Brandt will speak Thursday evening at the Cercle Munster about the Global Village and the ‘Global Village on the Move’. The dinner event is hosted at the Cercle Munster by The Young Scientists Association Luxembourg, and includes a talk by Claire Roseren, the first ‘Global Villager’ from Luxembourg.

Then on Monday, at the monthly ABAL luncheon hosted by Amcham at the Hotel Parc Alvisse, Brandt will talk about “Managing and Leading Generation Y”.

Brandt has over 15 years of experience in managing international business operations, while serving in various vice president positions during a 25-year career at AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Speaking to Delano, he says that learning to manage Generation Y will be crucial as an estimated 80 million of these young managers are going to replace the Baby Boomers in their jobs as the Boomers retire.

“Of course what is goofing up this whole plan is that the Boomers are holding on with their fingernails to not give up their jobs,” Brandt explains. “Because they fear they will run out of money as they live longer and costs go through the roof.”  On the other hand the Millennials, as Brandt calls them, “are saying" get out of our way" and let the new generation of hi-tech managers run this business.”

Indeed, as Brandt points out, this is the most technological and digitally-adept generation ever. “You have to let them contribute to your company and their job, letting them use all this technology. And they have grown up with the use of social networking and this can be a tremendous advantage to older managers not so adept in the new technology.”

One of the dilemmas in dealing with the new generation, says Brandt, is that “they don’t mind being mentored and receiving some advice for their success, but the concept of a boss directing their behaviour is just not in their frame of reference.  This is why it is so difficult to hold them in any one job and why job hopping every 3-4 years is just part of their DNA.”

The Global Village Program recognises this urge for freedom and allows the Generation Y group a complete range of choices in the curriculum, including short courses, seminars, executives, company visits, project work, panels, community service, field trips, country competitions and others, “just to hold their interest and commitment,” says Brandt.

“They have professional guides and mentors from business who help them with their decision process, but in the end they want to make their own choices and do not accept programme content like every other intern in the programme.”

On the other hand, says Brandt, Generation Y people have other attributes that allow them to become responsible managers. “First they are very, very environmentally minded, and really care about what we are doing to the planet.  So everything from green-manufacturing to renewable use of energy really gets their attention, and they can throw themselves into that issue.

Secondly, they are very close to their parents--for obvious reasons, since more have lived at home longer than ever before--and so, as this group ages, they can be very responsible to trying to solve some of the health care and elderly care issues. 

And Brandt also points out that Generation Y is really good in solving problems in innovative ways that the older managers have not thought of. “They want to be left alone to find these solutions in an environment that is creative and non-directive, and if companies can use this skill, and not kill them with organisational structures, they can be very effective.”