Bridging the Gap: Conversations Across Generations – An NIQ Diversity Equity Inclusion Podcast

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong to the individuals who share them and do not necessarily represent Nielsen IQ. Note that this podcast discusses sensitive topics that may be triggering for some. For more information specific to this episode, see the episode description.

Jake Conlin: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast belong to the individuals who share them and do not necessarily represent Nielse IQ. Note that this podcast discusses sensitive topics that may be triggering for some. For more information specific to this episode, see the episode description.  

Hi everyone and welcome to the My Story Our Voices Podcast, a core component of NielsenIQ’s DEI Learning Series, Me and You. My name is Jake Conlin and if this is your first time tuning in, then let me tell you what this podcast is all about. In a nutshell, it’s about stories, your stories. We think stories are important because when we tell them we open the door and allow others to see the experiences that shaped us, that challenged us, and helped us grow. By doing this, we can create a culture where open dialogue is encouraged, and we can have a space to discuss important topics in a transparent and courageous manner. So, minimize that e-mail tab. Mute your chat. And take a little break to listen to an NielsenIQ story. 

James Anderson: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of My Story, Our Voices Podcast, a core component of NIQ’s DEI learning series Me and You. My name is James Anderson. I’m your host today. My pronouns are he and him. I’m a senior analyst here in the Toronto, Canada office and for the purposes of this episode I am Generation X. You’ll find out more about that in just a moment. I’m joined today by my guest host, Elana Powell. Elana, welcome. 

Elana Powell: Hi. Thanks, James and hello everyone. My name is Elana Powell. My pronouns are she / her. I’m a senior manager of Leadership Development and DEI here at NIQ and I what I like to call a Zillennial because I am the last year of Millennials and the first year of Gen Z, and the reason that we’re talking about our generations today is because that is what our episode is all about, multi-generational diversity. And so, we’re joined by three amazing guests and I’m going to let them briefly introduce themselves before we kick things off. So, I’ll hand it to Emina first. 

Emina Maslic: Hi, everyone. My name is Emina. I go by she / her. I’m based in Zagreb, Croatia and I’m currently leading our W. European Sales Enablement Team for Strategic Analytics and Insights business. I’ve been with the company for over 10 years. And I am a people manager of 23 people. And I am most importantly, a Millennial. 

Elana Powell: Thanks, Emina, and I’ll pass it over to you, Nadir. 

Nadir Amani: Hi everyone, my name is Nadir Amani. I’m also a senior analyst here at NIQ in Canada and I am a course the Gen Z represented here today. I go by he / him and I’ve been with NIQ for over a year and a half now at this point and I joined right. University so when I completed my Masters degree, I joined NIQ and prior to NIQ, I was in the wonderful world of academia through quantitative research, examining how consumers respond to generative AI and marketing. So that was fun, and now I’m here at NIQ for the past year and a half since. 

Elana Powell: Thanks Nadir. And Rory. 

Rory Ollerhead: I’m Rory Ollerhead. I am an Associate Director of Insights in our NIQ Toronto office. I’ve been here for 28 years and like James, I am Gen X. 

James Anderson: Thank you, everyone, and welcome aboard for the podcast today. So, we’re going to start off with just a little bit of a quote from one of our leaders here at the company, Miriam Vidalon, and she recently made this comment about the intergenerational workforce and leadership. And I thought it was a great way to kind of kick off this discussion because it can be a little bit of a hot topic or a contentious issue, but that’s what we’re here for. We’re going to have an open discussion about it. So, Miriam says, quote. Every generation has played a role in shaping leadership as we know it. Baby boomers built a foundation of structure and discipline. Gen. X brought adaptability and resilience. Millennials pushed for purpose driven work, and Gen. Zed is leading with tech savvy innovation. The leadership isn’t about one generation; it’s about how we bring these strengths together. To create a future ready, inclusive and human centered way of leading. So, there are some comments in there about the different generations. And I’m just wondering. I thought I would open the floor. First of all, you know with one of our first question, just saying what, what are some of the common stereotypes from your generation that you have come across? And do any of them hold true or any of them particularly harmful? Who wants to have a start on that? Shall we start with the Gen X-er Rory? Tell me about us. 

Rory Ollerhead: Ohh, you know, I think it’s a, I think I will start with, maybe the generation before us so I have a 90-year-old mother and she is, you know she is the greatest generation that is. But I see her, and I see my frustrations with her and because she doesn’t do things the way that I expect things to be done, so I’m fully aware that you know, the younger generation probably sees us as you know, maybe probably roll their eyes when they talk about being the technology and the tech talks and the social medias and whatnot. So, I feel like I try to keep on top of that, but I am aware of what I’m not aware of. 

James Anderson: I think one of the things you know in that comment there where we’re talking about baby boomers being the foundation of structure and discipline. You know, one of the comments is often sort of intractable and, you know, immovable. Like what you know, with structured discipline, it can become that sort of thing. But like, it’s a double edged sword. Right. And those are the two kinds of conversations without structure, you wouldn’t have something, but then the structure become too rigid, right? And does that work for the other generations that come that come right afterwards? 

Emina Maslic: I think this is also going back to where he said, you know, he has a very certain way of how he interacts with his mother and like the way that he was raised. And then you look at Millennials, we are kind of in between of this too strict way of you know being raised so trying to get some flexibility for your own kids which are now like Gen. Z or alpha and maybe being to flexible to certain things as well. So, I think from my point of view like Millennials or kind of it can go either way, you can try to maybe fix what you know from if you’re like on the early years of Millennials and you could try to fix from what you have experienced. But if you’re on the end of the Millennial range it might be kind of quite the opposite as well. So, I think the Millennial generation is kind of a mix of struggles, constant struggle. Or should I try to? So. Fix things from before and do the wait. I think it should be done, or should I just try to let them do whatever they want because I did not necessarily have a chance to do that. 

Rory Ollerhead: I would say I would say as far you know in the work environments to where we work. So, our generation, James, we, and you probably know this we used to go to the office. Imagine that every day five days a. Week 9 to 5, we would go to the office. And I and. I think the Millennials think that’s the craziest thing in. The world and. Now you work et hours and you work certain number of days in the same place every single day and it’s I think that kind of ethic or that you know pattern we became accustomed to you know. And finally graduating university to the time you know COVID came, we were going to the office every single day and that that was what we did and it’s and it’s I think that’s one of the bigger differences probably we probably will talk a bit more about but that’s all I’ve seen. That difference in attitude. 

Nadir Amani: Yeah. And just to bring in a Gen. Z perspective, I think it’s really interesting to compare contrast different generations in terms of like virginity and ways of working and stuff like that. Because I feel like Gen. Z has always had to adapt because they really grew up in the Internet generation. Like your laptops from when we like, you know, elementary school all the way to university. The advancements of social media and how that’s affecting media, recent learning and how we source our information. And then also now stuff later on with hybrid working as well, and being accustomed to that understanding, the benefits that it has towards lifestyle and everything with that. So yeah, I think Gen Z has had to grow up in quite drastically different time than other generations and it’s affected how they perceive working in the workplace and just the flexibility that comes with that. 

Elana Powell: This is a great discussion, and I just wanted to comment on something that Rory said and also something Emina said. You know, the first thing you kind of called out was like, oh, I know, like the younger people, they’re on the TikTok and they’re on the technology and things like that. And that’s kind of getting to the point about, you know, like we have some stereotypes around our different generations. Right. Like we think that Gen. Z / Millennials are, like, technologically really inclined, right and then, but obviously there’s nuances in every generation. And so kind of, just asking like how do we bring more nuance into that, that conversation and how can sometimes those stereotypes that even if they’re seen as positive, right, like, oh, I think you’re good at technology, seen as a positive thing, how can that, you know, impact our relationships, our working relationships and how much we be more attuned to that when we’re in our working relationships. 

Rory Ollerhead: Yeah, I think it’s probably, my opinion. So, I think what we have to do is kind of separate the generation and you really have to get to know the people, right? I mean  because, you’re right. You can stereotype all day long and prejudge people and. Make certain assumptions. About their level of proficiency with technology or whatever and there, you know, you might be a Millennial or Gen Zed it and has no interest in it. Maybe, maybe not Tic toc. Maybe you’ve decided social media isn’t your thing. And so I think. You know, in the workplace at least, you gotta sit down and talk to these people and you, you know something, Nadir. And I have had many conversations over the years and. And yeah, so once you figure out, you know, I think you really need to talk to the individual. Right. And. And instead of making sweeping generalizations about people. And I think it helps too really separates the person from the generation and get to the bottom of it. 

Nadir Amani: Right. 

James Anderson: That’s really what we’re doing with with all of these DEI initiatives, right is we’re trying to move away from. You know, stereotypes, cliches, we’re trying, this is about people, right? That’s what makes me passionate about doing a lot of this isn’t about labels. This is about people and finding out what everybody brings to the table. I know for example I you know, I’ll I’ll throw my little story in here. I I when I came to NIQ. There was a bit of a hiring jump in the Canada office and there was five of us hired as junior analysts. And I was hired. Now I had gone back to school. So I, you know, I was joking. At 47 I was an intern at 47. But eventually when I came to NIQ, I was hired at age. I would have been about 50. I was hired along with four younger folks who were just out of university. I mean, I was just out of Business School. They were just out of Business School so that was the common factor. I I didn’t know any more than they did about. The professional world, but. Couldn’t discount the fact that I was 50. I’d been. You know, I’ve been to the rodeo a few times. You know what I mean? In the working world. And so there was there were different aspects that, you know, when we were doing. Our training sessions. I had to admit, at a certain point to myself that I was. I was the middle-aged white. Guy who didn’t know how to. Turn on the. Computer like, really? 

But then I know that when I eventually had, uh, I was, I was offered a promotion to the senior analyst role. I was very, very nervous because, you know, there’s technology, you know, a lot of this data, math, heavy kind of stuff. And I was a bit nervous about all of that and. And the people who wanted to move me up was really great. They sat me down. They willing to have a conversation with me and they said, listen, if you need help with numbers, analysis technology, we can help you with that. But you’re also going to be doing client relations and what you’re bringing to the, you know, and I mean need to say I enjoy that part of the job. I’m chatty and friendly and I like building relationships. And I remember at the time when they said that, I kind of rolled my eyes and I went, Oh yeah, well that. And they said no, no. That’s not nothing. You know, there are some people who are amazing at numbers but are not as skilled with communication and talking to clients. And so I don’t know if that’s a generational thing or not, or if that’s just a James Anderson thing, but it was kind of something to bring to the table. I’m just wondering if you guys have sort of seen any like that that discovering. What does everyone bring to the table that you know like part of that nuance that you were talking about Emina, Nadir. 

Emina Maslic: Yeah, you see. Like when we talk about stereotypes, I wouldn’t necessarily say. That it’s a stereotype, because when I talk about these generational differences, I always start with when I first started working right. Like, I’m pretty much referring to myself and the way that I was taught or the way that I did things versus the way things are being done, done now for the people that are just starting their first job, but so for me it’s not a stereotype. It’s more like me comparing like benchmarking what I know from my days versus what I see today as a people manager of this younger generation, right? So for me, it’s not necessarily a stereotype, it’s more how things have evolved, and you know going back to when I first started, as you said, you kind of I did have to go to the office every single day, which I first started that that was also kind of that, you know, Millennial generation being OK we did a thing a certain way. Everything is now going to. Change. But I remember being very humble about everything. They just kind of trying to do my job well, like not really being necessarily very vocal about things. Whereas I believe that the generation today in the workplace is much more vocal about certain things than I thought I was allowed to be maybe back in the day. Right. So again, for me, it’s not a stereotype. It’s just really more than how the workplace has evolved. And I do think it has to do with technology and the Internet. What the Internet has been teaching the younger generations about what they can and cannot do, which is not necessarily that we all had when we first started working, right. 

Elana Powell: I love that. Reframe. I mean it’s kind of like you know, instead of thinking about like, oh, you know, Jenny is good at this. And what is it good that it’s more about thinking like what you said like what were those generations experiencing at certain times and like, how might that influence who they are and how they respond to things and how they work differently. So instead of just making those, you know, vast assumptions, it’s just. Thinking about how those experiences might influence our identities and how we interact. 

Emina Maslic: One another exactly and and this is also where for me be again being a people manager pre COVID and post COVID. And seeing like some of the younger generations coming in, like as a first-time job into the work workplace, you can clearly see how COVID affected their like interaction in the workplace and like just the pure development or social skills, and like how certain things can be done. Because they started working from their bedroom more like, you know, their kitchen. And they never had that luxury that we had when we first started, all having people around you see what you’re doing like just. You know, somebody sitting next to you and like being able to ask them a question and they were just very gladly help you. Now you’re just kind of sitting there most of the times in your own room maybe, you know, you don’t know where to go out. You don’t even know where to start. Right. So that for me as a people manager or a younger generation has been extremely eye opening, comparing it to what I know and what I have experienced when I first started. 

