As one of the members who helped put the Gen Y presentation together, it really has been amazing seeing the responses we’ve gotten since giving this for the first time and watching it bounce around to various circles throughout NASA and outside the agency as well. Thank you to everyone for the responses, both positive and negative.
While the majority of responses have been largely very positive (as Nick’s “Small Steps” post can attest) some of the more interesting responses we’ve seen have actually been the negative ones. The picture we painted in the presentation did not necessarily place our generation in a completely positive light. Some have questioned who Gen Y thinks they are to want things to change for them. Some have pointed to the spoiled nature of a generation who has grown up expecting instant gratification and importance.
Where do these perspectives/characteristics come from? Well, among others, part of it is the idealism and passion of youth seen in any generation and part of it is a product of the environment we’ve been raised in. While some of these attributes are undoubtedly parts of our generation’s character, I would pose the question: how do we work WITH these and other characteristics to encourage new ideas, work together to blend all generations’ inputs, and challenge people to lead the way in creating a better future for everyone?
The purpose of the presentation was to spark a conversation. We wanted to get people talking about how to make NASA a better, more open, innovative, empowering agency that could appeal not only to our generation, but to all generations. These powerpoint slides were merely a reflection of that desire through perspectives and conversations we’ve had with literally hundreds of people from all walks of life, inside and outside the space industry. But it isn’t just a series of slides that will get this conversation going. It will take PEOPLE and it will take homage to the generations who have gotten us here and it will take an open-mindedness in encouraging new ideas to develop across the whole spectrum of different backgrounds- age, race, gender, experience- all of it.
Above everything, I think we would not be honoring the legacy of those who came before us in space exploration if we DIDN’T think we could make a difference by trying to get people talking.
So what to make of this new Gen Y? Yes, we have been dubbed the “me” generation. Is that a terrible thing? What if we could take our generation’s “self-importance” and use it to make a difference? Can it be that we are also an empowered generation who will not be afraid to challenge accepted norms when needed? Are we passionate? Yes. Anxious? Of course. Connected? Absolutely. These are the types of things all organizations can use to better understand how to start working together- with all generations- towards improving things, regardless of how the conversation is brought up or who does the bringing up.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:45 am
I think it’s less about being spoiled and more about being empowered. I get the impression a lot of what we/ GenY are _asking_ for are things older generations want, too, but _claiming_ we are different/ special is very marginalizing. I wonder about the part of the presentation that says “gee that sounds like me”, but then “well, there are some similarities, but we really are different”. While that is true (every generation is unique, and the global aspect is very GenY), I wonder if there is more value in pointing out common desires, rather than differences. But that kind of is making the presentation evolve into something different than it was designed for (why isn’t NASA reaching Gen Y)… but doesn’t some of the most interesting stuff come from un-intention
Maybe what’s most different about Gen Y? We push for empowerment, because we’ve been inspired by what we’ve seen before us. Not sure how that fits in with major cynicism (unless that’s just me!)
The irony of the ’spoiled’ label– uh, well who made this generation that way?!
March 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
The “spoiled” commentary I’ve seen flung around bothers me, coming from the generation that gave us S&L scandals, junk bonds, the ascendance of insane consumer debt as a matter of course, etc, etc, etc.
You guys are doing good work, and you have good ideas. And you are *absolutely* not alone on this one. Some of us just aren’t as empowered yet.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I think we absolutely should be an empowered generation that is not content to wait around during the best years of our lives. Just this morning on the AIAA Daily Launch, the lead article was about the looming worker shortage as the aerospace work force continues to age. This isn’t about entitlement. It’s about responsibility. We will have no other option but to pick up the slack and be the force for change that we seek.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I received the following information in an email a couple of weeks ago, before I read the Gen-Y perspective presentation and I shared it with other members on our management team.
Silent Generation: (Born 1919-45) Grew up in hard but stable times with the Great Depression and WW2 shaping their lives. Key influences were the rise of labor unions, the New Deal and the silver screen. First exposed to technology in the workplace.
Baby Boomers: (Born 1946-64) Grew up during the radical changes of the 60’s and 70’s and is the first generation to have real choices in retirement. Influencers include television, women and civil rights movements. Like the Silent Generation, they were also first introduced to technology at work.
Generation X: (Born 1965-77) Grew up as the first generation of kids in single or two-working-parent households. Ideals were shaped by MTV and the Challenger disaster. First generation to be exposed to computers in school.
