Meghan McCain and the Undeniable Millennials

"Raising McCain" is a new up close and personal TV show by Meghan McCain, daughter of US Senator John McCain. Like those of the Millennial Generation, she is a "digital native" and is therefore verse in that space and comfortable talking about all sorts of issues. Wendy Bounds, with the Wall Street Journal, does a fine job of engaging her in this interview.

"Raising McCain" is on the new pivot network:

pivot is a new television network from Participant Media serving passionate Millennials (18-34) with a diverse slate of talent and a mix of original series, acquired programming, films and documentaries.

This genre-busting docu-talk series follows Meghan McCain, the outspoken daughter of Senator John McCain, on the road talking to unexpected experts, regular people and members of her generation. In her travels, Meghan explores the most important and unusual questions of the day framed by her personal experiences. The series explores topics ranging from Bullying and Feminism to Sex Overload and the Death of Romance, among many other themes.

If you were born before 1980, you are essentially in the pre-Millennial generations.  So if you watch this first episode of "Raising McCain," it might make your head spin, make you shake your head, and perhaps make you just toggle out of the video altogether.  

Regardless of what you do, what McCain engineers in her show is very much part of our landscape now - our culture and language, our media and technology, and our privacy and integrity.  It's raw and spontaneous, yet well-produced and filmed.  It allows for swear words, yet it doesn't let these dominate the show.  It gets in your face about how, for example, things you posted years ago may haunt you going forward indefinitely.

Let's suppose, you watch this entire first episode, you might come away asking "So what?  What does this have to do with my leadership, my company or my business?"  The lead-up to his show covered a range of topics, but this first episode revolved forthrightly on privacy.  

So my answer to your questions?  You tell me. 

Amy Gutman, President of the University of Pennsylvania, says civic engagement (making a difference) and social entrepreneurship are vital to Millennials.  Those of the pre-1980 generation are "digital immigrants," and those of post-1980 are "digital natives."

My daughter was born in 1998, and she has been computer- and digital-literate since she was a toddler.  She loved playing with the mouse, for example, as she sat on my laptop in front of our old desktop.  She was two years old, but in no time she learned how to navigate the cursor with that mouse and the keyboard.

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Many researchers, including the Pew Research Center in a 2010 report, have examined the Millennials' attitudes and opinions across a spectrum of issues. Most show evidence of a generation that is highly educated, self-confident, technologically savvy and ambitious.

One of the oft-cited aspects that distinguishes the Millennials is that they're extremely "connected." Pew found that Millennials use social media and text on their cell phones significantly more than older generations.

I believe that all of us from different generations are intimately connected.  So while your company or business may have little to do with Millennials, in a direct or formal sense, this avant garde generation still has implications for a lot of what you - meaning we - do.  Information and communication technology is one broad arena that affects us:  They influence what mobile devices we can choose from, what programming we see on YouTube and the venerable TV, and how we build and sustain relationships.  

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD