Understanding the Millennial Mind: A Menace or ... - Big Business Zoo

sufficiently remote vantage point, a point
from which persons would appear to be
small moving dots ...
We should see that these dots do not
randomly approach one another, that some
are usually together, some meet often,
some never ...
If one could get far enough away from it,
human life would become pure pattern."
Analysis of Social Networks is based on the
intuitive notion that these patterns are
important features of the lives of the individuals
who display them. This kind of
intuition is probably as old as humankind. It
is implied, for example, by the relative
stress put on descent lists in the Bible.
Beginning in the 1930s, a systematic
approach to theory and research, based
on this notion, began to emerge. In 1934,
Jacob Moreno introduced the ideas and
tools of sociometry. At the end of World
War II, Alex Bavelas founded the Group
Networks Laboratory at M.I.T.
It was not until the 1970s, when modern
discrete combinatorics (particularly graph
UNDERSTANDING THE MILLENNIAL MIND: A MENACE OR AMAZING? | 9
theory) experienced rapid development
and relatively powerful computers became
readily available, that the study of Social
Networks really became recognized as an
interdisciplinary specialty.
Since then its growth has been rapid. Today
it has become an inter-national effort with
its own professional organizations, textbooks,
journals, research centers, training
centers and computer programs designed
specifically to facilitate the analysis of structural
data.
Root Cause Analysis
Let’s go back to the mathematics of the
call center situation. I had to find the
significant variables. What really changed?
What is different? Everyone knows that
every generation has a falling out with
their parents. If it is not loud music, it
is Mohawks, tattoos, drugs, etc. Every
generation has had this schism with their
parents. I ask groups: “How many of you
did not have a breaking issue with your
parents?” and maybe one person raises
their hand (I’m sure they are the orphans).
So, this always happens. Except, what
we are talking about is NOT that! This is
not the same-old, same-old routine that
happens with every generation. This is
really very different on a lot of levels and in
a lot of ways.
Mostly the people that have been researching
this issue have been looking at “How
are they different?” That is not a bad thing
to look at, but “Why?” is even better. The
most important question to start with is
“When?” When did it become different?
What is the farthest back we can look?