Many of my mentees are millennials. It is proven that they are well educated, skilled in technology, able to multi-task, and have plenty of energy. Some said that they have high self-confident, communicative, and resilience. The last three has been disturbing me so much.

Since these millennials have always high expectations in everything, wishing to gain a fast-paced winning, they tend to ignore and avoid pain in the process of reaching out their expectations. Baper (bad mood) is easily popped up, quick and irresponsible decision is made in no time. It is always for a short term with no vision at all.

Just months ago, I was shocked by a mentee coming to me saying that she wanted to resign from her work in her dream company after only working for two months! It was because she felt that she was not challenged well, her skills were not equipped, and her work was boring.

This lit my anger in confusion.

I do remember the hours and days we spent to talk just to get through the recruitment process. The strategy we made, the preparation we discussed, the dream we envisioned, and many more. They were all gone suddenly. I felt that I was facing a nobody, a stranger, not that excited millennial I knew before.

Why did it happen? Why does it keep happening?

Millennials want immediate results. Hellooo …

All of them said that they need a chance to prove their leadership skills while most of them forget the level of job or position they handle. Leaderships are not simply a label of position you put on your LinkedIn profile nor stories of your achievements you list. Leadership is attitude. If you want to be challenged like a leader, lead you first, prove it to yourself that it works. Validate it to the market; your co-workers, your superior, your surroundings. Count your time. Trust it won’t end in a few months. Have you made your proven track record? Have you experienced sleepless nights because of a complexity of a project shared by your superior? Have you been given an opportunity to create an idea for solving a problem? Even if you have, can you tell the evaluation result you get? Was it good, great, or beyond? You can only tell if you are drawn in it. Make sure that you are the only one to go to for the job you are doing now. Communicate it strategically. If you fail once, twice, thrice, then get back to your feet. Back to your track until you are acknowledged. This will take time.

A high self-confidence is not just when you know you can do it, but when you know how to bring it to the next level not just as simply as saying ‘I can do it’. It’s not enough. Create a challenge before you are even asked. You won’t get bored I am sure. Don’t be afraid with the consequences (I can write more pages for this :)), your effort will take you somewhere you’ll be happily surprised for.

Prove that you can work with less supervision. Prove those promising words you shared during your work interview. This will push you harder to communicate your qualities, your expectation, your ideas, the result, the people you need to work with, and many more. This will drive change.

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Pssstt, the mentee I was talking above, now is still working in the same company and cannot wait to come to this dream office every day. This mentee has been driving change in her because she knows now what’s to expect. She has been offered a more challenging position which now requires her leadership, creativity, resilience, and communication skill. Tougher, harder, crazier. She has driven change. What about you?

Deedee