Age Difference ...

I know i am getting old ... and, this was just confirmed by a presentation i made today ... I was to make a presentation about Knowledge Management to a group of kids just out of college. And, it was really an interesting experience. Usually, when i am making these presentations, i am doing so with experienced folk, guys who can boast a few strands of white hair on their heads. To give you an idea of the difference ...

In trying to demonstrate the power of social computing, i use the example of wikipedia ... I always ask the audience how many of them have heard of, or used wikipedia. And, with the usual crowd, i manage to draw blanks from at least half the crowd. In this instance, however, the entire audience had not only heard of wikipedia, but what i could gather from the dicussion was that all of them are quite active users of wikipedia. The entire audience was far more open to the idea of collaboration, and more willing to participate in initiatives of collaboration than an audience in a senior age group than these. The response (through show of hands, and the discussion which usually follows the presentation) was far more positive here, than with the senior age group.

And this is one of the major aspects of change in the workplace, to my mind. A lot of folks have written about this. Just thought i would post this because this was an experience quite different from what i otherwise have.