Millennials, aka Generation Y: (Born 1978-99) First generation of workers who grew up fully connected to technology such as email, cell phones, instant messaging, MySpace.com and YouTube.com. This proliferation of technology contributed to greater exposure to global diversity.
What struck me is not how to communicate with just the Gen-Y group, but how to take all these different generations and have them work together. People are working longer, since they are living longer and we have to remember why they are the way they are and why we are the way we are and provide multiple ways of communicating ideas so that everyone understands.
I was a teacher before working at NASA, and in my schooling they talked about all different types of learners in a classroom. If we think of each meeting, All-Hands, etc. as a classroom and that each person learns or hears information differently, then we need to find different ways to communicate to all the generations.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Older generations will often feel that the younger ones are spoiled, just because society advances, and the fruits of our science and technology fall to younger folks, and not the older ones that built them. So, yup, baby boomers and Gen Xers might feel that they should get more having built the technology that Gen Yers use, and have defined them - they end up feeling that they’re the ones who did the dreaming, and Gen Y gets to live the dream. But that’s the way it’s always been!
We’re entering a time when the baby boomers are going to increasingly hand the management of the space program to the Gen Xers, and, meanwhile, we’re seeing the first Gen Yers graduating with PhDs, ready to start building their own dreams and solutions. Older folks need to accept their mentorship and management roles, and help Gen Y build those dreams, to prepare for the generation after Gen Y, which will probably be the first stable spacefaring generation. Gen X is probably going to build the systems and form the basis for the crews that fly to the Moon, Gen Y will help build the systems that get us out of cislunar space, and maybe even get to crew Mars missions, and the generation after them will form the true space exploration generation, and will certainly be the dominant crew members of Mars missions, and beyond.
We need to be willing to let the young be empowered by what our own work and dreams have generated. If we didn’t think that, we wouldn’t be in science and engineering. We must have picked our career directions because we didn’t believe in being selfish and doing things only for ourselves. We need to continue doing that, and recognize that our Gen Y sisters and brothers have the same drive, in the end. We must let them live the dreams we’re building, and mentor them in those dreams. That’s as important as building the technology we need to go forward. Thank goodness we have Gen Y folks interested in space, or we’d all be in trouble! Thanks, Gen Y, for giving us a hope - I hope we can be there for you, to help you do everything you do by being their for us.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I couldn’t agree more, Steve. I hope we can convince more people, inside the space program and out, to think in those terms. That’s why I went to speak at Texas A&M last night and I’ve given presentations to my high school and the middle school my friend teaches science at.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I found the posts on NASAwatch regarding the presentation *fascinating*! I included one here for discussion purposes but invite you to check out the rest here: http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2008/03/gen_y_and_nasa_1.html
NASAwatch Editor’s note: The following is from a NASA Watch reader in regard to the recent GEN Y posting. Personally, I believe that this person’s attitude is an example of why many parts of the NASA family are becoming further isolated from the real world - as opposed to becoming more closely aligned to it. My biases aside, this person’s comments do represent a viewpoint prevalent at NASA - and that viewpoint needs to be heard.
“Keith: Just wanted to provide some feedback to you as a NASAWatch reader and contractor out of Houston regarding the stories about the “Gen-Y” presentation.
Although I did not attend the NGAC at Ames, I was invited and my civil servant “counterpart” did attend. I have read the Gen-Y presentation and reviewed your articles.
