Northern California startup land is once again the Golden State for new grads—especially those with a strong sense of entitlement.

And I do mean golden.

Lattice Engines, a small San Mateo startup, where she makes “near the top” of the company’s $80,000 to $130,000 range for an entry level product manager, plus equity.

Notice that the young woman is not a techie, so her salary isn’t pay for (supposedly) hard to find programming skills.

Granted I’m no longer in the front lines of hiring, but I’m still going to stick my neck out and say that no new grad is worth that kind of money—not even programmers.

Why?

Because there is so much more to working than what was learned in class. Stuff like

• you may not know as much as you think, let alone everything;
• experience matters;
• understanding that while screwing up your own work is bad it can wreck the project and damage not just your team, but even the company;
• not only being present, but also productive five days a week, 12 months a year;
• being engaged every day all day—no cramming just before evaluations;
• no spring or winter break or summer vacation (it’s a different rhythm); and
• many other mundane things

In other words, it’s a different world, with different rules and different measures.

Further, new research is showing that entitlement kills innovation and for a new grad to believe they are worth a six figure salary plus equity compensation package is definitely entitlement.

I’m not saying that they aren’t assets or that they won’t contribute significantly, just that it wouldn’t hurt if they proved themselves first.

Can you imagine the impact on their productivity and creativity if their annual raise is meager, let alone justifying that salary if they change jobs?

There is a world of difference in the skills of someone with one year of experience, let alone five or more.

The problem is that by the time that truth is learned they are no longer entry level.

Flickr image credit: Jeff Wilcox

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Entitlement is a hallmark of many Millennials, but if you have a startup entitlement can literally kill it, as it has done many times.

A first-hand example is provided in Battling Entitlement, the Innovation Killer.

The belief that one is special and therefore is entitled to special treatment is rampant these days from those who feel they deserve more to join—more stock, more money, more title—to the frequent epidemics of founder ego that sweep across startup land.

But what about the not so obvious, such as a lack of accountability and favoritism?

Both are forms of entitlement that kill initiative, which, in turn, kills innovation right along with productivity, engagement, loyalty and a host of other desirable attitudes and actions.

Many younger employees are entering the workplace with no real understanding of accountability and many older employees have worked for managers who don’t enforce viable accountability in their organizations.

Accountability requires consequences and consequences need to be implemented evenly across the entire organization, with the only exceptions being made publicly and whose basis is obvious and acceptable to the rest of the team, e.g., serious illness, death, etc.

Founders and managers who claim to have no time to spare for accountability and use termination as a solution exacerbate the problem.

Bosses, whether entrepreneurs or not, have a responsibility to both their company and their people—enforcing accountability while stamping out entitlement is a big piece of it.

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This list is from a columnist at China Daily in response to reducing high turnover and improving retention.

Six essentials employees want in their jobs

1. A great boss
2. Trust and respect
3. Appreciation and recognition
4. Career progression
5. Corporate culture
6. Communication

The list doesn’t differ much from dozens of similar lists you’ve seen under the title of “What Millennials Want’ or descriptions over the decades of what most US workers want.

And I’m willing to bet the list applies to any workforce in any country on Earth or elsewhere in this or other galaxies.

These are universal desires of both educated and uneducated people; what changes is their ability to articulate them.

It’s a list that managers and management should take to heart, because it isn’t going away.

The six are constants that every manager had better understand and provide or be prepared to staff a revolving door.

Flickr image credit: Joe Shlabotnik

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Company cultures are much like the people who create them, unique on the outside, but similar basics on the inside—good like good or bad like bad. It’s how those basics manifest themselves that the world calls culture.

First up from Forbes is a quick overview of the basics; it’s a long way from comprehensive, but it’s a place to start.

There’s a lot of talk these days about how Millennials are demanding/driving change in corporate culture, but when you look at what they want it’s similar to what most people want. The difference is found more in their attitude—as it is in all generations.

Creating culture is an inside out function—what is inside the boss will form the foundation of what is inside the culture—for better or worse—so know the culture and you know the boss and vice versa.

• Pamela Fields, CEO, Stetson
• Lars Björk, CEO, QlikTech and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year national winner in the technology category.
• Amanda Lannert, CEO, Jellyvision Lab; Kevin Willer, co-founder, Google’s Chicago office; and Ed Scanlan, founder/CEO, Total Attorneys.

