Hull to Gen Y Lawyers: Get It or Get Out

When Dan Hull says the clients come first, he means it.  Over at What About Paris Clients?, Dan posts about receiving one of those emails telling lawyers how to make love to their Gen Y lawyers.
From a marketing e-mail I received today:
Are you frustrated by young workers who feel entitled to success, need constant praise, want everything to be 'their way'? Are you struggling to attract and retain a generation of workers whose commitment seems more temporary than permanent?
This is Generation Y, a workforce of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace.
In this 1-day seminar, we'll show you how to motivate and manage Generation Y. You'll learn what makes them tick, how to retain them, and make them productive and energized.

This is one of those generational issues, I guess.  You see, we were raised with the idea that the guy paying your salary told you what to do, not the other way around.  There was no demand to be coddled.  The door swung both ways, and if you didn't like how things were going when you walked in, you were always welcome to walk out again.  But if you wanted the job and the paycheck, you did what you were told.

Somehow, this group of children got the wrong memo.  They are under the impression that the reason we have law firms is to make them happy.  They may lack the skills, experience and drive, but that doesn't mean they don't get a BMW on day 1, or a pat on the back every time they find their way back from the bathroom successfully.

So what does Dan have to say about this?

It's your problem, Gen-X and Gen-Y. Not ours. Work, figure it out, ask questions, and we'll help you—but it's your job to adjust to "us" and the often hard adventure of learning to solve problems for your employer and its clients.

Hull is Baaaaaaad!  Enough with this notion that it's our job to make them happy.  If 70 million of them want to sit home and play Wii all day long, great.  Eventually, they will get hungry.  Then they will have to earn a living.  Not just receive a paycheck, but earn it.

I know how this happened.  I watch MTV.  I've seen "My Super Sweet 16" and "Bridezillas".  Did you really think the rest of us would coddle you like your nutty parents?  Get real.  Here's the secret message:  You aren't special.

Dan Hull is my hero. I'm joining the Hull Revolution. 

Posted by SHG at 5/21/2008 5:12 AM
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  • 5/21/2008 1:24 PM Dan Hull wrote:
    Thanks, sir. People can lower their standards and pretend it's quality all they want after Hull McGuire lawyers are all dead. In the meantime, there's no reason to coddle mediocrity.

    Yours in the struggle,

    Dan, Holden, Tom, Brooke and especially the brilliant Julie McGuire, who has had it thin-skinned twerps with great grades and pedigrees who "don't know anything" and won't struggle to get there. A tragedy.
    Reply to this
  • 5/22/2008 11:23 AM Other Steve wrote:
    Dear Old Geezers,
    Ouch!
    Sincerely,

    Generation Y


    But seriously, it's time to stop using misleading rhetoric to cast a shadow on the positive change for the workforce that demographic change brings. The workplace is no longer the "two-way swinging door" you describe - but that's a good thing! When bosses recognize that employers and employees alike have a substantial stake in their work environment and work product, and when bosses are receptive to the valuable input from their workers (even the younger ones!), everyone benefits. Far from "coddling mediocrity," forward-looking employers will work their hardest to capture the potential that this creative, energetic, educated, and tech-savvy generation has to offer - even if that means adopting practices that may seem silly (to you) or modifying established workplace norms. Employers that do so will reap the rewards that inflexible-types will watch fly by them. Send Gen Y packing at your own peril, because they won't be "sitting at home playing Wii" - they'll be working for your competition, and beating you at the game you think you've mastered.
    Reply to this
    1. 5/22/2008 11:44 AM SHG wrote:
      Written like a true Gen Y'er.  Notice how highly you value yourselves?
      Reply to this
      1. 5/22/2008 1:13 PM Other Steve wrote:
        *laughs* At least this comment doesn't suggest that the 70 spoiled Long Island teenagers from "My Super Sweet 16" are representative of the 70 million Gen Y'ers out there.
        Reply to this
  • 5/23/2008 5:55 PM Dan Hull and Oliver Holden wrote:
    PS We'd love it if Gen-Y worked for our competition.
    Reply to this
    1. 5/23/2008 7:27 PM SHG wrote:
      Did it really take two of you to put that comment together?  I was thinking the same thing when I read Other Steve's threat. 
      Reply to this
  • 5/23/2008 10:33 PM EdinTally wrote:
    Isn't Gen Y the "time out" generation? As far as I can remember, that didn't work out too well.
    Reply to this
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