Monotone Kutik

I watched Bill Kutik's most recent podcast and while he was pretty monotone, his guest Dave Ulrich was engaging to listen to.  Ulrich has authored 23 books and his most recent is a best seller.  His new book, The Way We Work, discusses how work can help us find meaning in life.  Kutik did make a good point by saying Gen Yers typically demand the most meaning from work, but meaning is sometimes difficult to find in entry level jobs out of college.  Ulrich states that college professors teach you things you may need to know as an executive of a company, but then you start out doing what I think he referred to as "skudwork" (that might be wrong because I googled it and it said "did you mean studwork").  I agree with this because it seems that most of my friends are searching for meaning in their jobs, but it is still difficult to find even 5 years out of college.  It does take time to discover where you best fit in this crazy world of work.  I do believe that Gen Yers look for more passion, entertainment and meaning in work, which may be a result of watching our parents work so hard and stress over jobs that seem less than enjoyable.  

Ulrich stated that the highest suicide rate in North America is men ages 65-70 because they retire and are depressed since they don't have their identity through work anymore.  This came as a huge shock to me because I can think of many reasons why retirement would not depress me!  I guess I can see how this may be if your entire life only revolves around work.  I don't think Gen Yers will have that problem when they retire as life outside of work seems to be so important.  Retirement for Gen Yers will hopefully bring relaxation and travel.  

According to Ulrich, business leaders model what employees need to do and should own the meaning of work.  HR employees are the architects of a variety of processes, but business leaders need to lead the way.  Ulrich's statement "if you and I think alike, one of us isn't necessary" reminds me how important it is to bring unique and innovative ideas to the table.  Ulrich ended the podcast by discussing why he is excited and scared about technology.  The scary part is that people will do and say things online that they wouldn't in person, such as nasty blogs (I probably wouldn't tell Kutik he is monotone in person).  It is important to be careful to use technology for good.