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Much has been written about Gen Y, AKA, Millennials, in the workforce—the difficulty hiring them, the problems managing them and the much greater problems of retaining them.

What makes them so different?

“When they get to the workplace, they have a sense of entitlement, a need for validation, difficulty in really discerning what to do because their whole lives were managed,” –Christine Hassler, Gen Y career expert and consultant.

Not only managing them, but also fighting their fights—even at the office.

There are eighty million Gen Y, but not all of them fit this description; millions of them are ‘aMillennials‘.

The funny thing (as I’ve said before) is that when you look at a list of what turns Gen Y off you’ll find the same traits that turn off 90+% of the workforce.

• Inflexibility.
• Judgmental attitudes.
• Close-mindedness.
• Unwillingness to listen to and respect Gen Y’s opinions, ideas and views.
• Intimidation.

Yuk! Nobody wants to work for someone like that; the difference is that Gen Y may less patient and quicker to leave—at least until they have a mortgage and kids to consider.

Ryan Healy, co-founder and COO of Brazen Careerist, attributes companies’ success to culture.

“The companies that are doing it well and right know that it’s really about the culture you create.”

Tony Hsieh is well known for creating a culture that both attracts and retains and it’s not just for Millennials.

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Roy F. Baumeister’s research showing how decision fatigue affects hiring, self-control and is tied to ego-depletion.

Self-control and will power aren’t traits you as much about as you did when I was a kid; these days the focus is on instant gratification, whether it’s a child demanding a treat, an adult looking for a new job or you-name-it.

The question really boils down to whether self-control really offers significant long-term benefits?

Benefits that are substantial enough to stand up to the embarrassing tantrum your child pitches when she doesn’t get what she wants?

In experiments beginning in the late 1960s, the psychologist Walter Mischel tormented preschoolers with the agonizing choice of one marshmallow now or two marshmallows 15 minutes from now. When he followed up decades later, he found that the 4-year-olds who waited for two marshmallows turned into adults who were better adjusted, were less likely to abuse drugs, had higher self-esteem, had better relationships, were better at handling stress, obtained higher degrees and earned more money.

Impressive; certainly enough to at least get parents to think about showing some backbone and helping their kids learn self-control.

But what about those of us who are Millennials, Gen Xers and Boomers? Is our situation hopeless? Are we destined/doomed to careen through life without those benefits if we don’t already have them?

Fear not. According to other research by Baumeister your self-control, AKA, will power, can be toned by exercising it, just like any other muscle—and he wrote a book about it.

In recent years the psychologist Roy F. Baumeister has shown that the force metaphor has a kernel of neurobiological reality. In “Willpower,” he has teamed up with the irreverent New York Times science columnist John Tierney to explain this ingenious research and show how it can enhance our lives.

Wow; buff self-control.

How cool is that?

UPDATE: I just read this article about SpongeBob, which adds an interesting kicker to the research.

In another test, measuring self-control and impulsiveness, kids were rated on how long they could wait before eating snacks presented when the researcher left the room. “SpongeBob” kids waited about 2 1/2 minutes on average, versus at least four minutes for the other two groups.

Image credit: Kirkus Reviews

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I’m hearing the same lament from a lot of managers these days; the words and circumstances are different, but it boils down to the same thing—s/he has the knowledge, but doesn’t do anything.

It’s not just younger workers, but all ages.

The current term is “unengaged” and the problem is rampant.

Most managers who call don’t use that term, they complain that people just don’t care. They don’t care about doing more than the minimum; they don’t care about doing great work, instead of just adequate; they don’t care how the company is doing; the list of ‘they don’t care’ goes on and on.

They all see this as a problem with the people they hire.

They ask me where to source good candidates; how to better interview, so they can hire “people who give a damn.”

Some complain that the so-called entitled attitude of Millennials has spread to all ages.

These managers are a disparate group; they come from different industries and range from management newbies to senior executives, but they all have one thing in common.

None of them sees “not giving a damn” as a result of the way they manage, but 98% of the time it is.

So the next time someone you know (or you) complains about people not caring, suggest they ask the only person who really knows the answer—the one they will find in the mirror.

