Many people call today’s 20-somethings the next, great generation. As a member of that group, I can tell you that might just be true. However from an insiders’ perspective, the questions I think still remain are 1) if our generation is indeed prepared for the realities of the modern office environment and 2) if the modern office environment is ready for the realities of our generation?

Think about it; college provides theories and internships provide the experience but in the end, corporate America is very much a unique being unto itself. Not surprisingly, that’s not the only lesson I, and hundreds of other 20-somethings like me, have had to learn the hard way in our first few years out of college.

Personally, my own first exposure to the realities and the drama of the modern workplace was as a sales associate for a large corporate consulting company. The funny thing was that instead of exciting projects consuming my day, mindless, repetitive tasks and the constant, dampening specter of office politics seemed to prevail.

That job, like many other entry-level positions, was billed as a way to ready you for the “work hard, play hard” mentality that many of today’s largest, most dynamic companies aspire to. It turns out though that very few companies can pull this off successfully without their office cultures devolving into something that resembles a corporate frat house.

In a culture like that, it’s sometimes very hard to lead with your own unique voice and ideas. Indeed, after a year and a half being pressured to ‘drink the kook-aid,’ and put my ideas away, I was ready to move on. Luckily, I landed in a marketing position for a smaller, more intimate company where I was able to bring my ideas to life but I never really closed the book on my experience at the consulting company.

In fact, 20-Something Marketing started more as a way for me to sort out what had and had not happened during that time in order to derive some sort of moral to my own story. What I found though was that the more stories I told, the more stories I started to get back from 20-somethings across the world with similar experiences.

Now that the project is going into 2007, there are certain lessons that coming into clear focus that every 20-something should learn if we are to ever become that next, great generation:

Lesson #1 – Curiosity can be tactical advantage

First of all, one of the major things 20-somethings learn in environments like that of my first job is that nothing was ever started without someone asking a question. Or more simply stated; if you want something, you have start by asking for it.

Whether it’s a new project, a raise or just someone to listen to your idea, the tactical advantage lies in posing a question in the right way, to the right person. This point is something heard over and over again in stories that while being on the lower end of the totem poll can suck, questions can be incredibly powerful tools for forward momentum.

The challenge many 20-somethings find is stepping outside their comfort zone and realizing that those questions can be a proactive way to try to take control of just about any situation. The truth of the matter is that cultivating that curiosity is just as important a skill as learning how to close a sale or how to write a decent presentation.

Lesson #2 – In the fight for your vision, you need people in your corner

One of the most valuable lessons 20-somethings draw from their first job is that when you don’t have the authority to do something, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get. By doing some internal networking you can identify older, more powerful counterparts that are willing to champion your ideas and that is how the best succeed.

Tactics like approaching HR about setting up a mentor relationship or approaching an executive to learn about your companies’ history are critical to building personal support that can help you later on with support for your projects.

The side-note to all of this is that you always need more than one champion and it should be in more than one department. Just like the weather, your working situation can change moment by moment and having that built-in, matrix of support can be critical to keeping your professional momentum.

Lesson #3 – The bravest thing you will ever be is yourself

Of all of the stories that 20-somethings tell about their first years out of college, this lesson could be the most important one learned. In an office place that is becoming ever more social, it’s sometimes hard to differentiate between forward professional movement and a popularity contest.

Though many argue that sacrificing your personal happiness can lead to succeeding professionally, there is a fine line between being unhappy and giving up your own identity. Just like I found out, in a corporate environment you pick up on some very strong social norms in dress, in behavior and also in innovation. To go outside of those norms can be risking alienation and the loss of professional traction.

Finding that one place you can be yourself is difficult and sometimes inspires some serious gut-checks about your current situation. Whether it’s moving departments or moving companies, 20-somethings have to dare to be themselves and trust in their own talents to land them where they want to be.

Ultimately, this is the hardest lesson of them all but one that more and more 20-somethings are doing to help them succeed at doing what they are good at, not just what they are proficient at.

Very few people will ever tell you what to expect in your first job or two out of college. If they did, I guarantee you there would be a spike in grad-school applications. The important thing is that this generation has a sense of history. Unencumbered by the stigma of Generation X, this could be the next great generation harnessing new technology and knowledge like never before.

