Cuspers

I received a wonderful email recently, after a “Mind the Gap” presentation at IBM. Its about “cuspers” – those people who were born at the transition between two different generations. Anyway, read extracts from his email, and then my reply, for more information on these valuable cuspers:

Sent: 11 October 2006 06:37 PM
To: graeme@tomorrotwoday.biz
Subject: Presentation to IBM : “Cusper generation”

Hello Graeme,

Thank you for a wonderful presentation you gave yesterday at the IBM event.

I was born in 1968, you mentioned that you were born in 1970 – maybe u will understand.

The term Baby Boomer and the term Generation X does not quite fit me, you mentioned at the end that some people are “transitioning” between the 2 generations = Cusper’s.
That does sound like me, wanting to find more info – looking on your site and doing a quick search on Goggle – made me even more “deur mekaar” (confused).

Douglas Coupland from a popular novel “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture” seem to have screwed the dates up leaving 1964 to mid 1970’s in some black hole – people with no commonality ?
Back to your comment on being a Cusper – I do feel like I am the “front” runner for generation X people – doing the hard work to push the envelope on things like dress code, can work from home and still be very productive (mgt by results not presence), etc. But at the same time not belonging to the Baby Boomer group.

Leaving me in the so called Baby Buster generation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Busters

Thus it has left me with a mind set – jammed in the middle…. maybe over time my generation will be have more material out there that will help….

In response, there is an extract from our book below:

EXTRACT FROM “MIND THE GAP”, Penguin 2004, Graeme Codrington and Sue Grant-Marshall

If you have arrived at this chapter, having read all about the five generations we are profiling in this book, you might feel that you dont fall into any of our descriptions. You may be feeling really left out, even perhaps a bit irritated? Well, apart from the reasons we give in the introductory chapter about generational theory that it is a generalisation, that there are no hard and fast rules about if, and where, people fit into the generations you may be one of those people who fall in between generations.
Sociologists have decided to call you cuspers. A cusp is the point at which two parts of a curve meet. You have fallen into the overlap between two generations. You were born either early in a generation and so have taken on some of the characteristics of the generation that preceded yours, or you were born late in your generation and have adopted some of the characteristics of the generation born after you.
Also, you may be the young child of older parents, or the old child of young parents, and not have the classic gap of one to one and a half generations between you and your parents.
It means that you were born in a time between eras and you have been influenced by both eras. Each of these transition moments between generations has its own character and influence but there are no generic cusper characteristics as such. It is just that you straddle generations and eras, with the result that you, more so than those born right in the middle of a generation or era, feel that you dont fit in.
Interestingly, most cuspers tend to choose characteristics of the one generation they want to adopt rather than exhibit characteristics of both generations they straddle. This can occur when you marry someone of a particular generation and find you are taking on their quirks and way of thinking. You might choose a career that puts you on a certain generational path. Or, you may simply wish to differentiate yourself from your parents or your peers. You may, for instance, sympathise with another generation to the extent that you dress like a Boomer, but you may have a strong sense of the Silent generation within you. This may enable you to play a mediating role between Silent and Boomer generations because you can identify with them both.

GI/Silent Cuspers

You may have been born just before the 1920s and that means you were sandwiched between the late GIs and the early Silent generation. The era was the time after World War 1 and you may have experienced the sad after-effects of that but enjoyed the early Roaring Twenties with the fun of the Flappers, the Charleston and early silent movies. You may have taken on some of the visionary aspects of the GIs or may have become more stoic and quiet like the Silents.
As more and more Silents move into the ranks of the elderly, this set of cuspers is becoming less distinctive, and is required to play less of a mediating role between GIs and Silents as may have been necessary a few decades ago.