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Longtime readers are familiar with my thoughts (rants?) on the prevalence of the entitled mentality in Millennials and its spread to other generations, including the older ones that should know better by now. (If you missed them search “entitled.”)

With that in mind, you’ll understand why a blog post entitled Entitlement vs. Entrepreneurship caught my eye.

The best and possibly only cure for this mentality is to start your own business. You quickly realize that the world doesn’t guarantee you a desk, computer, bad coffee, and a base salary. As an entrepreneur, you don’t start with a golden egg, you go and create it. It’s hard to feel entitled when you don’t have anything.

If the entitled mindset really does change as a result of the Great Recession it might be enough to consider it a silver lining, albeit a sheer one.

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Its studies show that [word deleted] workers are looking for flexible jobs that have “a climate of respect, work-life fit, supervisor support and learning opportunities.”

Would reading this sentence lead you to expect yet another story about the work expectations of Millennials?

If so, you would be wrong.

The sentence comes from a Wharton article called The Silver Tsunami that discusses the value older workers bring to employers.

Now consider these ten points on how to manage from a recent BNET post

1. Don’t be the boss. At least, don’t appear to be
2. Don’t be dismissive, help them learn new skills.
3. Use their experience.
4. Understand differences in lifestyle.
5. Validate them.
6. Know what motivates them.
7. Talk to your employees.
8. Don’t’ be intimidated by them.
9. Introduce a mentorship program…
10. If [word deleted] employees do step out of line, reel them…

Sounds a lot like advice on managing Gen Y, doesn’t it?

But it’s not; it’s advice on how to manage when employees are older than the manager.

Do you see where I’m going here?

Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials.

They are all people; people with similar desires and foibles, although usually expressed in different terms.

And they all want similar things from their managers: respect, challenge, opportunities to grow, work/life balance—the same things you probably want from your boss.

And it’s your job to provide them to everyone.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

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I don’t have kids, but I have a great interest in education, because I will live out my life in a world run by Millennials and younger. To some extent that is a scary thought, but there are plenty of aMillennials out there, too.

Let’s take a look at the worst idea in higher education—for-profit colleges or perhaps I should say for-profit rip-offs. I first wrote about them April 1, without even noticing the irony of the date, and thought I would share a couple of up-dates today.

There is a perception that operators of for-profit education are devoid of real credibility, but unfortunately, that isn’t true. Kaplan isn’t the largest of the for-profit operators, but its high-profile owner gives it enormous credibility—it is owned by the Washington Post. And the Post is going all out to prevent any kind of regulation or accreditation. Kaplan and the Post and spent $350,000 on lobbying in the third quarter of this year and Chairman Donald Graham is personally lobbying lawmakers.

But over the last few months, Kaplan and other for-profit education companies have come under intense scrutiny from Congress, amid growing concerns that the industry leaves too many students mired in debt, and with credentials that provide little help in finding jobs.

College tuition is going up, student debt is going up and college presidents’ salaries are going up. What do you think? Are they worth their money? (The public survey is coming soon.)

Thirty presidents of private colleges each earned more than $1 million in total compensation in 2008, up from 23 the previous year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual salary report.

Last month I told you about a trend for teachers to run schools and the difference it is making.

Here is the story of another school turned around by its teachers.

Test scores are up 18 percent and enrollment has spiked more than 30 percent. The model works, teachers say, because everyone from the principal to the janitor is vested in the outcome. “Everybody has a stake,” said teacher Bruce Newborn. “We all suffer and we all win.”

If you are looking for a different TV show check out School Pride on NBC. Think Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, but for US schools. The schools will make you angry, ill or cry and then lift you up and amaze you. It’s on Friday night at 8 pm Pacific time.

Finally, Bullying is on the upswing and, as everyone knows, empathy is sadly lacking in kids. Enter Roots of Empathy, an educational organization that uses babies to teach empathy to kids.

Since then, Roots has worked with more than 12,600 classes across Canada, and in recent years, the program has expanded to the Isle of Man, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States, where it currently operates in Seattle. Researchers have found that the program increases kindness and acceptance of others and decreases negative aggression.

Be sure to join me Monday to learn how entrepreneurs are taking bullying in the adult world and turning it into a business, much like they did with leadership.

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