Generational Differences

A few months ago I was on a panel at the Edison Electric Institute National Conference in Denver, CO. I accompanied my client team member, a senior human resources representative from Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The purpose of the panel was to share with the audience successful and innovative initiatives being undertaken by utilities in collaboration with consultants. All of the panelists spoke about human resources, leadership, change management and diversity and inclusion efforts.

My client and I have been working together for nearly a year at this point, consolidating Employee Resource Groups as the result of a merger and re-launching a corporate Diversity Council. My major ongoing role with Duke Energy is to facilitate the Diversity Council meetings, each of which begins with an educational segment. Our last education session was on generational differences in the workplace. I've noticed that over the past two years, this has come to be one of the most requested topics for my presentations; as a matter of fact, I'm preparing a presentation for a community college in Ohio right now.

To share with you a taste of the types of questions I'm typically asked, I've attached an interview (http://www.mediafire.com/?dn9xlp4cyne) recently published in a trade magazine, Electric Light and Power, as an outgrowth of that panel presentation in Denver. It's on page 8 of the publication. I hope you enjoy it. And please contact me if you have questions or would like to explore this topic in more depth.

Recent

• Conference presentation, “Real Talk: Leadership and Communication”, Duke Energy, African American Network Leadership Symposium, May 17, 2007.
  
  
• Conference presentation: “Multiculturalism and Diversity in Libraries”, Texas Library Association, San Antonio, TX, April 13, 2007.
  
  
• Keynote Presentation: “Cultural Inclusion at Campus: Lessons I’m Learning Along the Way,” Learning Conversations Conference, Orlando, FL, April 1-4, 2007.
  
  
• Video clip, “Creating and Nurturing a Climate that Supports Diversity” Valencia Community College, speaking to predominantly minority, traditionally-aged, first-generation community college students.
  
  
• Interview: “Moving from Margin to Center”, interview in Information Link, vol. 9 issue 5, May 2005.