And I want you to share with me your experiences. I'm going to do it by having a simple survey. I think it'll be about 10 questions. And one of those questions is going to be quantitative. So I'm going to ask you to give me an answer to like a multiple choice question that you can select an answer. And then the next question is going to be for you to be able to tell me a story. Oh my goodness me, I can't wait to get your feedback. I really think that this is going to have legs, and it may even turn into a full book. I can imagine that the information you're going to give me is going to enable me to write an entire book. So think about this. I am currently 57 years of age, and so I fall into Gen X, and I really believe that my networking is different than what I see people in their 20s and 30s do. And yet I also see it being a lot the same. So there are benefits to what my upbringing enabled me to do versus maybe a 20 to 30 year old and what their upbringing is enabling them to do. So I feel more comfortable with certain aspects of strategic networking. And maybe that's because I wrote the book on it, and because I believe that I have a knowledge base and an experience background on what has worked for me. I would like to make sure that I also get the insights and best practices of the 20 to 30 year olds who also are doing things based on their upbringing and being able to bring that to the table. I really believe that this is going to be a good research project. That is all I really wanted to talk about with you today. I'm going to put a link to the survey in the show notes. I've never called them show notes before, uh, but I'm I always listen to podcasts and they talk about including links in the show notes. So there we go. I'll make sure that in the show notes there's a link to the survey. And if you found this podcast today via LinkedIn or via Facebook or in another way, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your network, especially the people who you think are good networkers. Um, I would love for those people to give me some feedback. Of course, I could make this anonymous and I will allow it to be anonymous. But for those of you who provide me with your name, your email address, and your uh contact details that you feel comfortable to share, I may reach out to you for a more in-depth interview at some point and would really appreciate that opportunity. So, boy, this is super exciting! I was so grateful to be invited to write for the book. And I didn't realize what an opportunity it would present for me for content for the stage and perhaps even content for a book and a resource that will help all of us to engage better across all of the business communities that we're in. Before I close, I want to let you know this. This reminds me a little bit of when I learned the disc process. So, you know, you can analyze people for their different personality traits. Well, these are generational traits that I'm hoping to uncover. Maybe they're going to be aligned more with people's personalities than their generations. Maybe they're going to be aligned more with people's backgrounds and experiences than their age. But we won't know unless we do the survey, will we? It's very exciting. Well, there you go. Uh, that's all I wanted to ask you today. It's actually a request, a request for information from you about your experience. And by the way, you don't have to be an experienced networker to provide me this feedback. I think that if you don't have experience with networking, or if you don't like it, or you're a reluctant networker, that too is going to be valuable information for me. And what's the definition of networking? It can be online, it can be in person, it can be through uh social communities that you're in. So don't restrict the definition of networking for your responses. I can't wait to see the answers. That's it for this episode of The Imperfect Podcast. What I'd like to do is just remind you that the music you're hearing on this podcast was written by my friend Ben Little, was played by his band Concord Joe. And I not only play the guitar on the recording, but I also sing on it. And uh let's let's all listen to some music together. Thanks a lot. Talk to you soon. Bye.