Challenge Pull Out - January 2013

ebruary January/F

2013

KNOW YOUR GENERATIONS

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GAP

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BABY BOOMERS Born: 1940s – 1964 Characteristics: Optimistic, loyal, ambitious Work attitude: It’s a lifestyle Motivation: Money, titles

GENERATION X (MTV GENERATION) Born: 1965 – 1981 Characteristics: Pragmatic, individualistic, risk-taking Work attitude: It’s a necessity Motivation: Freedom

ISSUE

pages to help you bridge that gap

19-26 Are you tearing your hair out dealing with someone from another generation? Is the gap between you and Gen Y (or X or the Boomers) wider than the Grand Canyon? Fear not.

This handy pullout is packed with tips and info about the various generations that will wise you up.

WTF MEANS… Messages (1) GENERATION Y (THE MILLENNIALS OR GENERATION NEXT) Born: 1981 – 1999 Characteristics: Tech-savvy, confident, goal-oriented Work attitude: It should be interesting Motivation: Meaningfulness

Dad

Call

Contact Info

Hi, I am fairly new to Facebook. Mind accepting my friend request? you made a facebook?

WTF!!

What does “WTF” mean? oh it means welcome to facebook

Send bit.ly/dJ2gOV

Beat generation American author Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase “Beat Generation” in 1948 to describe an anti-conformist youth movement.

It now refers to a group of American writers in the 1950s who embraced Eastern philosophy and non-traditional values.

Generation of €700 Called “twixters” in America and “parasite singles” in Japan, the Generation of €700 refers to those caught between adolescence and adulthood in Greece.

Educated but unemployed, this generation spends time in temporary jobs, earning the bare minimum of €700.

Edit

Nov 30, 2012 7:30 PM

GENERATION Z (NET GENERATION) Born: After 1999 Characteristics: Individualistic, self-directed Work attitude: Freelance work is normal Motivation: Flexibility

GENERATIONS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT

WHAT IS THE GENERATION GAP? It refers to differences in values and attitudes between people from different generations – most commonly, parents and children.

The older generation thought nothing of getting up at five every morning and the younger generation doesn’t think much of it either.

– John J. Welsh

Y

X Boomers

WHICH GENERATION DO YOU BELONG TO? Take this quiz to f ind out.

You haven’t seen your friend in a while, and you wonder how he’s doing. What would you prefer to do?

Call

Text

Facebook message You see an interesting article your friend would like. You:

Ask him if he’s seen it

Link it in an email

Tweet him or tag him on Facebook You want to watch a movie, but it’s no longer showing. You:

Rent the DVD

Ask a friend to download it for you

Stream it online

SHAKE Y Mambo Jambo may have moved out of town, but here are the iconic dance moves of each decade.

70s – Hustle Popularised by John Travolta in the film Saturday Night Fever

80s – Moonwalk Popularised by Michael Jackson in his music video Billie Jean

Originally a catchall name for disco dances in the 1970s, The Hustle is best known for John Travolta’s gyrating hips and classic disco pose.

This classic Michael Jackson move creates an illusion of the dancer gliding backwards, while trying to move forwards. Takes some practice before you can do it smoothly, though.

Learn how to do it here: bit.ly/learn2hustle

Learn how to do it here: bit.ly/learn2moonwalk

Your thoughts on online shopping?

You shouldn’t put your personal

details online

I’m not sure I can fit what I buy

I know all the best blogshops

& the best places for sprees

Dads for Life Dads for Life is a national movement with resources, events and other platforms to help fathers step up and bridge the generation gap.

What about blogs?

Don’t have one

Sure, I blog for professional reasons

I blog to record my thoughts

Chindian Diaries This initiative gets the younger generation involved in capturing forgotten stories about how their parents met, and the struggles of inter-racial marriages.

dadsforlife.sg

How to calculate score: Mostly = Boomers = Gen X = Gen Y

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Service 1711 1711 used to offer services from finding out the local time, world time, to arranging wake-up and reminder calls. The service was finally disabled in October 2012.

“Be Kind, Rewind” When people still rented video tapes, “Be Kind, Rewind” was a popular slogan to remind them to rewind tapes before returning them.

www.facebook.com/TheChindianDiaries

#first world problems A tongue-in-cheek Internet meme about the frustrations that can only be experienced by people in First World countries. We imagine what the different generations might have tweeted in their time.

