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What your parents didn’t tell you and your employer needs you to know, local author discusses her book

  • Aniya Faulcon
Casted CEO and Co-Founder, Lindsay Tjepkema, left, leads a senior leadership meeting at the Casted office building on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 in Indianapolis, IN.

 Kaiti Sullivan / for NPR

Casted CEO and Co-Founder, Lindsay Tjepkema, left, leads a senior leadership meeting at the Casted office building on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 in Indianapolis, IN.

Airdate: October 24, 2022

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Many, including millennials, are looking for the keys to succeed in the workplace and find purpose and passion in their work.

Dr. Tracey Jones, President of Tremendous Leadership and Co-author of A Message to Millennials: What your parents didn’t tell you and your employer needs you to know, joined us on Monday’s Smart Talk to discuss her book and the tips it offers to achieve success in the workplace.

“It (her book) was targeted towards millennials in particular because I had so many young emerging leaders as I was out and about speaking that would come to me and say, what do I need to do to become a better leader? They were looking for it,” Jones said. “And I wanted to just put together a synopsis of the seven top things, that if they do them, they’re going to be wonderful followers and then move on to tremendous leadership.”

She also said, millennials have different advantages compared to the generations before them, as they’re flexible, reliable, adaptable, and technologically savvy, which are attributes that can help them in the workplace.

Another thing that Jones said can help millennials in the workplace is knowing what employers want to see in an employee: tremendous work ethic, a sense of conscientiousness and self initiative to take responsibility, collaborative skills, a positive attitude and critical thinking skills.

Jones believes that being excited about your work is one of the main keys to success in the workplace.

If you can give your work 100%, even though your boss is a bonehead and this really isn’t your cup of tea, then guess what? When you do find your wonderful boss and you do find your dream job, you’re going to be set up for success,” Jones said. “If you can’t do it when the times are tough, you won’t be able to do when the times are good.”

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