Personally, I find the entire “Gen-Y” discussion quite pathetic. This is one of those times where I wish I was *not* part of the group, as I really do not think there was much substance to the presentation. I’ve seen better presentations in powerpoint from children in middle school. Truly, as someone born in 1980, I wish I was born a little earlier so I could be “Gen-X” rather than Y.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
These comments have me a bit puzzled. They seem to perpetuate, to me, the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. I personally feel as if these folks are missing the point of the entire presentation, the fact that a dialog must be opened before anything substantial can be hammered out. I hardly doubt many would argue against the notion that small steps are key to gaining widespread support and interest. I see the presentation as a sort of proposal to our managers and other employees (not unlike the proposals we see as members of the technical and scientific community), displaying the kinds of ideas that are whirling around inside our heads and are in front of our eyes on a daily basis. It does dishearten me a bit to see such criticism of these ideas I share with the authors, because in my eyes, this is akin to rejecting the ideas of a generation (I’m assuming, of course, that more folks would agree, than disagree, with these ideas), an unwillingness to challenge status quo and evaluate without bias an alternate approach to resolving an issue everyone is aware of. That being said, though, I also am glad to see that there isn’t widespread support of these ideas, because that would not make this push for change any fun or challenging
March 6th, 2008 at 2:32 am
I guess what makes GenY think they are so special that NASA needs to engage them? A majority of the general public could care less about NASA and more about the latest Britney debacle or other vapid news items. Sure every so often pockets of interest follow a shuttle mission (the firefly fans on STS-117, the students for B.Morgan’s completion of the Challenger’s legacy and the star wars fans with STS-120) but for the most part the public doesn’t care. heck one presidential candidate wants to put NASA moon plans on hold for 5 years and nobody blinked. The ISS has been staffed 365/24/7 for years now and the public could care less. Is it because NASA doesn’t package itself in short frantically edited Michael Bay styled MTV shorts or because space exploration has no impact on their lives. I thought the presentation was a bloated shell of a pitch, that lacked any real content. If I was the administrator of NASA you would have been kicked out by about slide 20, there was no content, no forward plan, no proposals just sugar coated flashy whining about not being empowered. This from a generation who is more engaged in American Idol than politics or other more pressing issues and they want to help guide the space program because the pay taxes and are the current crop of co-ops or new hires, please. Until NASA has to start taking direct public donations to meet their budget goals I wouldn’t worry too much what GenY thinks cause every tax payer shoulders the load for NASA. It is great that you are enthusiastic about the space program, but if they were to cater to you now with flashy myspace pages or instant messages from the ISS, what about GenZ? when they grow up your youtube and twitter will be archaic compare to their direct neural interface gizmos. Besides how exciting can you make the ISS going round and round, or a rover taking dusty red photos for the millionth frame or the endless requirement meetings for Constellation? What do you want a blog from some engineer telling you how the vehicle is still too heavy, barely has any redundancy and behind schedule. ooh I feel so empowered. Keep to your day jobs as rocket scientists, blog on your own, tell your friends about the cool stuff you do, but I wouldn’t expect an agency that is going to take 11 years from VSE to first mission back to the ISS to be on the cutting edge of social technology(maybe the trailing edge)
March 6th, 2008 at 3:50 am
The responses to the pitch have been interesting. Stepping back from the whole situation, this is what I see. The presentation is entitled Generation Y Perspectives, simply because it was put together by Gen Y-ers. However, the most intriguing responses have been from those that want their turn to be empowered as well, even though they are not *technically* part of Gen Y. But maybe what the presentation is really getting at, and the reason people want to hear it is because it is about a relationship between NASA and the public. If Gen Y reaches out to get heard and engaged, then shouldn’t it be that Gen X will get included in that engagement as well? We should not have a popularity contest going on here so much as a social movement. A social movement from those in and interested in the space community to reach out to those not currently in the space community. In response to the previous comment, true: the presentation does not have a forward plan. However, the presentation has generated the discussion that can open the doors to develop and implement a forward plan. It is our responsibility, everyone who has taken the time to think about the perspectives presentation and has a response, positive or negative, to determine what that forward plan is.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Maybe we are spoiled, and we don’t realize it. But I’d like to add a little perspective about how “boring” NASA appears to the public.
Americans constantly live in such an abundance of opportunity that we find it easy to criticize everything around us, including what others can often only dream of being possible. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer, I never experienced this more than when I would tell people in my village about working at NASA. I was continually surprised at how many questions this generated about space, and how often people from all cultures think about it. It seems that turning our conversations towards the cosmos is one thing that unites all of us. And it goes without saying that if people in far-flung corners of the world like Turkmenistan (you didn’t know they were paying attention, did you?) know of what NASA is capable, then it is clearly something worth supporting and improving. We’re responsible not only to our taxpayers, but for inspiring the rest of the world, too. When it comes down to it, we should be so lucky to live in a country that dares to even have a space program.
Mike, I think you’re missing the point. The objective here is to open a discussion to figure out HOW to get people to care about NASA—not to lay out a detailed forward plan with no input from others. Gen Y doesn’t have all the answers, but is willing to step up to the plate; I therefore view our “self-importance” not in the form of some giant, collective inflated ego, but rather, more as self-reliance and industriousness-indeed, if others are content to sit and be comfortable in their work ruts and mindsets that nothing will ever change, and not be willing to take responsibility for palpable change, *that* is what I think will truly get us all into trouble. Isn’t this largely why Ghandi and Martin Luther King are viewed as such important historical figures? Because they were the change they wished to see in the world?
