Millennials – people born between 1981 and 1996 – have been accused of being many things. Entitled. Overly sensitive. Tech-obsessed.
In short, we’re seen as ‘entitled, narcissistic and lazy’.
My name is George Griffiths. I’m a millennial and I’ve been the Managing Director of DBS check company uCheck since 2018.
I’m not the only one either. The managing directors of Snapchat, Tumblr and Squarespace are all considered to be millennial MDS and are running some of the most prominent digital companies in the world.
The idea of a millennial MD can seem like a contradiction – a lot has been made in the media about the economic troubles this generation is facing – but I know that through hard work and ambition, I can successfully lead a company at my age.
If you’d like to know how to manage a company as a millennial, check out my top tips.
Create a business you care about
When thinking of inspirations for businesses, it’s all too easy to follow a popular trend.
This may be great for you in the short term, but once the trend goes out of fashion, you’re left with something that has no hope in making you money.
It’s better to start a business that you really believe in.
I’ve been working in employee screening for years, first starting out helping my family run their DBS checking business when I was only seven years old by folding up paper forms – over 100,000 in the course of ten years!
So when it came to becoming the managing director of uCheck, I was confident that I knew the field I was working in and could use my hands-on experience to oversee the company.
It’s important then to be passionate about your business from the get-go – that kind of insight can be a major help when appealing to customers or simply having an idea for what’s necessary or missing in your marketplace.
Build the right team
If you have a killer idea, it’s important that you have a team that will help make your dream possible. You have to hire the best.
Who’s the best fit for you, though? Do you want to focus on hiring graduates and millennials who are likely to bring energy and innovation to your company? Or do you want to hire more experienced professionals who are going to understand and predict trends in your chosen market?
The answer should be both. You want a healthy mix of employees with different backgrounds in your business – diversity in opinions and experience is what helps a business expand beyond its initial idea.
What your employees should all be focused on, however, is doing the best job possible to build your business. Don’t hire anybody that you feel may be fickle or likely to jump ship at the first opportunity; you need to trust those at the helm.
For example, my excellent team at uCheck are hard working and driven and happy to support each other – just the kind of people you need around in a potential crisis!
There’s a reason why family businesses are considered the backbone of the British economy – if you couldn’t trust your coworkers in real life, why on Earth would you trust them with your business?
Hard work pays off
As with any kind of job, managing a business involves a lot of hard work. You’re not going to become an instant success as soon as your company is formed.
Being a MD means dealing with many and various challenges – some of which you can’t plan for. That means you’re going to have to be willing to put the work in, especially when things get stormy.
Remember also that you’re in charge of an entire team of staff. They need to know that their MD is committed to the company and is prepared to lead by example.
While millennials are stereotyped as lazy and entitled, research shows that they are actually more likely to be workaholics than any other generation.
So as a millenial MD, you’ll likely be working harder then ever. Use this to your advantage, get on top of tasks before they start to pile up and chip away at those larger projects that are going to eat away at your time.
In short: a little work goes a long way.
Be confident, but not arrogant
Considering the relative age of a millenial, it’s unlikely that you’re going to have the same level of experience as everybody you’ll be dealing with in your business: whether that’s suppliers, clients or even people you’re hiring.
But it’s important to be confident in your strengths.
Remember that, even if you’re dealing with executives and investors who may be older or have more experience than you, the buck stops with you – if you’re the MD, you’re making those final decisions.
Nobody’s going to understand your own business (and how it works internally) better than you, so make sure that you stand your ground.
Just make sure you don’t mistake confidence for arrogance! If you’re dealing with someone who has more experience than you, use it as an opportunity to learn and grow.
It’s important to stand your ground, but it never helps to upset or annoy a potential ally in the world of business.
Don’t sleep on your social media
The benefit of being in the same generation as one of your biggest markets is that you should already have an idea of who you’re appealing to.
Millennials spend a lot of time in front of their screens and you should be capitalising on this. You should also know what does and doesn’t work as part of this generation – traditional marketing doesn’t apply.
Social media is a major part of the millennial lifestyle, especially Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
It’s important to have a presence on all the major networks to make sure you can reach as many different users as possible – there’s no point limiting your communication.
You’re going to want to have a strong brand identity and maintain good social media relationships with clients. Take the skills that you’ve developed through communicating digitally with your friends and put them to use for your business!
How to be a millennial MD
Are these the only things you need to do to become a millennial MD?
Of course not.
As with any business, being a good MD requires good instincts and the ability to make difficult decisions – regardless of your age.
Yet these tips, if you follow them, can help you focus on the most important thing in business leadership: success.
Being a millennial shouldn’t mean that you’re any less qualified to lead a company than anyone of a different generation.
Your knowledge of the market, confidence and decision-making will show that a millennial MD is the future of business. And the future is bright.
