Boy Those Baby Boomers!

Tyler Podcast Episode 4, Transcript

Our Tyler Technologies podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Host and Content Marketing Director Jeff Harrell – and other guest hosts – highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give us listen today and subscribe.

Episode Summary

The final in the four-part series on the GenResearch is all about Baby Boomers. Their definition of government engagement may be surprising.

Transcript

Jason Dorsey: I joke, my dad's a baby boomer, and I finally showed him how to do group text messaging. And he was very resistant. He used to say, "Stop texting, call me. If you cared about me, you'd call me. You wouldn't text." And now he's like, "Why are you calling me? Send me a text." Jeff Harrell: From Tyler Technologies, it's the Tyler Tech Podcast where we explore issues facing communities today in a way that's interesting and entertaining. I'm your host, Jeff Harrell and my promise to you is to help break through the clutter and provide great information in a format that's super easy to consume and have a little fun along the way.

Jeff Harrell: Welcome to our last of our four-part series on gen research. Here's a few of the nuggets from previous episodes. Did you know that Gen Z says they've had the most positive experience with government, more than any other generation? Well, Jason tells us why in the Gen Z episode. And do millennials prefer website or social media to receive information from their local government? We find out in the millennial episode in Gen X. We give Gen X the special attention they deserve by giving them their very own episode, find out why gen X rates local government so high. But today we turn our full attention to baby boomers. You're going to love this episode. Here's my conversation with Jason Dorsey.

Jeff Harrell: We are back for our final episode of our four part series on generations. Jason, I'm a little sad about this one. This is our last one. It's been a ton of fun.

Jason Dorsey: Save the best for last, I'm sure the baby boomers listening would appreciate that.

Jeff Harrell: I know I've learned a ton. Give us a little bit about you and CGK.

Jason Dorsey: Sure. What we do at the Center for Generational Kinetics is we study generations. We're on a mission to separate myth from truth, which I know we did a lot through our study with you, Jeff. And we're just fired up to be here. We get to work with leaders all around the world. I've done 200 television shows at this point, and I just love sharing new ways to look at and think about generations. And I think for local government leaders in particular, this is a really important time to bring new data, accurate data to the conversation, because for the first time, leaders are having to engage for and sometimes even five generations, and what's been missing from this conversation is great research. And so thanks for having me on Jeff.

Defining Baby Boomers

Jason Dorsey: Absolutely. Let's turn our attention to boomers. And I feel like boomers in a lot of ways, get some bad rap. You hear the okay boomer and the get off my yard kind of stuff. Maybe first define what we mean by baby boomer.

Jason Dorsey: The first thing we look at are birth years. And if you missed out on some of the earlier podcasts we've done, definitely go back and check them out because we talked more about generations and how their clues and not a box and how they're predictable and they help us to drive more trust and influence. When we look at baby boomers, they were born roughly 1946 to 1964. And what a lot of times younger generations don't know is, baby boomers got their name because they literally were born during a baby boom, following World War II. So birth rate skyrocketed and created this huge generation of 80 million plus people. And this generation, as you can imagine, had very formative events coming up through the fifties and sixties and early seventies. And this generation right now, is actually the most influential generation in the workforce and also in communities, and people don't realize that.

Jason Dorsey: But it's not just because baby boomers are the ones who tend to vote more than anyone else, but it's also because they tend to control the wealth in most of the country and much of the world. They also tend to have the longest relationships across generations. They tend to be in senior leadership roles, serve on boards, control access to capital, you name it. So baby boomers really are an incredibly important generation, which is why I get offended when people are like, "Okay, boomer." I think it's time to give boomers a lot more respect than they're getting.

Stereotyping Baby Boomers

Jeff Harrell: And that actually leads me to my first question because I think there are a lot of stereotypes that we place on baby boomers. What's one that you would say is 100% not correct.

Jason Dorsey: I think there's this perception that baby boomers, as a whole, don't understand or use technology. What we're seeing is boomer adoption really is growing on everything from social media to video conferencing, to digital payments, you name it, and like any other generation, we can all think about and pick out people who maybe are behind the times. But the reality is, there's a lot of baby boomers who are adopting and in some cases, even leading new technology and we're really excited to see that trend continue. So I think the biggest myth we got to bust through is that all boomers are at home, taking notes with a pencil and typing on a typewriter, because it's just not true and we need to create more space to better engage them.

