Centennials Challenge on Millennials Legacy

By Catalina Hernndez & Gustavo Santos

When Evan Thomas Spiegel left Stanford University to focus on the development of
a class project in 2011, no one imagined the big success that it would have among young
people. Nowadays, his project is named Snapchat, and its purpose is send files that disappear
from the recipients device after a short period of time. Spiegel, who is an American Internet
entrepreneur, was born in 1990, and his success is due to his strategic decisions over these
new consumers (Dickey, 2014). Just as Spiegel, companies should pay attention to these new
generational habits, like their attitude toward Snapchat, because they are evidently different,
which indicates a generational change. The members of this new generation are still
teenagers, however they appear to be more practical than their predecessors. It is important
to find out this generation challenge and define their predecessors legacy.
The general knowledge about generations can be confusing. According to Cambridge
Dictionary a generation is all the people of about the same age within a society or within a
particular family (Cambridge, 2016). In fact, peer group unveil certain common
characteristics, preferences and values. The Center for Generational Kinetics distinguishes
five generations in society, depending on the year of birth: Traditionalists or Silent
Generation (1945 and before), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1976),
Millennials (1977 to 1995), and Centennials (1996 and after) (The Center for Generational
Kinetics, 2016). The world is about to be run mainly by the last two generations: Millennials
and Centennials.
Technological, collaborative, multitasking, confident, and team-oriented are some of
the characteristics of the Millennial Generation. They always have been overvalued by others
due to their early adaptability of technology. Their purpose is to solve world problems that
the older generations have not been able to. Millennials do not sacrifice their personal life in
order to succeed; however, they look for having opportunities to develop their careers to
reach perfection. In fact, Spiegel, as a Millennial, was interested in technology since he was
a child. Hard work and confidence lead him to be successful.
On the other hand, Centennials, who were born around the turn of the century, are
mobile-digital native, practical and value-conscious people, so they choose experiences
instead of material things. This generation would prefer to live in an open society with
different beliefs and values. They enjoy life despite its challenges, and have high expectations
for themselves. Centennials are the most racially diverse generation in history, so that they
will influence society and cultures. They are extremely open-minded, rely on each other, and
express emotions and feelings freely. That is why Centennials are growing up with a different
thought process than their predecessors, the Millennials.
In just a few years, the first Centennials are going to reach adulthood and they will
become about 20% of the workforce according to U.S. News & WorldReport (Dave, 2016).

It is important for companies to be prepared for these customers and manage this new
generation of employees, getting the best of them and promoting their initiatives. Therefore,
companies must develop strategies according to the Centennials needs.
Each generation had to accomplish a life cycle, adapting themselves to the way the
last generation used to work, making changes according to their own beliefs and points of
view, and finally giving the torch to the next generation. This process is going to happen with
Millennials and Centennials in the nearly future. Millennials legacy includes a
technological-developed world with well-established companies, and a big-digital market, so
Centennials challenge is getting along with Millennials in order to work together to increase
the revenue of the companies. Centennials behavior and attitudes will have to be resilient
since they are exposed to situations that Millennials did not have to deal with. They also have
a different perception about the use of technology, which also creates challenges and
opportunities for companies and industries.
To sum up, Millennials turn is declining, and now it is time for Centennials. While
generations are defined by many factors, their capability to connect society with technology
leads to their success. Human characteristics evolve throughout the years with new
challenges that constantly arise. Centennials will be those who define the worlds new trends,
not only for companies but also for societys life styles with new relationships. It is not known
that Centennials will keep their characteristics, but the abilities that they reach during their
developmental years will influence them to succeed in life.

References:
Callender, R. (2015). Centennials and Millennials use technology differently:
http://us.kantar.com/business/brands/2015/comparing-centennials-and-millennialsin-use-of-tech/
Cambridge, U. (2016). Cambridge Dictionary:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/generation
Dave, B. (2016). Aptos Engage. An inside Look at Centennials:
http://www.slideshare.net/AptosRetail/an-inside-look-at-centennials
Dickey, M. (2014). The Fabulous Life of Evan Spiegel, CEO of Billion-Dollar Startup
Snapchat:
http://www.businessinsider.com/life-of-snapchat-ceo-evan-spiegel-2014-6
Millenial Marketing (2016). Who are Millenials:
http://www.millennialmarketing.com/who-are-millennials/
The Center for Generational Kinetics (2016). Generational Breakdown: Info about All of the
Generations. Texas-USA:
http://genhq.com/faq-info-about-generations/
The Futures Company (2015). Centennial Infographic. The Centennials:
http://thefuturescompany.com/centennials-infographic/