It’s A Generational Thing

My perspective on generational differences is that of a Baby Boomer who has managed in the fluid dairy industry for 33 years. Here are a few thoughts on my being a consumer and a manager of dairy, while understanding there are always exceptions to my rhetoric.

Depending on where you were born, managers and salaried employees in the dairy industry are extremely different — not better or worse, just different. Managers who have been involved in any operational aspect of the business have profound extremes in how they view their work life.

The older generation would, and still does, live the business. There was always a sense that the job must get done, sacrificing family, vacations, social engagements and health. There are 24 hours in a day that belong to the dairy, and whatever is left is your free time. And there are seven days in a week, so don’t be shy — why not work them all, either at the plant or home?

“Both younger and older managers have great merit to their approach.  It is not even a question of right or wrong, it is a question of understanding one another and coexisting.”

—Rick Sedotto

Younger managers are acutely aware that they are being paid for a 40 hour work week and just want to work 40 hours. They don’t live the job; they do the job. Work-life balance is important to them. I am not saying that they won’t pitch in when there are extraordinary circumstances, but that can’t be their norm. If it is a regular occurrence, it is time for a new job.

Both younger and older managers have great merit to their approaches. It is not even a question of right or wrong. It is a question of understanding one another and coexisting. There must be a realization that each has grown up differently. The days of one company careers are foreign to the younger generation, and even though the older generation thinks they will go on forever, they will have to yield on day. They must impart the knowledge they have accumulated throughout their tenure and watch how the new blood makes the industry continue to hum, whether it takes two or three people to cover that 24 hour day.

In a similar way, there is a difference in how these generations approach dairy as consumers. Generational consumers have serious conflicting messages. As a Baby Boomer, the milkman was a significant and welcomed person in my life. And when his time had passed, there was still a lot of milk and other dairy consumed in my home. Of course, I drank milk. Didn’t everybody? Milk was the healthiest beverage on the planet. Everything was better with milk. This is what was touted by television, schools, physicians and mom and dad.

Younger consumers, although they have been exposed to milk, have heard a different message. Physicians, television and now the internet, are not extolling the same virtues of milk. Schools are not pushing “the white or chocolate stuff,” as they want to watch calorie intake. Mom and dad have yielded to the loud voices saying milk is not essential, and you can get the same nutrients from other products, too.

Studies have noted how bad milk is for you and how cows are killing the earth. Many of the studies have been refuted, but the damage has been done. It is like a retraction of a headline news story stuck on page 30 of a newspaper. (Oh, and by the way, this generation is not reading the newspaper anyway.)

And yet, there is still hope. Although the younger consumers may never consume the exorbitant amount of fluid milk of past generations, consumption of other dairy products is on the rise. The positive voice and advertising of cheese, yogurt and other dairy products is the new message for today.

As for me, I have the best of both worlds. I consume them all. That’s all for now — got to start my next 24.

This article was published in Northeast Dairy Magazine.