Mind of Millennial

Contributed by: Rajni Dhameja, CFA

The Panel:

• Sachin Kalbag, Resident Editor, Mumbai, The Hindu
• Mandar Mhatre, Entrepreneur and Investor
• Talvinder Singh, Product Head, Flagship, OYO Rooms
• Sameer Somal, CFO, Blue Ocean Global Technology
• Ravi Subramanian, Executive Director, Sriram City Union Finance
• Sonia Gandhi, CFA: The Moderator, Board of Director, IAIP

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, is the name given to a generation born between 1982 and 2004. To be more generic, millennials is a generation which is exposed to technology from a young age, exposed to confused parenting and have information overload.

Millennials world over share the similar traits. They follow the YOLO (you only live once) principle. They focus on now rather than future. They have a fear of missing on hence they want to experience most of the things instantly. It is a generation which grew up using smartphones hence they are very much comfortable with the technology. They seek the information from various sources and are aware of many things. It helps them to take the informed decisions. The generation Y is characterized by impatience. It can act as an asset and liability both depending on the situation. They are believed to have the entitlement mentality. On the flip side, they are insecure about the future. They focus too much on their convenience.

Panelists shared the point of view that this is the generation which does not have a fear of failure. They are ready to try out the things different from what their parents did. There are two types of millennials and the aspiration levels differ between the two. The urban or the millennial who had easy access to things and the others who did not have easy access to things. The aspiration level for have not’s are completely different than the aspiration level of the former.

Millennial have this constant quest for purpose. They try to find out the meaning and purpose in everything they do and this gets reflected in most of the choices they make. They had to learn quite a few things at significant speed to match with the information overload at their disposal. Due to this, they are better suited to tap few opportunities contrary to an earlier generation.

Some surveys on millennial reveal about their reading habits and wellness choices. They prefer to read the print version of books rather than e-books as reading is the way of de-stressing and disconnecting for them. They are very much focused on their health and wellness as they believe that healthy lifestyle is pivotal in their overall happiness and wellbeing. Brands are finding it difficult to gauge the minds of millennial today, so according to the panel, anything which has simplicity, serves the purpose and convenient to execute will definitely find the success to win the heart and mind of millennial.

-RD