An important cultural anniversary is coming up. Last year on April 25th, millennials surpassed baby boomers as our biggest generational population. That’s right. The 80 million millennials born between 1981 and 1995 now represent our largest demographic group.
What does this mean? Well, for those of us in the telecom business, it means that the demand for increased broadband performance will continue to grow exponentially – right along with this tech-savvy, screen-friendly group of users.
The need is real. More than 50 percent of the 7.2 billion global population is under 25 years old. (By 2020, half of our workforce will be millennials. By 2025, that number will grow to 75 percent.)
Recently, I came across this fascinating explanation of the evolution of communication preferences by demographic:
- Traditionalists (born between 1925-45) are the “Write Me” Generation.
- Baby Boomers (born between 1946-64) are the “Call Me” Generation.
- Generation X (born between 1965-80) are the “Email Me” Generation.
- Millennials (born between 1981-95) are the “Text Me” Generation.
It is important that we stay ahead of these seismic cultural and generational shifts. We take this very seriously at Clearfield. Our company values — which I proudly mention here occasionally (ok, more than occasionally) — are: Listen; Recognize; Understand; Collaborate; Deliver; and Celebrate.
These values reflect more than outcome-based thinking. They reflect our commitment to staying in-touch and in-tune to what’s happening in the world around us.
We are ready for the millennials. (Not to mention the Gen Y’s and Z’s nipping at their heels.)