A related post on here mentions that we support the Agency and want to improve it because that’s how we’re compelled to contribute to society. I struggle to find selfishness or egoism in that effort. If we’re that excited about space, we have the potential to make our enthusiasm contagious to the rest of our generation, and we’re simply using the current tools available to us (blogs, twits, etc.) that we feel help us best reach out to others to generate a productive dialogue. And if these efforts are considered too self-congratulatory and self-important, then I don’t want to be part of any organization that isn’t.
March 6th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I remember my first job in aerospace. It was amazing, and I would not trade the experience for anything. I was very lucky, and several of the older guys decided to mentor me. They later told me the reason I was chosen was because I did not act like I already knew everything. They taught me things I never learned in school.
There were several things that ran through my mind as I read this presentation. First, my most memorable successes were a result of perseverance and persistence. If Gen Y’s attention span is so short, how will they ever experience the rewards of perseverance?
I found their ideas regarding communication as self-limiting. If you are always expecting people to communicate with you on your terms, how will you ever understand that communication is a “two way street”?
Technology has made this country what it is today. If you are not willing to invest in technology today (i.e. NASA) what kind of country will you leave your children?
My generation grew up with computers too. Mattel Electronic Football was our version of the Gameboy. I am really glad that I have not become platform dependent. The technology was changing so fast that we became adaptable and accepting of each technological advance. I realize that mainframes, UNIX boxes, PCs, and Apples all have their place in this world. I am willing to communicate and utilize any type of technology for work, communication, and fun. As far as I am concerned, the only limits we have are the limits we place upon ourselves. My question to Gen Y is do you want to limit yourselves or do you want to be the best possible people you can be? Maybe you can learn something from everyone, no matter what his or her generation might be. Maybe some day you will be so passionate about your work that you truly enjoy it, and you won’t need people to come find you. They will feel your excitement, and want to share your enthusiasm. Maybe just maybe… The choice is yours.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Katherine- great thoughts, and I couldn’t agree more. If the presentation came across as self-limiting, that was actually the opposite of our intention. I think some background is needed here. The presentation was a result of a request from others outside our generation to characterize Generation Y because it is a group of people which NASA has realized that it has a large disconnect with. Our task was to provide a point-of-view from as wide of a range of an entire generation (no small task, there!) as we could. We chose a somewhat unconventional powerpoint presentation to do this because it was both a commonly-used communication means and a new approach to communicating a message at the same time.
To generalize an entire generation is tricky. I think the fellow Gen Y community in the space business sees itself in the same terms of perseverance and persistence as you described above. The vast majority of Gen Y lies outside the circles of space exploration, unfortunately, and they have been identified as a group of people NASA wants to connect with.
Our message was to say that in order to connect with that audience, communicators need to take into account just HOW different the generation is. By doing so, we all can start to learn how to come together to understand perspectives from ALL generations, backgrounds, and experience levels. So the question of limiting ourselves is one I don’t think you need to ask the space Gen Y community- we are trying to stand up and provide our perspectives as just that- perspectives. We aren’t trying to make people come find us. The message of the presentation is that in order to learn something from everyone, we need to take in ALL perspectives and open up a discussion to work towards improving things, because the alternative is to fall into the acceptance of things the way they are because that’s how they’ve always been. How can we push back the frontiers of exploration with that mentality?
The providing of a perspective is merely a method of picking a starting point to open up a dialogue. Again, thank you so much for the comments. If you have ideas on how to improve on the slides or want to discuss more ideas about how to make NASA better for all generations, please let us know!
March 6th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Gen Y, first of all, I am thrilled that any generation is talking about communicating the thrill they get from involvement in this field. I have gone through the pitch twice and probably need a few more times to truly digest it (so thanks for the flat PPT!).
Let me share a few thoughts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Communication
This link will explain StratComm enough for this point: Top down, one way communication is not dead. What I see is that whatever additions to the NASA-Aerospace communications efforts are made, this one will still be with us for awhile. Why do I say that? Because as much as you want to flatten the orgs, our country’s leadership and budgeting do not currently work that way. So while you think top down, one way is dead for your generation, it still exists for the rest of the world. (I hope to live long enough, I am 51, to see you kill it)
The challenge then is not to kill it, but to design a new process/system/effort that ADDS to the stodyg top down method by filling in with the various methods described in your pitch.
