If you don’t remember Kennedy’s death, much less why it mattered, you are not a Baby Boomer. If your parents were children during the war, you are not a baby boomer.

People between the Baby Boom and Gen X are known as the “Jones Generation” – a generation so obscure it hardly even has a name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

If you want a quick understanding of the Jones Generation, watch “That 70s Show”, for a generation (and an ethos) completely alien to people born both before and after.

For example: Boomers grew up in a period of wealth and plenty, took it all for themselves, and quickly abandoned their idealistic values in an orgy of self-satisfaction and hedonism. Typical Boomer presidents: Clinton and George W. Bush.

Jones generation people grew up during a period of economic hardship – the gas crisis, the recessions of the 1980s. They had little (because the Boomers took it all) but they had their values; unlike the boomers they did not sell out and did not lose their idealism (that they even had idealism is what distinguishes them from GenX). Typical Jones president (there will only be one): Barack Obama

So – stop calling us Jones people Baby Boomers. They are *nothing* like us. Really.

I agree that whether or not GenXers are being overlooked by the media doesn’t much matter. (And, in any case, we did get quite a bit of attention when we were the “next” generation.) The person commenting at the conference, however, was much more concerned about whether Xers will be overlooked, at least relatively speaking, when it comes to leadership roles. Quietly going about our business and being successful at it is great, but that in and of itself doesn’t address the leadership question.

For you or any other readers who are in the know, I’d be interested in finding about any studies that suggest Xers are or are not moving into available leadership roles at a rate comparable to previous generations. (I know defining things like “leadership roles” and “comparable” rate would be tricky, but presumably any well-done study would offer defensible definitions.)

Jeff

As Xers, I think we are quietly going about our business. I am 36 and so are most of my friends (give or take a couple years). We are all doing great career-wise. We’re professors, attorneys, physicians, marketing directors, journalists. And I don’t live in a major metropolitan area. I live in Michigan, where the economy is in the toilet. And yet Xers are still succeeding.

We may be overlooked in the media, but who really cares.