No points for simply showing up

John Hill, The Daily Record Newswire

Did you ever watch a Little League game being played? They're a joy, but you can always tell the kids who are there because they want to be and those who are there because their dads want them to be.

I was watching one game and overheard this father telling his son that he had to be more aggressive on the field and had to try harder to get a hit. The boy just looked at his father with a bored expression, having heard this all before I'm sure, but his response really got to me. After listening to his father go on and on about his poor play, the boy looked at his father and said, "Why should I try any harder? I still get a trophy, like everyone else."

That really got to me. I felt sorry for the boy's father, but I'm more concerned about our future generation. What that boy said tells me we now live in an entitlement society.

As an adjunct college professor, I see this attitude in some of the students. They put in minimum effort. They don't do internships or work in the summer. Many of these young people graduate thinking the world owes them a living because they got their degree. How sad.

I don't agree with this attitude that everyone in Little League, regardless of whether they win or lose, gets a trophy. What type of impression are we giving to our younger generation? Doesn't matter if you try hard or not, you're still rewarded. This is not the real world.

Are we setting up our younger generation to fail? How many companies do you know that will hire someone with an attitude like this?

I was at a meeting of one of the organizations to which I belong and we had a vice president from the HR department of a major medical organization give a presentation on workplace treatment of today's employees. He said the recently educated employees coming into the company needed a lot of handholding and assurances that they are appreciated; they also need a lot direction, and he noted that if you didn't tell them every 60 to 90 days that they're doing their job, they felt that they weren't appreciated and they would start looking for other employment.

You can imagine the comments and criticisms coming from some of the senior people in the audience, many of whom run companies and could not understand the logic of having to consider let alone deal with workers like this. But the vice president was quick to note that if they didn't make the necessary changes in their hiring practices for these new workers of today, his medical facility would be hard-pressed to fill its employment requirements.

I find it hard to comprehend that any organization would settle for this. But I know many large companies are faced with the same problem: They must hire people to fill positions and they have to choose from the available applicants. Human Resources does its job, but to me, what they are doing in hiring employees like this is setting up a company to be mediocre at best.

On the other side of this situation are students who want to be challenged. They went to a high school that wasn't easy. They had their sights set on going to a well-known college or university. They did not have to work, but they did so because they wanted to and because it was the right thing to do. Then you have the student that didn't go to a big-name college but some local community college, and held down a full-time job while working toward a degree.

One thing the hard-worker and the student craving a challenge have in common is a strong, positive attitude to succeed. They don't take "no" as a setback, but as a learning opportunity. These are the people who will grow into the leaders of tomorrow.

Those other employees who grew up thinking the world owes them a living will fall by the wayside, and wonder why. They'll be working for those who know what work is all about and were interested in more than just getting a trophy for showing up.

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John Hill is president and CEO of Long Island Advancement of Small Business.

Published: Fri, Oct 10, 2014