Jeff Harrell: And you knew this follow up was coming. What is true though? What is the biggest stereotype that's absolutely 100% correct?

Jason Dorsey: We've done a ton of studies. One thing we see very much from baby boomers is that they do have a strong work ethic and that work ethic continues to this day. So many baby boomers that we interview right now tell us that they still are working hard. They like to work, it's part of their identity. It gives them value and a sense of satisfaction. And I think that's something that the generation really has brought and continues to bring to their leadership. Do we think they're pushing back and saying they want more life balance and see their grandkids and stuff? Absolutely. But there's still a desire, a strong desire, to contribute and I think is not only true, but very exciting and frankly, really important for our world.

Jeff Harrell: Yeah. My dad's a boomer, definitely the hardest working person that I know, for sure. You've done all this research on boomers, what's one thing you love about them and maybe one thing that frustrates you.

Jason Dorsey: Sure. I think one thing that I love about boomers is all the experience and expertise and sort of wisdom that they're able to bring and different ways to think about and approach problems. Even the context they bring to a variety of different problems that we face, just because they have so much history around it and they can help you look at it differently. So I love that. I love working with boomers. I serve on lots of corporate boards and I always learn so much and I find that to be just a great relationship, great partners as we go about making decisions.

Jason Dorsey: One thing that I think frustrates me, is some boomers feel, and this is true by the way of every generation, that there's only a specific way to solve a challenge or only a specific way to do something. And I think as we get more information, new solutions and different approaches, that we should take everybody's viewpoint into consideration. And this is one, by the way, I've seen change over the last many years. I think that boomers are increasingly open and willing to try new things. I joke, my dad's a baby boomer and I finally showed him how to do group text messaging. And he was very resistant. He used to say, "Stop texting, call me. If you cared about me, you'd call me, you wouldn't text." And now he's like, "Why are you calling me? Send me a text."

Jeff Harrell: Love it.

Jason Dorsey: So we're living that evolution over here.

Jeff Harrell: I know you guys have done a lot of research. This is one of the first though that you've done, really specifically looking at government. What was one of the biggest surprises that you saw through the research relative to baby boomers?

Jason Dorsey: The biggest one that jumped out at me is that baby boomers said the number one way that they wanted to engage with government was not email or website, but in person or on the phone. I thought we would see some shifting at this point, where they might say they wanted to go through a website or use some other technology. But they very strongly said that they still wanted to sit across from somebody or see somebody face to face or talk on the phone. And that was a surprise to me.

Jason Dorsey: I really thought at this point we might see some more movement around that, but it's not there yet, but it's definitely something that governments have to recognize. And sort of my read on that, Jeff, is that governments have to really be flexible and accommodating to every generation. You're going to have some groups that still want to communicate in person or by phone, and then as we saw so strongly and talked about in the other podcasts, you have all these other groups that want to use websites, that want to use email, that want to use chat, that want to use social media and governments have to be able to address all of those stakeholders in their community.

Boomers and Engagement

Jeff Harrell: And like you said, I think boomers are they most likely to engage with local government, but the way they define engagement is actually different than the other generations isn't it? It's basically voting and paying taxes.

Jason Dorsey: Right. You can see what their priorities are. And voting, I think was particularly strong, given how much they clearly like to vote, feel that, that's active participation and supporting to them. On the paying taxes side, that has to do, I would argue as much with life stage, as it does with generations. Boomers have owned houses. They came of age at a time when you created wealth by owning a home that was sort of your forced savings plan. And so for many of them, that was what they did, so they've been paying property taxes in particular, for a long time.

Jason Dorsey: So this is something where they've just engaged with that. They're accustomed to it. They're used to it. I would argue many of them plan their calendars around it. And so you could see why that to them, is that level of engagement, because when they think of government, they think of taxes and the fact that their taxes keep increasing. And for many of them, they're trying to do things like homestead and other things to get their taxes, to cap out. So that's certainly something that we're seeing, but that's, I think, representative of life stage as well as generation.