Baby boomer @babyboomer Waited for two hours at the new shopping centre because I couldn’t contact my friend Gen X @GenX Paging my friend but he isn’t replying Gen Y @GenY Couldn’t figure out which of my three phones was ringing!

Search #firstworldproblems on Twitter for real-life examples.

YOUR BOOTY 90s – Macarena Popularised by the Bayside Boys remix in 1995

2000s – Shuffle Popularised by LMFAO’s song Party Rock Anthem

Possibly the easiest of the dances, the Macarena won fans with simple, synchronized steps done to a catchy beat. Most fun when done in a huge group.

An evolution from the Melbourne Shuffle, this dance contains the familiar “T-step” and “Running Man”, but is more fastpaced, energetic and infectious.

Learn how to do it here: bit.ly/learn2macarena

Learn how to do it here: bit.ly/learn2shuffle

2010s – Gangnam style Popularised by Korean singer Psy in his music video Oppa Gangnam Style The signature move in this dance involves galloping and pretending to ride a horse, and switching between holding the reigns and spinning a lasso.

Learn how to do it here: bit.ly/learn2gangnam

Here’s help for those addicted to their smartphones and social networks.

Socialrehab.sg has a toolkit that’ll get you sociable again – in real life.

Draw Something paper Play the popular Draw Something smartphone game with your friends in real life. Best part is, these pictures make good keepsakes.

Lo-fi glasses Fit these spectacles with coloured cellophane paper and see the world through filters, without Instagram!

“Like” stickers Clicking a button and sticking a sticker may seem to be similar actions, but these stickers make “liking” things far more sincere. Plus, they make great conversation starters!

Twitter notes Forget DM, pass notes the good ol’ fashioned way.

Things to Love

APPS TO KEEP YOU UP TO SPEED

The youngsters are already onto them.

Shouldn’t you be too?

Bump

Camcard

Asana

reQall

A B O U T G EN Y

Called “strawberries” 1 and “freeters” 2, Gen Y gets lots of flak for being too weak for the workplace. Here are some things we can appreciate about them:

1 2 3 Productivity Growing up in the digital age means they’re adept at finding and sorting information, fast.

So while they expect things to happen fast, they deliver fast, too.

Ability to multi-task They’ve grown up juggling multiple CCAs, tuition, school and friends and family. Handling more than one task at a time? Easy peasy.

Teamwork Project work is a fixture in the school curriculum these days. These kids know what it means to work in a team!

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Strawberries - A Chinese expression that likens Gen Y to the delicate fruit that looks good but is easily bruised – meaning they cannot handle much pressure.

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Bump Share contact information, calendars, pictures and become Facebook friends by bumping your phone with another that has the same app!

Price: Free Compatibility: iOS and Android reQall Touch-screen phones tough to type on? ReQall records tasks and ideas using your voice. It’s also smart enough to organise the information, and can sync with Outlook or Google Calendar.

Price: Free Compatibiilty: iOS, Android and Blackberry

Camcard It’s a tad pricey, but you can kiss your rolodex goodbye and scan all your business cards with characterrecognition technology! It also recognises Chinese characters.

Price: US$6.99 for iOS, US$11.99 for Android OS, US$9.99 for Blackberry.

Lite version free Compability: iOS, Android and Blackberry

Asana Delegating work has never been easier.

This app is great for synchronizing tasks for your whole team. Payment kicks in when there are more than 30 members using the app.

Price: Free (up to 30 users) Compatibility: iOS *Prices as of Nov 3

Freeters - A Japanese expression for young people who prefer freelance work as opposed to working full-time.

AT

ORKPLA W E H T C

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Some tips on how the Gen X boss can work with the Gen Y employee, and vice versa.

How to engage the Gen X boss

How to engage the Gen Y employee

Know what matters to your boss. If your boss is a numbers person, then quantify your results.

More importantly, know which numbers matter most to him.

Assign mentors. Gen Y likes interacting with the older generation, and learning hands on. It also gives them a channel for feedback, which they love.

Talk like your boss. If he likes to email, email. If he likes seeing you IRL, then show up IRL. Seek new responsibilities. Your boss is there because he’s good at something. Your best bet is to fill the gaps that he can’t, so he can’t do without you.

Be authentic. They can smell insincerity from a mile away.

