Dealing With a (Much) Younger Boss

Beverly Flaxington

Don’t miss Bev Flaxington's upcoming APViewpoint webinar, The Difficult Client: Five Strategies for Resolving Challenges and Conflicts, on Thursday, April 13 at 4:15 pm.

Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.

Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.

Dear Bev,

I work for a large asset management organization and have 25 years of experience. I have very strong credentials for the financial work that I do. Recently my new boss was hired. This guy is about 15 years younger than I am and thinks he knows more than he does. The most irritating thing about him is that he continually refers to the “next gen” in our department and in our organization. There are many of us, like me, in our late 40sand early 50s. We believe we are contributing quite a bit to the organization and take umbrage at the fact that only the next gen can save us.

I don’t know if it is time for me to move on, or if I should tell this guy he is alienating people. Is it possible to appeal to someone who doesn’t get it and might think I am annoyed I’m working for someone so much younger than I am? I really enjoy what I do and I’m making good money so I don’t want to walk out if I can avoid it. But don’t want to be treated like someone’s old news.

P.O.

Dear P.O.,

We are living in interesting times when you consider there are four or five generations working side-by-side in the workforce. Each generation has its own norms, beliefs and approaches and bridging communication is a current challenge that is only going to grow. In your specific case, you aren’t the boss so finding ways to build team and bring everyone together can’t be your goal individually.

You might start by adopting an air of curiosity with your boss – “As an older employee, I’m wondering who you are referring to when you talk about the company’s future? Do you mean to imply that people like me are not contributing or won’t be able to in the future?” Instead of being angry or defensive, you might pose questions like this that allow your boss to consider the impact his words are having. In many cases when people are offensive, especially to team members or employees they need to be successful, it’s a matter of ignorance, not intention. If you can call his attention to it, and possibly help him reflect on the impact, he might have an “a-hah!” reaction and recognize that what he is saying isn’t very useful to him.