Which generation of business owners is more confident, millennials or boomers?

A recent Bank of America survey shows small business owners are more confident in their local economy than the national and global economies.A recent Bank of America survey shows small business owners are more confident in their local economy than the national and global economies.

Which ones are the most confident? Millennials.

Of millennial small business owners, 78 percent expect to increase revenue in the next year, compared with 71 percent of Generation X’s small business owners and 52 percent of baby boomers.

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And 87 percent of millennials expect to grow their business over the next five years, compared with 73 and 57 percent, respectively.

And while boomers greatly outnumber millennials in calling themselves dedicated and hard-working (52 percent of boomers to 7 percent of millennials), millennials are much more confident (18 percent of millennials to 3 percent of boomers).

So why, after all that hard work, are boomers struggling with confidence? It’s such an interesting divide presented by the survey and, it seems to me, that answer is in technology.

According to the survey, technology makes 77 percent of millennials feel “in control,” while 44 percent of boomers feel that technology helps with “work/life balance.”

I wish the survey would go more into the sense of control boomers get from technology, but it pairs these numbers side by side. Either there’s a tremendous bias to the report, or it’s trying to illustrate a fundamental difference: While millennials are using technology to take control, boomers are using it to keep up.

If this is the case, it gives millennials an edge in the emerging business world: The survey also states that 85 percent of businesses have implemented technology in the workplace, either through social media (44 percent), digital security software (44 percent), cloud computing (38 percent) or selling goods online (38 percent).

That only makes sense to me: My grade was the first in our school district to grow up with computers in the classroom from kindergarten through our senior year in 2006. But it should be intuitive to most people, since millennials are often regarded as the technological generation.

This only highlights the need for cross-mentorship: Millennials crave mentorship and thrive on it in the workplace, but we can also be a great resource for our boomer co-workers who might not be as tech savvy as the millennials in the office.

The secret here is communication. We all have different skill sets and can be resources for the people around us.

ALSO ON THE NJBIZ “MILLENNIAL MINDED” BLOG:


Finding common ground between millennials and boomers

Gen Z better than millennials? I literally can’t even…

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