Silent/Boomer Cuspers

This group which straddles the Silent and Boomer generations was born too late to remember World War 2 but it has played a very important role in history. They have been theglue between older Silents and younger Boomers over the past two decades. These Cuspers are extraordinary negotiators, able to find win-win solutions between conservative Silents and visionary Boomers and have helped many an organisation to navigate the choppy seas of change.
Graemes father was born late in the Silent generation with a conservative approach to life. This meant that Graeme and his siblings were brought up in a reasonably authoritarian home where, for instance, they were not allowed to swim on a Sunday or watch more than an hour or two of TV a week. He was not an overly affectionate father, as was the case with so many Silents. But he has many Boomer characteristics in him, including being a visionary workaholic and seeking status and success. As he grows older, these have become more evident. He has had a major role to play in many organizations, helping them to move forward while keeping everyone on board.
The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, is a Cusper who has both Silent and Boomer generation characteristics. He has the Boomer tendency for grand visions, such as his dream of an African Renaissance and Nepad ( New Partnership for African Development). But he is shocking at handling the media something at which any self-respecting Boomer excels. His approach to Zimbabwe has been typically Silent generation. It has been silent with quiet diplomacy and the attendant attitude that fellow Africans do not air their dirty linen in public.
Compare this approach with that of Boomer president, George W Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld, the American Defence Secretary. The latter was even less silent than his boss often is, exemplified by his quote on hearing of American soldiers dying in Iraq, that you get good and bad days in war. It was almost as if he was saying, yes, well, that explains why scores got killed today… a bad day at the office, you know. Other generations are irritated by the brashness of Boomers. The Silent/Boomer Cusper, while understanding the Boomers attitude and motivation, can do a much better job of presenting these thoughts to an older, more conservative and reserved Silent generation.
The Boomer/Silent Cuspers have a unique position in linking an outdated conservative world to the go-getter world of the Boomers. They can help be a bridge between the two generations and would make good negotiators, understanding as they do, both generations. Because of this, these Cuspers tend to make better managers than leaders.

Boomers / Xer cuspers

Birth in the late 1960s and early 70s meant that the Vietnam war was raging and these Cuspers would have heard their parents discussing it. They can remember getting their first computers. They were the trenchmen of the IT ( information technology) generation. They didnt make a fortune out of IT as did the Boomers, but they have IT skills and the correct attitude for working in the industry and are the ones who are really changing the workplace as a result.
They are the unfortunate ones who got burnt in the dot.com boom, the troops who made and lost fortunes in the early days of the boom. But, they learnt a great deal at the same time. Now, these cuspers are able to fit into the Boomer world. They know when to wear a suit and tie and have a sense of how to behave appropriately so they dont irritate Boomers in the way that full-on Xers do.
They know its necessary to play the game by attending the office party so that they are seen there even though they dont enjoy it. An inordinate number of these Boomer/Xer cuspers are stockbrokers, analysts, bankers and actuaries and they will don the pin striped suit for the office.
But, when they get home, off comes the suit and ripped jeans are pulled on. They put their ear rings back in and spike up their hair. These cuspers have hair that can be slicked down or gelled up. They wear beaded necklaces under their collar and tie, bracelets under their shirts and tattoos where nobody can see them.
So, dont be fooled by that quiet accountant in your bank from Monday to Friday because at the weekend hes mountain biking, or abseiling impossible peaks or skateboarding his heart out. Hes straddling both worlds and getting the best out of them.
Graeme, co-author of this book, is one such. He chooses to be an Xer, to be able to dress and think in a grungy manner. He has chosen to be contactable only via e-mail as those who ring his cell phone find out. He says that he is brash, in your face and sceptical. These are all good Xer attributes but he knows when to wear a suit. He understands and can talk to Boomers, which often surprises them because they dont anticipate this. Boomer/Xer Cuspers will probably be at the centre of the future workplace revolution on how people should be treated in business.

Xer / Millennial Cuspers

They have inherited the healthy aspect of the Xer scepticism and savvy but they also have the Millennial attitude of we can change the world. You wont find these Cuspers flopping down on a couch, from which they struggle to rise, commenting whatever to every question they are asked. Theyve not swallowed so much scepticism that they cannot act.
At school, for instance, they will take on the system and challenge the idiot teacher, maybe even start a campaign to get him fired, or at least make him so uncomfortable that he will resign or retire.
The full-on Millennials who follow these cuspers may be slightly more naïve than their predecessors.

Summary
The lesson for Cuspers appears to be that you have the best of two worlds which is wonderful. Cuspers also make great generational mediators and may not feel the discomfort that people who are really typical of a one generation experience with another. This makes you extremely valuable in multi-generational workplaces.
We suggest to cuspers that, as you peruse this book, read both the generations that you fall between. Take the best from both of them and use that to make your contribution to the world.

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