Gen-X Execs

GENERATION X - A Commentary by IQ’s Publishers Jeff Boyle, Brian Boyle and Corey Christensen

“Generation X,” is a term used to define a group with no real unifying definition, but generally refers to those of us born between 1965 and 1975. We’ve been called the Reagan Generation, the Grunge Generation, and the Baby Buster Generation. We went to high school during the tail end of the Cold War, saw the collapse of communist Europe and tried to get our careers started during the recessions of the early 1990s and 2000s. We listen to punk, heavy metal and grunge. Sometimes we’re politically ambivalent, sometimes we’re not. We prefer faded jeans to suits, and, being occupationally nomadic, assume that by the time we’re 45 we’ll have changed jobs several times. We’ve seen the traditional jobs of our parents get outsourced, offshored, and outdated. We’re college-educated, tech-savvy and have been described as opportunistic, nihilistic, cynical, alienated, distrusting or apathetic.

Sound bleak? The truth is actually much brighter. In an uncertain political and economic world, Gen X has become creative, entrepreneurial, adaptable and flexible. We’re more active, healthier and more life-balanced than previous generations. With some of us in our late 30s and early 40s, we’re starting to have a major impact on the workplace. We take care of business differently. Although we remember what it was like to type on an actual typewriter and get white-out on our fingers, we have new ways of getting things done.

All of IQ’s publishers are Gen Xers. So are some of Idaho’s most impressive business up-and-comers.  As we enter our middle age, many of us are becoming successful. Our buying power is increasing. And iPod and Under Armor have replaced the Maytag repairman, the early rising Duncan Doughnuts guy and the Charmin grocer as the most recognized commercial brands.

To the Baby Boomers: You’ve told us to turn our music down for years and still get offended when we wear jeans to a lunch meeting. We’d apologize, but we’re not sorry.

Read the rest of this story in Issue 2, Volume 6 of IQ Idaho, on shelves now