Rory Ollerhead: Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So, I manage people as well. So, and I I agree with that totally that it is very difficult. Everything is very, all your interactions are very intentional, right? And there’s no, you know, happening across people in the at the water cooler or whatever. And so there’s a there is that kind of disconnect and you don’t, yeah. People don’t know where to ask because. 

Rory Ollerhead: Everyone in the building used to know Ohh the 4th floor. That’s where the you know, the HR people are on the 3rd floor is where all the home scan people are and you would just know at least the general direction where you would go and. You could go. And find somebody if you needs to. And now, It’s a whole different world. And so yeah, everything is very intentional now it’s first communication. Was even in, you know, in the office. You’re sitting beside people in different place every single day. You don’t even know. You don’t necessarily work with the person beside you. You don’t even. They are. So, I understand. I appreciate that. 

Emina Maslic: And and you know, I would love to hear in a year’s perspective because for me also sometimes you know, you kind of want to know if people need help, but you don’t want to micromanage them. And like ping them on teams every couple of. Hours like hey, are you OK? You need anything? But then at the same time. Like if you. Don’t offer. It’s it’s a. It’s kind of a tricky. Situation to be in because you want to help them, but you don’t want to also. Micromanage and bother? Them so yeah, I would love to. 

Nadir Amani: Hear your perspective. I think this is such an interesting topic, especially for Gen. Z, because it really affected not only furthermore, how do you learn? Because during COVID, they were taking all their classes online. It was a new way of working in terms of for them from an academic standpoint. If they’re watching instead of attending a live lecture, they’re watching a recording, where it’s just a whole different experience, and they adapted to it during that time and definitely affected them going into the workplace. I would say that. I’ve seen it from like a two-fold perspective one entering the workplace for Gen. Z. Either one, the jump could be quite intimidating, and maybe they might shell up and just, you know, not ask anybody questions. Just try to figure out things themselves or on the flip side, depending on how they perceive their team or the workplace that they work for, they might just ask a bunch of questions. They might message people on teams. Multiple times a day or reach out to their manager or reach out to people who they know or who their manager is telling them to reach out to to get the answers to those question. So, I think yeah, it was a really interesting experience for Gen Z to go through that. And it’s definitely shaped the way, not only how they see the workplace, but how they interact with in the workplace because it is such a different time today than it was within past generations in terms of how we work hybrid nowadays, how we again like Rory mentioned everything is a lot more intentional when you’re setting meetings and and requesting things and uh in, in terms of your point at Emina, I think it is. It is said for Gen Z to get checked up on once in a while. It’s just not a ping here. Very doesn’t have the need every hour, every day, but just, you know every you know here and there to just let them know that you’re here for them. Any questions that they have, don’t feel afraid to ask because I’m sure there’s many out there who are scared to even ask the question. They don’t want to see the wrong thing, so as long as it is intergenerational, we’re encouraging open dialogue. I think that’s super productive and very helpful. 

James Anderson: Along those lines. Just wondering because we talked about this in many aspects of DEI many different areas, you know. Like when you’re sitting in the use the boardroom as an example, you know, there are people who will immediately Start speaking and feel very free and very comfortable to jump in and join the conversation, and then there’ll be those who don’t, and in the past, you know, we’re learning, you know, assumptions were made that will be learning to say they don’t have anything to say, but that might not be the case for a myriad of reasons. So I was wondering Rory and Emina as people managers how in terms of how we move the workplace forward Nadir touched a little bit on that by giving some fantastic advice but you know have you guys noticed that you’ve had to you know clock the ring so to speak like pay attention you know maybe invite people to speak. Those who are not speaking, you know, like, have you noticed any change or have you implemented any of those kinds of changes when you’re when you’re running that that kind of situation? 