Sorry, must quit for now. I am doing WiFi at McDonalds and my battery is about out of juice.
The law of the jungle is adapt or die. And I think that has been around for a few thousand years. But hopefully you will spur more adpatation and more quickly than it would have happened if driven from the top down…
Faithfully, Dan Carpenter
March 6th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I think that the “spoiled” label, or another that is similar, has been applied in the past to all generations by the generations above…it is hard for those who were raised in the “old” system not to be jealous of or annoyed at the new generation whose members have is “easier” (as the grass is always greener) and whose memebers are trying to change what the other generation was rasied in or even creasted. Can you see the potential for conflict?
Of course there always is the questions of whether they are truly spoiled, or just express themselves in that way, or the way in which they expressed their needs was interpretted as spoiled by the older generation whose members have their own grudges and biases that condition them to respond in such a way?
It is also true that Gen Y has been the richest generation so far in terms of stock increases and disposable income with jobs and no big expenses prior to the memebrs reaching college. There have been some big changes since then, Gen Y has watched there vision of thw world change, crash, and now that they are old enough, educated enough, rich enough to have a say, they are, and in a loud and technilogically driven way that is bound to anger others.
I have to wonder about the people who call the geny y dreamers “spoiled”- because why wouldn’t you want life to be “easier” for those who come after you? Why do you try to correct them, push them down? why don’t you accept, applaud, encourage them for having a good life and wnating to make a difference? Instead of suppressing them, use their energy and enthusiasm and re-focus it, if you feel it is misaimed?
March 7th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
As a Boomer on the borderline of X who happens to agree with a lot of the comments made here, I agree that if we want people to support the NASA mission then we have to be willing to meet everyone on their own ground… For GenY that is clearly Starbucks & social networking sites, etc…
For a long time, I have posted on my favorite sites about the importance of our mission and shared my point of view about the many great things we get to do here… I wish more of us were allowed to build those types of connections with NASA’s full support & buy-in, without being paranoid that it will be seen as empty socializing, or even worse - some type of abhorrent anti-social behavior by people who aren’t comfortable online… I’m sure if all the people of NASA were encouraged to share more about what we do online, then more people outside NASA would start to understand and support our mission…
Also, as a woman who has put up with loads of crap to get to where I am in my career, I believe in empowerment and I agree that empowering ourselves FIRST is the only way change happens… Government agencies are notoriously awful at it & someone has to start the ball rolling…
As a person who has worked with all kinds of people over the course of a long career, I’ve seen the power of diversity first-hand… Teams work best when they represent multiple points of view…
Where I _disagree_ with the GenY presentation is the overall approach, which seemed anything but inclusive to me… In trying to teach “us” the value of “you,” quite a few of “us” felt marginalized and devalued… This is the natural fallout of us & them thinking, the basis of all prejudice and a form of anti-diversity in my mind, no matter who’s using it…
Maybe some recognition of the fact that a lot of us at NASA got here because we were once like you, and the fact that a lot of US are also frustrated with the way things happen here, would have helped us hear you a bit more…
It also would have helped had “you” given “us” a little more credit for what we have done since most of us who have spent our careers here have done so because we believe strongly in what we do…
Quite a few of “us” could have left for more money or a bigger title, but we didn’t… And while I’ve never been on Mars or the moon, I feel soo lucky to have accomplished some of the amazing things I have done here at NASA… I’ll never be rich or powerful working here, and that’s frustrating sometimes, but it’s so worth the sacrifice to get to do the exploring that I have always and _will always_ love… Most of the people of NASA, both young and old, came (& stay) here for that same reason — because this is one of the few places we can direct our passion towards a peaceful purpose… That’s a pretty big thing to have in common…
March 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Libby, I agree with you that we are all here to direct our passion toward a peaceful purpose - I love that! I think that’s a cause worth having and living for and sacrificing “financial success” as the world measures it. I just attended the Gen Y conference and came out of it confused - are “we” (Gen Y) trying to figure out how we can get Gen Y involved in making JSC a better place, or are we trying to get Gen Y interested in space since they’re not interested (and 40% opposed) and they’ll be footing the bill, or could it be something else? One thing is for sure…the presenters set out to get a dialog going and that has definitely happened. That’s a great start - but now it’s a matter of ACTION. We can’t sit around in a mucky debate - we have to just start doing something. Whether it’s Gen Y taking baby steps to engage Gen Y in an awareness of NASA or Gen Y taking baby steps to improve JSC doesn’t matter - both are great. But I think the first one is bigger because we’re talking about changing the thinking of the future generation which will then influence the first. What does everyone else think?
