The Democrat freshman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the veteran House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have been trading barbs left and right over the past month.
This makes for great political theater in the news and if you Google “AOC Pelosi Feud” you get dozens and dozens of news stories about the two talking trash about each other.
Let me be clear, though. This piece is not about their politics. It isn’t even about the young AOC being a millennial and having the, “everyone gets a trophy” entitled attitude. She may have that kind of attitude based on her recent outspoken tweets and interviews, but my point does not address that.
The thing that is disappointing is both AOC’s and Nancy Pelosi’s lack of respect for each other and their willingness to openly air their grievances with each other in the press and online. Partly, this is due to the climate of politics in Washington and a power struggle between two factions of their party, but it really doesn’t appear to be related to age.
The only age related part is the methods each uses to publicize their disagreements. Ocasio-Cortez and her staff tweet about everything, while Pelosi let loose in an interview with Maureen Dowd.
One thing that young people are very savvy at is social media. If you are a manager of young people, you may be a little nervous about how to deal with them in the workplace. If they are unhappy with something in your company, including you, they may communicate their unhappiness online to everyone with a computer or phone, rather than speak to you first.
That’s where your relationship with your workers is very important. The kind of climate that you have created at the office with young employees will either bite you quickly or help you with disagreements. The one thing obvious between Pelosi and AOC is their lack of respect, not only for each other’s views, but their lack of respect for each other as people.
Treating your employees, young or old, with respect and honor will engender a climate of goodwill that will go both ways. Then their tweets and Facebook posts will be positive, which is a very good thing.
