Gen Yers Pick the Penny Guy

You'd think the obstinate Generation Y would pick a proud/strong George Washington or Teddy Roosevelt, but we are always surprising. Abraham Lincoln seems like the workplace leader of choice for Generation Y.

We recently published a story on PLANSPONSOR.com about which presidents people thought their bosses are most like -- and which presidents they'd like them to be like. The survey by workplace consultants Randstad found that 20% of respondents consider their boss to be a "Dominator," or harbor the speak-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick attitudes of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Teddy Roosevelt. Close behind were the 19% who consider their boss to be the "Good Guy" like Washington or Dwight Eisenhower. The findings about Gen Y were pretty interesting, and might suggest that we aren't as hard to please as we are sometimes characterized:

• More than half of employees who expressed an opinion (55%) said they have changed their work style/habits based on their boss’ personality. Gen Y is sometime characterized as having the most trouble relating to their boss, but they answered similarly to Gen X and Boomers (59% versus 57% of Gen X and 55% of Boomers).
• In fact, even moreso than other generations in the survey, Gen Yers (56%) want to posses similar traits as their boss.
  
• Furthermore, more Boomers (43%) see their boss as lacking people skills than those in Gen Y (32%).
• When shown a list of seven presidents and asked “which president do you wish your boss was most like?” almost one-fifth of Gen Y respondents chose Lincoln.

Why Lincoln? Well he is the played-up president of late, because he is compared to another Illinois-based president Barack Obama, and Gen Y loves Obama. They both rose from the sticks (in Lincoln's case, quite literally). Looking beyond that, there is more to be said for this choice. In the workplace, Generation Y respects leaders who are strong but not domineering. We respect leaders that are idealistic but can also achieve real progress.

If I had been asked, I would choose Lincoln, because he is a representation of what you can achieve in this country without privilege. Of course we also over-romanticize him -- he had quite a few flaws, including racism and chauvinism. If he were alive today, however, I think I'd like the 2009 version of him very much.