Jeff Harrell: Boomers and Gen X were similar in how they wanted to find or receive information from local government. Some generations they wanted social media, but 56% of boomers said they prefer information via the web. Is that a surprise to you?

Jason Dorsey: It is. And I think there's a subtle differentiation because what I want to point out here is the question we talked about a moment ago, was about how they're most likely to engage with government and also that they want to engage in person or by phone, because that's the way they would want to interact. Yet when we actually look at what they're doing, it is a little bit different, and I think this is where we get into these really nuanced and important attitudes versus what have you historically done? What would you love to do, but what are you actually doing? And we start to see differences.

Jason Dorsey: And so when you see boomers and Gen X being similar, I think again, this is because of where they came of age. And so rather than social media, which they don't really trust. In fact, many baby boomers in our research tell us they specifically distrust social media, the fact that they would prefer the web to that,, makes a ton of sense because at least they feel like they can trust the source, they can see what the source is. They can source other reference, other information if they want to. And again, many of them are now using the web for example, to pay bills and so forth. So it's a natural place for them to go. Social media, we interview so many boomers on this. Boomers just really think it's the wild west and they can't tell easily who to trust or who not to, so it would be expected that they would sort of carry that over in terms of how they want to interact with government.

Jeff Harrell: I'll be back with my conversation with Jason Dorsey in just a moment. Did you know that we have a variety of on-demand webinars in our resource center? You'll find webinars on a variety of topics like cybersecurity while working from home, upskilling your government workforce and meeting student needs through school transportation. You can find the resource center by going to tylertech.com and click on resources at the top of the page. I think you'll find the on-demand webinars very, very helpful. Now back to my conversation, Jason Dorsey. Jason, this next stat absolutely blew my mind. 24% of boomers say they have never had a positive experience with local government. How is that actually possible?

Jason Dorsey: That was my favorite stat out of the entire study. You've got a generation that has interacted with local government more than any other generation in the study. And remember, we studied Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and boomers, and yet almost a quarter of all boomers said they've never had a positive experience of any kind with their local government. I don't know if that means that they're truly dissatisfied or if they've never been wowed by that experience or frankly, I would argue, how they choose to engage with that local government, may limit the range of positive experiences they have. But at the end of the day, when you can get to just translate these into real numbers, 20 million boomers who are saying they've never had a positive experience, that leaves a lot of opportunity there.

Jeff Harrell: Jeff Harrell: Jason, do you think that means local government should just stop trying?

Jason Dorsey: I take it on as the opposite. I think you and I both agree that this is a really pivotal moment for local governments to adapt, to reach every generation. And I don't count baby boomers as a lost generation in this cause. I think this sort of raises the bar and says what we've done in the past isn't working with boomers and I'd argue, we probably haven't given them enough incentive or motivation to get them to try something new, and now's really a great opportunity to use that innovation, to make it so much easier for boomers to engage with local government. And that gets me fired up. I love opportunities like that.

Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Fire

Jeff Harrell: Well, when we ask what are the most important services local government provides, 56% of boomers said law enforcement, public safety and fire. That was 20 points higher than any other group. What do you think that means?

Jason Dorsey: I think that one speaks to both what boomers experience. Growing up, many of them in the sixties and seventies, but also I think it speaks to their life stage and what we find there is this desire for safety and security. There's also a desire for rules and order. Boomers very much came of age at times of policies, procedures, rules, and so forth. So all of that makes sense. And I would argue, that many boomers look at that and they also think of their families, family members and communities, and that's where safety and other things come about. So to me to see that big divide, really is telling of the generation, how they look across all the services provided by local government. I love that stat because again, it just shows you what is so important and the kind of services that really speak to them and where they are.

Jeff Harrell: We talked about voting earlier and we know that boomers are almost twice as likely to vote in local elections than let's say, Gen Z. And we know there's no big surprise there, but they're the least likely to engage with local government in any other way. What would you say to local governments to maybe engage boomers a little bit better?