Challenge them. They don’t want to waste time making coffee if that won’t get them anywhere!

WORK

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY If you haven’t already heard, giving a pay rise isn’t the sure-f ire way to motivate staff to do better – especially for Gen Y. Show appreciation in simple ways.

• Say “please” and “thank you”.

A simple note or email can make all the difference.

• Respect time. If you know they have other appointments, don’t be late for your meetings, and don’t make them late for theirs.

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Remember important dates. If your co-worker is celebrating an anniversary, ask how it went. If it’s Valentine’s Day, give out flowers – and score some brownie points.

MON

9AM - 6PM

TUE

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WED

9AM - 6PM

THU

9AM - 6PM

FRI

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SAT

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SUN

NO WORK

WE SURE DON’T MISS THESE...

Five and a half day work week No TGIF. Up till the early ‘90s, most people including professionals worked 5.5 days, going into work on Saturday mornings. Imagine that.

Stricter dress codes In the ‘80s, most offices only allowed women to wear trousers at work on dress-down Saturdays.

HARMLESS OFFICE PRANK Stick a small piece of clear tape over the laser of an optical mouse of a colleague and wait to watch the fun.

social media: yay or nay?

How do the baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y view social media at the workplace? A 2012 global survey by a consulting group has the answers.

Baby boomers are the most sceptical about social media. About 49% of them think the use of social media at work can lower productivity.

Gen Y is the most accepting of social media. Some 36% of them think it’s okay to use social media for personal reasons at work.

Gen X is the most secretive when it comes to social media. About 58% of them don’t want their employers looking at their social media pages.

For more, go to bit.ly/gen_gap

Q&A

THE ROAD LESS TAKEN Quek Siu Rui, 24, turned down corporate job offers to start his own business. The creator of Carousell, a new iPhone application for peerto-peer buying and selling, shares why he chose start-up life over a corporate job.

It’s a risky choice! Why on earth did you choose to run your own start-up?

It’s less routine and there’s accelerated learning. You get thrown in at the deep end and learn how to stay af loat juggling product, marketing, fund-raising, user support, all concurrently.

How does it compare to working in a regular office?

I get to wear bermudas and T-shirts everyday. But it is also long hours. We start at 8 or 9 am and wrap up at 1 or 2 am. I’ve also got to worry and think twice about spending every cent, as the number one rule of start-ups is to not run out of money. I never had to worry about something like taxi fares in a regular office!

Do you regret not taking the regular route, then?

It’s important to do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. Even though the default state of a startup is failure, you’ve already failed if you decide not to pursue your dreams. I would feel terrible if I had decided to go the get-a-job path. My peers are ahead of me in terms of salary and corporate prestige but the satisfaction and adrenaline from re-imagining peer-to-peer buying and selling for the mobile and social media era with Carousell make up for it all.

IN REEL LIFE 13 Going On 30 (2004)

Teenager Jenna (Jennifer Garner) wakes up 30 years old, with a dream job, apartment, friends and boyfriend in tow – only to find that being an adult isn’t at all what she expected.

18 Again (1988)

It’s a freaky Friday for Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter, Anna (Lindsay Lohan), when they switch bodies and find that only selfless love and understanding can help them reverse the situation.

HAIRSTYLES

Check out these hairstyles from the past that have made a reappearance in the 21st century.

in s po p u l a r What wa e is now D a d ’s t i ma c k i n f a s h i o n . coming b

With their distorted colours and grainy effects, Holgas and Blackbirds are winning fans with their simplicity, and the excitement of developing each new roll.

Millionaire playboy Jack Watson (George Burns) sees his family in a whole new perspective when he accidentally switches bodies with his 18-year-old grandson.

Freaky Friday (2003)

G N I M O C F U LL E L C R I C FILM CAMERAS

Walking a mile in the shoes of another generation can make all the difference.

Pi xi e cu t (1 95 0s ); Th e To m bo y

Pe rm ed ha ir (1 98 0s ); Th e Au nt ie Th e Po m pa do (1 95 0s an d 19 80 s) ; Th e Ah Be ng

ur

NERD-SPECS

Who could’ve guessed those thick black frames on your primary school Chinese teacher would one day be attractive?

STILL POPULAR

From Boomers to Gen Z, everybody loves these characters.

A 50-year-old mother tries out pole dancing, while her 24-year-old daughter dabbles with Chinese painting.

