Q&A: Jason Seiden

The management consultant and author of How to Self-Destruct talks about his specialty: developing Generation X and Y talent.

Why should anyone listen to someone with a rallying cry like "Fail spectacularly!"? With generations spilling ink on "how to succeed," what do we have to show for it besides the stunning array of mediocrity that is corporate America?

Perhaps -- crazy idea alert! -- we should try a different approach.

When I help organizations hire, manage and develop Gen X and Gen Y talent, I start with the idea that every generation builds on the knowledge left by its predecessor but learns emotional lessons from scratch. Then I add the reality of the ego: When we look in the mirror and see people who are healthier, stronger and more knowledgeable than our predecessors, it's hard to accept that we aren't more emotionally astute, too.

I also expect that on the road from the head to the heart, the ego has blocked the way with rationalizations that move us off course. A roadblock example: "My boss is a moron." (Really? Then why aren't you CEO, Smartypants?) Finally, I note that frontal assaults on egos rarely work.

The resulting methodology is often ironic and humorous, but it's also highly effective at getting people to adopt a new -- and more success-oriented -- perspective.

So, the generation now entering the workforce is fundamentally the same as those that preceded it, with new ways to screw up? Rookies are constantly joining the game thinking they know better. The bigger issue is how economic pressures have erased rookies' allowable margin for error. The No. 1 generational question I address during presentations and coaching engagements is how to foster a learning culture with everyone under such intense pressure for results.

On second thought, your advice seems fairly conventional. Haven't we heard it all before? You bet you've heard it! I think you spent over [US]$49 billion to have someone teach it to you last year alone!

But success isn't about what we've heard; it's about what we do. I once had an engineer in a training class note that it took two generations to go from Kitty Hawk to the moon, but that we were still struggling with basic interpersonal intelligence thousands of years after Moses introduced us to the Ten Commandments.

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