Jason Dorsey: Boomers define engagement by voting. To them, that is what you do. It's an honor, it's a right, it's a privilege and they really take it seriously. Particularly as you start to look at things like social security and other things that sort of come through the government, we see them being very active, very involved in anything that's going to directly impact them. And for many of them, this is really key. So there's lots and lots tied to voting in general that fits where baby boomers are. On the flip side what we see is, engagement of local government shouldn't be just voting. It shouldn't be, I just showed up and voted and therefore I'm engaged. Being a part of the conversation, communicating, collaborating, working on new ideas, all of these things, are a huge opportunity for governments, local governments in particular, to better engage baby boomers and I think that's really important.

Jason Dorsey: Now I also think, if you flip this around and look at the other generations we study, there's an opportunity to get other generations to vote more and also model that behavior. So what strikes me in sort of all the research we did together, this is a national study, a very low margin of error, weighted to the US Census for age, gender, geography, ethnicity, you name it, is that there's an opportunity with every single generation for local government to better engage them, to better gauge them on their terms and to drive more of these key actions that we all know we need and want. And so that gets me very fired up, but it is different by generation, and I think that's why for those of you that didn't listen to the other podcasts, definitely go back and listen to them because the insights are so different by generation, and that's what gets me fired up about this work. We're always discovering something new.

Biggest Takeaway

Jeff Harrell: So let's wrap this up, Jason, with there's a lot of community leaders, a lot of government leaders listening to this and thinking through boomers, all the research that we did together, what was your number one, your biggest takeaway?

Jason Dorsey: My biggest takeaway, particularly since this is the last of the generational podcasts here is that, every generation is different. There are some clear similarities, but every single generation has differences and leaders should see and recognize these differences. Now what's important is, you don't have to agree with those differences, but if you want to effectively engage each generation, you do have to recognize them and choose to adapt.

Jason Dorsey: From my view as a researcher, technology seems to be that through line of what they all want to drive more engagement and they want to be able to do it on a way that's comfortable, easy and effective for them on their own terms. And I think boomers, as we saw here, now have more in common sometimes with Gen X, which is really fascinating. And then at the same time, they look at engagement differently and we need every single generation to be engaged. So my biggest takeaway sort of overall even, is that there's a massive opportunity for local and for government leaders to better connect with and drive these conversations with each generation, which frankly, our world needs, and that gets me so excited to be a part of that solution.

Jeff Harrell: Well, Jason, this has been a blast. I'm actually getting a little verklempt, this is our last of the four part series.

Jason Dorsey: Well, I'm fired up. Maybe we'll get to do some more in the future and I know you and your team are going to be releasing this data in the future for people to really dig into. And I'm excited to see that, for that to be shared with the world and to keep this conversation going. So thank you again and on behalf of everybody at the Center for Generational Kinetics, thanks so much for making us a part of this wonderful study.

Jeff Harrell: Yeah. I may just have to call you next week just to talk, just to talk about how Gen X is the greatest generation of all time. I don't know.

Jason Dorsey: Well, if you'd call me instead of using a Zoom, you would definitely be showing your Gen X.

Jeff Harrell: Well, that's awesome. Well, Jason, remind people how they can connect with you.

Jason Dorsey: You can reach me directly through my website, which has tons of videos of our speaking and insights about different generations, which is jasondorsey.com, J-A-S-O-N-D-O-R-S-E-Y.com. You can also check out my forthcoming book, super excited about it, wrote it with Gen Xer, in fact, it's called, Zconomy, How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business and What to Do About It. We're so excited about that new book. And then if you want to download any of our research, you can get it all for free at genhq.com, G-E-N-H-Q.com, would love to see you there or on social media because I am a millennial. Thanks so much for having me Jeff.

Jeff Harrell: Well, that concludes our four part series on the generations. Jason can't thank you enough. Be well, my friend.

Jason Dorsey: Thanks, you too.

Jeff Harrell: Well, I really hope you enjoyed this four part series on our gen research. Stay tuned because we've got more great topics ahead and thank you for your very positive feedback on the podcast. Again, you can reach me directly at podcast@tylertech.com. Please leave us a review and certainly subscribe. For Tyler Technologies, this is Jeff Harrell, I'm the Director of Content Marketing. Thanks so much for listening and we'll talk to you soon.