MediaCorp programme Chakia and Sneakers is the one place in real life where family members get to switch roles for a day.

RO JAK OF

OLD & NEW Three food places that appeal to the generations alike.

Singapore Food Trail A food court set in the 1960s, with all the famous food stalls from the past. @Singapore Flyer. Try: ice balls, the old-school version of ice-kachang

Tiong Bahru Bakery It’s got old fashioned decor, but the bakery carries over 200 items from one of Paris’s top artisan bakers, Gontran Cherrier. @#B1-11, Raffles City Shopping Centre/ 56 Eng Hoon Street.

Try: Squid-ink bread

Ya Kun Set up as a simple, family-run stall by Loi Ah Koon in 1944, it’s now a huge franchise serving traditional Singaporean breakfast at affordable prices @18 China Street. Try: Crispy, thin brown toast and soft-boiled eggs

ART THAT HAS SURVIVED THE GENERATIONS The Songkok artist Songkok wearing will outlive traditional songkok making. With his newspapers, satin cloth and thread, Abdul Wahab at Tanjong Katong Shopping centre is one of the remaining songkok makers in Singapore.

Tay Guan Heng Manufacturers Crafting traditional Chinese figurines with just wood, incense, clay and popsicle sticks is no mean feat. But for the Tay brothers of Tay Guan Heng Manufacturers, it’s a skill that’s been passed down four generations.

Hello Kitty She might not have the same fame today as she did in the ‘90s, but this furry white cat has claimed the hearts of generations in a way Felix the Cat (who?) has not.

Transformers The battle between the Autobots and Decepticons hasn’t gotten old. In fact, it’s one of the most successful metaseries around. Perhaps Megan Fox had something to do with that.

Batman First seen in 1939, Gotham City’s caped crusader has moved from comic books to the big screen – and is still a popular superhero despite having no superpowers.

OLD STORIES WORTH LISTENING Since 1979, the National Archives of Singapore’s Oral History Centre has recorded and preserved social memories of people from all walks of life.

The recordings are selectively supplemented with transcripts and available at the Archives Reference Room.

Read more: bit.ly/RHkhUe

e v o L e W e l p o Pe T H E

G E N E R A T I O N S

1964

1981

BABY BOOMERS

GENERATION X

GENERATION Y

Ivan Heng, 49 Role: Actor, theatre director, founder of W!LD RICE theatre company Achievement: The first Singaporean male actor to break into an Englishspeaking role in a Hollywood film.

His big break was in The Fifth Element (1997) with Milla Jovovich.

Eric Khoo, 47 Role: Director, producer Achievement: Put Singapore on the international film map with his film Mee Pok Man (1995). He’s also been recognized with the Singapore Youth Award for his contribution to the Singapore film industry.

Boo Junfeng, 29 Role: Director Achievement: Made his mark in the Singapore film scene when his debut feature film Sandcastle had its world premier at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

Fandi Ahmad, 50 Role: Footballer Achievement: Captain of the Singapore team from 1993 to 1997. He also has three SEA Games silver medals under his belt. He’s also the first Singaporean footballer to play in Europe.

Joscelin Yeo, 33 Role: Swimmer Achievement: Holds four SEA Games records, and has won a good 40 medals. Also competed in four Olympic Games – the most for any Singaporean to date.

Jasmine Yeong-Nathan, 24 Role: Bowler Achievement: Became the first Singaporean to win the AMF World Cup Champion in 2008. Just a year later, she was named Singapore Sportswoman of the Year 2009.

Catherine Lim, 70 Role: Writer Achievement: Best-selling Singaporean author with stories on Singapore society and traditional Chinese culture.

Alfian Sa’at, 35 Role: Writer, poet, playwright Achievement: Published his first book of poetry at age 21. The book was hailed as a “landmark” in the Singapore literature scene. But his many awards aside – what we really like is how Alfian writes fluently in both English and Malay.

Laremy Lee, 29 Role: Playwright, freelance writer Achievement: A former teacher at St Andrew’s JC, Laremy is versatile in writing for many genres, but focuses on the stage. His plays, Full Tank! and Radio Silence, were staged at the OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival 2008.

Research and writing by Fiona Liaw / Edited by Bridgette See / Designed and illustrated by Ammanda Choo / ©Challenge Magazine

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