Within minutes of being in the room, a woman a bit older than me and from the traditional media side of things said, (paraphrasing, I am), “Well, once WE set the standards of what we’ll accept from citizen journalists, then we can work with them.” A well-established blogger in DC, without skipping a beat and with passion in his heart, informed her, “We don’t want to volunteer for you. We want to be in partnership with you.”

And that’s when I had my ah-hah. My take-away, so to speak. See, GenXers (born 1961-1981) have been the junior gen to Boomers since the day they arrived. Boomers, while they typically don’t see this in themselves or their gen, are turf squatters, and believe that if they’ve sat long enough on turf, it’s theirs, dammit. GenXers (the Nomad generation in archetypal language) grows up and moves through young adulthood deeply understanding that there just isn’t any room for them at the table. So, the skill set most GenXers develop is to find ways around obstacles, fortresses, dysfunctional systems, calcified processes.

As social media has ascended, and more GenXers than any other generation have embraced the tools (there’s a reason for this, but that’s another convo), the GenXers have been banging on Boomer doors (traditional media, in this case), saying, “Hey! Hey, listen, there’s some really interesting stuff happening over here.” But most Boomers/traditional institution leaders have continued to treat GenXers as they’ve known them: the temp worker/slacker/lackeys to whom they push off the onerous tasks of dealing with complexities and icky details. They (the Boomers) continue to see themselves as King of the Hill.

** I’m intentionally being big and — even gross — with my generalizations for story-telling here, k? **

When the blogger said emphatically to the well-paid, entrenched traditional media lady who was assuming that a blogger would want to volunteer under her organization’s terms of providing content, “We don’t want to volunteer for you. We want to be in partnership with you.” I knew then that the tides had shifted.

The shift is a subtle one. And it’s bigger than most any entrenched leaders in traditional media, corporate America or government organizations probably understand. The shift is that GenXers have moved away from asking for attention and respect, vis-a-vis their ideas/visions/Web 2.0 activity and new problem-solving and are moving on, with or without the institutions. Like I said, it’s subtle. But mark my words, it’s the subtle but huge things that I notice. GenXers are offering Boomers a last chance for partnership and the opportunity to be involved and engaged. Boomers who continue to think as though they still are in control (even if they are by title), and who think that from that control they will set the rules without treating GenXers as partners, will be marginalized. Not because GenXers want to marginalize Boomers, but because the time is now to collaborate and to allow new leadership and perspectives to have equal, if not greater, sway in going forward.

So, my take-away: the shift has occurred. Now, it’s only a matter of observing it. It’s not personal. It’s not violent or aggressive. It’s a natural order of change and development. GenXers across America will do well to step into the leadership that is right and natural to them. Boomers will do well to release their grip and their assumption that because they’ve sat on turf for decades it is theirs perpetuity. As GenXers transform from being isolated and alienated and as Boomers transform from being the first and last say on operational details, the rate of change and development is going to accelerate even faster than things have been moving for the last several years.

And to any Boomers who have a hard time with this, let me clue you in: We have the pressure of Millennials behind us. We’re not just asking you to move over. We’re moving on with or without you because we have to. A generation is behind us, itching to move forward as well.

Rock on, beautiful people, rock on.

I was only able to attend Pub Camp by Twitter - Even so I was able to pick up the tension between the establishment and the new. This post by Jessie X is worth reading in full. It outlines the divide and the stakes for the establishment.

The new are not your junior lackeys but the future. You partner with them or they will go around you.

This was Vaclev Havel's strategy as the new in Eastern Europe. The system said no. So they were made irrelevant.

Open your arms and embrace the future!