Rory Ollerhead: Yeah, I think so. Part of it is and I think you touched on earlier to you, you where you, you know, you started the workplace and you have these skills. But I think part of it is we need there’s, there’s a generational thing. And where there if you’re very different, you know, traits among those generations. But part of it is is. Your life stage right and so you you have life experiences and so you you’re in your role in dealing with clients there’s a maturity and experience and confidence because you have the experience. And so we want to kind of foster that and develop that. And so sure we can meeting and there are people who maybe there are senior people or or you we want to encourage, you know, speaking up and we certainly on our team at least we want people to you know like increase their visibility. Make sure that people know who they are and what their roles. And and you know, be interactive and and like I said, visible all I want to say we, I try to encourage that. But at the same time I don’t want people speaking just for the sake of speaking please speak. Don’t be shy about it. If you have an opinion, we all have to hear. If we want to hear everybody’s voices and we want to know. Have that diverse set of opinions, you know, whether it’s a generational thing or a cultural thing. Whatever it is we want to, we want to hear those things, and we want to encourage that. So I I do. I I definitely. 

Nadir Amani: You like a lot of chains, eat probably, especially when entering the workforce. Have a great sense of impostor syndrome, like they’re trying to put on their best face for work every single day appear to be knowledgeable within your work, although again, there’s so much to learn all the time, especially here, and you’ll see. I think so. I think that’s a big thing for them that if they potentially see the wrong thing or ask the wrong question, it will reflect poorly on them and maybe their knowledge being that they’ve been here a while. So I think, yeah, that’s probably another big factor that is is creating some of that. Hesitation on their front to to to like be leaders and and offering new ideas. 

James Anderson: And I’ll just add to an idea a great secret about Gen. Xers. Most of us feel like imposters. As well we self-founders. 

Rory Ollerhead: Actually. 

James Anderson: We found ourselves in the positions we’re in and we’re not exactly sure how, and we weren’t. We don’t really know how this happened and some of us are just faking it till we make it as well. Well, that’s a commonality. Like there is the perfect example of. Authenticity and sharing and openness and generosity. I may not know necessarily anymore than you do but maybe we can work on this kind of thing together. And on that note, as we start to round out this episode, I wanted to ask each of you if you could describe in a sentence or two what you feel the benefits are of working in a multi-generational workplace. 

Rory Ollerhead: Yeah, I I think it’s about, it’s about getting their perspectives right, everyone’s. If we have, we, our job is to help our clients understand business trends and what’s happening in the marketplace and if you’re not going to tap into what everyone is doing, you’ll never have the full picture. And I, I just got out recently that kids don’t need to breakfast cereal anymore. So that was new to me and. And and had I not had this conversation that I would have. Not have known that, but it’s. One of many things I’ve learned. 

Nadir Amani: I can attest to the cereal comment. Uh yeah, I think for me, like the the biggest thing is the biggest thing. Honesty is that chances are feeling is very dedicated, determined and vicious. But with all of those character traits. Needs to be molded, it needs to be nurtured, it needs to be, uh, you know, directed in the right direction. And that’s where having intergenerational interaction is so powerful. Because you can have those conversations with people who have many years of experience and wisdom and just more so just what is work advice or life advice that can really help to benefit the overall team or the organization. And just applying that to your own work and your own lifestyle. So, I think the biggest thing for me when working intergenerationally is just how much. Learning and and. Benefit there is and the commonalities we have so many commonalities with each other. It’s also amazing to see. 

Emina Maslic: For me, I think the main benefit is that. They kind of make me slow down and stop and think and put things in perspective. Just because we were used to just go, go, go and just do whatever you’re told. And when you work with them, you do need to kind of, pause, think about it, see how you can word things in a way that would make sense, so you know just still. Again, question yourself and give you and challenge yourself on how do you make this. Interesting, understandable and. Make sure that we are all working towards the same goal. So yeah, just kind of pausing. 

Elana Powell: That’s all like a fantastic discussion and the the main point I want to get across is that maybe the Millennial and me. But I will always eat breakfast cereal. So that’s what. They’re all amazing points, right? It’s about learning from each other and just listening to one another and hearing different experiences. And the lived experiences of everyone on our team and I think that each of you had a wonderful point, so I’ll hand it over to James to close this out. 

James Anderson: Well, I just want to thank all of you for helping us to slow down and think about this issue that we’ve been discussing today. The multi-generational workforce. I’d like to thank my co-host Elena Powell for assisting with Co-hosting duties today. Also, I’d like to thank our producer, Jessica Arledge, and our editors, Angie Arnold-Ott and Peter Knowlton. And lastly, I’d like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in to yet another episode of My Story Our voices, be sure to check out another one of our episodes sometime soon. 

Jake Conlin: Hey everyone. It’s Jake again. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of the My story, Our Voices Podcast, TuneIn next time to hear more stories from the NIQ community.