March 10th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Respectfully, I see so much mis-directed energy. A government agency will never be the source of innovation or value. Instead, they stifle innovation and destroy value.
Please — if you want to make a difference, which I applaud, do it without participating in a government programs that simply redistributes wealth.
Don’t skip the hard steps: go convince the capital markets that your ideas are good ideas. Get them to invest and then go nuts. That, my friends, is the American way.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
This may not relate but I was requested by a member of the conference to post these thoughts. Feel free to email me if you like. [PS This site does not view correctly in internet explorer 6…I cannot see the left side of the webpage. Home looks like ‘me’.]
I believe that the more intelligent people you have working on the lower rungs of the ladder who are given the freedom to make changes themselves to their own processes, the more improvement there will be. When you have more ‘less intelligent’ people working on the lower rungs, that are not improving anything, are unable to relate to the needs of others, and are still making changes, you end up with a giant mess of a bureaucracy like we have now. You can’t have dumb people, or at least unaware people, making the process changes. If they want a better NASA overall they need to start raising the bar and attracting the most intelligent people. That is why NASA was good years ago and now it is a cumbersome bureaucracy of sheep. They need to identify intelligence and ambition more than they need collaboration. A bunch of sheep collaborating will still not outsmart the shepherd. NASA does have some really intelligent people that they have identified. They need many more. They need to let the sheep eat their grass and stop giving them more ability to change things by promoting them.
Charismatic sheep tend to look intelligent, so just be aware. Ideas like switching NASA to apple because it is posh is dumb. The intelligent people should be pointing out that a NASA RFP to buy new computers looks at things like cost versus benefit to decide which new computers to purchase. The intelligent people should point out that if there is a need to start buying computers by using their poshness as a factor along with cost, availability, tech support, etc; then that should be implemented. Just choosing apple or twitter with no thoughts on impact is a sheep thing to do. I pray that NASA does not become a social hierarchy where the charismatic sheep make the decisions.
March 12th, 2008 at 6:13 am
To the GenY four,
You guys ROCK! Keep preaching it my man/woman. The key point you guys make is that organizations that don’t engage GenY, won’t exist in the future. Simple as that. The DoD suffers from the exact same problem. Not many come in, and those that do are immediatley chased away. An orgainzation ceases to exist if nobody fills the ranks.
The fact that GenY (and GenY at heart) crave a work-life balance is salient. If you can’t give me this, then too bad for you…I’d rather take less pay or a “lessor job” to achieve this than to stick around out of some sense of duty. Family first, job second. Those orgs that capture this, win.
It’s a brand new world out there!
March 13th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I wanted to apologize for my first comment being negative. I am happy that NASA is considering the new generation. Be persistent because through the effort great changes may occur.
My overall point in a more positive spin would have been that NASA ought to be raising their standards. NASA should attract the best and the brightest from all over the world like was done in the past. As a beaurocracy NASA needs to resist promoting people etc based on their time in NASA. Experience is a great protector but not a good innovator. The decision power and the power to make changes should be given to the ambitious and proven members independent of their time in the agency. But as I was saying, NASA ought to be looking for the best and the brightest and if they are to attract those people than they need to offer more then the competitors.
My second point was that NASA should allow ideas to be rejected more quickly. Wasting many peoples time on an idea that the far majority has rejected should be stopped. Innovation and creativity is important, but being able to discern when an idea is a bad one is arguably more important in this point in time. Look at many of the existing governement projects that have failed or are failing. NASA has been at the creative edge for many years so more energy needs to be put into recognizing bad ideas early.
Again I am sorry for relieving frustration by being so negative. ;P
March 14th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Save Generation X! Kudos on the GenY perspective and all the coverage it’s getting. A lot of good content and some great conversations have been coming out of it. I just want to put in a call to save generation X. I’m finding an alarming trend to shring the range of what GenX was. When the first books game out on GenX or the 13th Generation, we were born between 1960 and 1980. In the GenY slides, were GenX is down to about 67-77. Talk to NASA. Fight to be listened to. Light fires of excitement about space exploration. Stay connected and live on the wire, but don’t turn me (1965) into a Boomer:)