That’s why I started 20-Something Marketing’s blog and podcast, because if we don’t start passing this information down now, how are we ever going to write the future?

The problem with jobs, particularly ones frequently held by 20-somethings, is that the pressures that dictate whether or not the job comes into its full potential very much depends on the environment evolving with the position. The question I pose in this entry is whether or not this is actually fair to ask of an organization or a boss?

In particular, I have stumbled across just such a situation where the timing dictates that I continue to cope with the environment, but I need to keep on evolving.

Before we parse the idea of happiness, let’s look at the facts and assumptions. First it’s safe to say that no one wants to do the same thing over and over again day-in and day-out. Secondly, it’s also safe to say that getting stuck in the kind of rut leads to organizational complacency, a condition that is a death sentence in business today.

On the other hand, success in the organization depends – to an extent – on the stability in the chain of command. If once element in the chain of command evolves too much, it ceases to maintain its original function and becomes counter-productive to the success of the organization.

Both are rational points but the one factor that cannot be reconciled in all of this back and forth is time. There never seems to be enough of it when you need it and too much of it when you don’t.

The previous generality aside, happiness for some of us just doesn’t exist when you are standing still. You can’t ask us to “just be happy.” We need to evolve, or we have to move on.

Previous “Tuna Happens”–>

One day during an obscenely deep discussion (i.e. kind you can only have over a bottle of wine and a playlist of Nina Simone), I asked a friend of mine to summarize her life’s manta. She replied, “to get a life before life gets me.”

Interesting, I thought, I had always assumed she had a life. “Not at all,” she said. “Life is too complex for anyone to really think they have it all together. You can only try live life enough so that it doesn’t all overwhelm you at once.”

It made enough sense at the time and it makes even more sense when you think about it terms of how much time we spend trying to escape ourselves. Contrary to popular belief, being “yourself” takes a lot of guts because it means standing still. Standing still, likewise, is something no motivated 20-something does of their own volition.

So that leaves us, where? Eternally chasing our tails about who we are supposed to be?

What my friend and I eventually settled on was that if you are indeed “yourself” you have to defend that ground because our culture is built around the idea of a perfect fit. Sure you can have a suit tailored enough to fit and you can even have a house built to your exact specifications but human beings aren’t that simple. We are not built to fit perfectly.

Sometimes…no, many times you are going to find yourself in a situation where it doesn’t fit perfectly. A job, a relationship – anything can and does feel like it doesn’t fit perfectly. If you believe what you see on TV or in magazines, the things don’t fit perfectly are worth having. The problem with that is if you do walk away from any of those things that might not “fit perfectly,” you are walking away from all of the good things that could have been. In doing that, you may be leaving on the table more than you thought.

Here is where the idea of getting a life comes in. If we are constantly in pursuit of perfection, how are you supposed to know when something is perfect? (If this is getting confusing, folks, get out the Plato because it’s that kind of day.)

At the end of the conversation, through the sullen mist that wafted into the room thanks to Miss Samone, I had to ask myself is I had my own life’s mantra? The answer, I decided, is that I really don’t know yet. I could say that It’s to run towards happiness wherever I can find it, and to try to escape the things in my life that are detriment to that happiness, but then I would just be running to and from shadows.

Because life itself is not black and white, not always absolute in any situation, its to make decisions and forward movement in a way that affirms that fact that you have a life, and darn it, I am going to live it.

I mean, come on…I love descriptive language as much as the next marketer but who the hell wants to be told over and over again that what they said/did was wrong?

You know what? I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that whoever thought that up had a couple of “Tuna” moments of their own. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

After all, the people who chose to unwittingly trip into “Tuna” territory get to know this phrase VERY WELL.

When one steps over the line with a “Tuna” moment, there are a lot of people who are more than willing to point it out. In fact, one of the hilarious things about “Tuna” moments is their impact on Human Resources. It’s been my experience that HR tends to react just like someone who has dropped their lens; “Alright….No One Move…..Someone Said Something Stupid!”

Not that I am making light of the job HR has in these types of situations but when something happens all people want to do is talk about it. See, I thought the whole point of HR was to try to help move things foreword? What’s helping things to move foreword when you have to be pranced into an office every couple of days to the whispers and speculation of your adoring {insert sarcasm here} co-workers? Again, I am not judging.

In fact, if anyone respects the process-oriented nature of covering the company’s hind quarters, it’s me. It just occurs to me that the more you drag things out in “Tuna” moments, the worse you feel. (This is, of course, in consideration that what you did was unintentional. If it was on purpose you should feel bad about yourself and deserve to be locked in a closet for 30 minutes with 15 Jewish mothers.)

The only reason I bring this up is spin control. If you need a situation to improve, you attempt to contain the damage by tweaking whatever message you want to put in front of your audience. If I had a suggestion for HR, it’s that they should include thay kind of spin control in any action they take. It would allow an offender (herein referred to as the “Tunee”) to help craft perception in order to aid the social development side of public thought.

I mean, it’s bad enough that you have to just go through the process of having your screw-up repeated back to you in excruciating detail….You sit there with the HR manager, your boss and it’s essentially a game of poker. You don’t want to look too serious or else they will think you have pent up aggression and are anti-solution. On the other hand, you don’t want to seem too jovial and have them infer that you are taking the situation lightly. Your only choice is a botox-faced stare that resembles something out of a children-of-the-corn movie.

My point is this – at which point does HR’s “handling” of the situation inflict more harm on the “Tunee” than whoever the heck they offended? There may be no point in beating a dead horse but some people sure view it as decent HR tactic.

Ego makes people do the stupidest things, particularly in office environments. Ego makes people think they are more important than they are. Ego makes people think they are more entitled than they are. Hell, the whole concept of a blog is that it harnesses the power of someone’s ego to produce content!

Its not that I think that ego is anything to be ashamed of, it’s just that I think the world would be a lot better off if people stowed their egos and got to work. If I had a nickel for every time someone’s ego got in the way of a well-intentioned timeline, a good idea or even someone’s personal advancement, well….let’s just say I would have enough money that I wouldn’t have to be writing this right now.

On a personal level, I am the kind of person who loves to get things done. My ego, like everyone else’s, impedes that effort in a quest to be liked, to seek approval and to lay the groundwork for my eventual world domination. (Ok, perhaps that last one is just me.)

Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that ego removal is not an option. Also, since egos thrive off of social interaction and unless I intend to move to a deserted island (which is sounding more and more tempting, bty), mine is probably not going to be able to be shoved in a closet.

That really only leaves one choice and that’s to live with it. Therein, my friends, lies the entire concept of the “Tuna.”

At this point, I am not going to fully explain where this “Tuna” comes from (that will come in one of my later chapters) but what I can tell you is that “Tuna” is all about ego. “Tuna” represents every stupid thing you do because your ego gets in the way of doing your job. “Tuna” represents every moment that you stick your foot in your mouth trying to impress someone. “Tuna” represents the most “un-cool” moments any of us ever have to encounter and wish we could take back.

“Tuna” also represents the things we wish we could change. It’s that well-intentioned interventionist in every one of us that wants to shake our friends or co-workers screaming “get some {explicative deleted} common sense, why don’t ya?!”

In a nutshell, that is why I say that “Tuna” Happens to everyone. In fact for every time we criticize someone else, chances are VERY good that we have had our own “Tuna” moments we weren’t so proud of. We still go ahead with the criticism though because gosh knows it makes our own egos feel good.

My point is this; we all make mistakes. We all have those comments or decisions we wish we could take back. “Tuna” happens to all of us.

With that in mind, I have only a couple of key points; Get over the fact that you’re not perfect. Get over the fact that you too will make mistakes. Get over your ego and by that, I mean get over yourself.

Pramble

So, I have been playing around with an idea for a running series of blog posts. They would all be on one particular subject and would be unabashedly frank about the way I feel about certain things.

This concept – I kid you not – has been in development literally since I was 17. It’s all about this one particular personality quick I have about being outspoken in the workplace and how it can be your best asset and worst liability – both at the same time.

The series is going to be called “Tuna” Happens. In each chapter I am going to highlight certain things about the modern office environment and why the more things change, the more they are always going to stay the same.

It’s not about being PC or even seeking to tell all about situations I deem ‘unfair.’ It’s about the quest to balance results, social etiquette and still manage to have fun at your job.

Not all offices were made equal but darn it, I still think that intelligent people who refuse to drink the kool-aid can still make it in the world.

Hang on because let me tell you, “Tuna” Happens to EVERYONE!