When John Forrest Ales was shown to the Huey P. Long Suite at the downtown Hilton Capitol Center Baton Rouge last month, it brought home the excitement and significance of being the public relations director for Hilton Hotels.
Ales took the job in June, and with it came responsibility for the brand reputation and marketing for 530 hotels in 76 countries worldwide. That means international phone calls and flights, media relations and training hotel managers in social networking and community relations in person and online.
For the 29-year old Baton Rouge native, it’s an assignment that carries plenty of weight.
“I go in and think this needs to be done, and the stakes I’m looking at are high,” he says. “That’s on these shoulders. The shoulders might be young, but they’re capable and competent.”
Ales was pleasantly surprised at his first general-manager orientation several months ago in Memphis, Tenn., where most of the attention was focused on goals and information about the brand rather than skepticism about his age or experience. With most of his interaction with hotel personnel by phone or e-mail, age becomes less of an issue because no face-to-face meetings are involved.
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“Do people ask about my age? No, they need help because this economic time demands that we work twice as hard, more with less,” he says. “People need to get to the end result in the most affordable and efficient way possible. Whether that comes from a 5-year-old or an 80-year-old, it’s really irrelevant.”
But Matt Tanory still experiences the opposite reaction.
Tanory joined Walton Construction in 2004 after receiving his construction-management degree from LSU. He was a project engineer at age 24 when the Thibodaux Regional Medical Center was under construction. Now 28, he is the senior project manager for the $100 million 19th Judicial District Courthouse in downtown Baton Rouge and accounts for all monies, materials and scheduling for the 240 to 300 employees on the North Boulevard site every day.
“When I was in college, a senior project manager meant a full head of white hair, being 50-plus years old and having $200 million-plus worth of projects under your belt as a general contractor,” he says. “To see somebody my age in this position is nerve-wracking for everybody … in the sense of ‘Does he know what he’s doing?’”
According to a 2007 Harvard Business School study, Millennial managers often exhibit a collaborative attitude. A team-player management style mitigates the issue of age in the workplace because everyone plays a role in the process.
That’s been J.T. Lane’s experience.
Lane, the 30-year-old deputy chief of state for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, coordinates with bureaus, sends information to legislators and works on initiatives for Secretary Alan Levine. He says age mattered more to him than to his coworkers at the outset and is now moot because of the pace and intensity of the work.
“We’re all pieces of the puzzle that allows this health-care operation to run,” he says. “We’re respected based on what we bring to the table. The worst thing we can do is somehow let age or other issues interfere with what we think we have to offer.”
Becky Roby, 29, the public relations director for Client Technology Services, has an open-door policy and prefers to address her age from the outset.
Roby, who was promoted in August after two months as the company’s lone sales representative, has since hired a marketing rep and sales rep that are older and have more experience. During the interview process, Roby made sure the future employees understood she would be their immediate supervisor, but she prefers to maintain a team attitude rather than make divisions between employee and manager.
“I don’t use the boss card,” she says. “I would never ask someone to do something I’m not willing to do myself. I don’t look at age as a factor because I look at us as a team. It works.”
High confidence in training and skills also is a key factor when it comes to Millennial managers.
When Kay Wilbert, 28, became general manager at Professional Limousine Service in 2007, not only would she be the youngest person on staff, but there would also be judgment because of her family’s stake in the business.
Her family’s support, training in hospitality management from the University of Southern Mississippi and experience managing condominiums in Destin, Fla., gave Wilbert the confidence to handle the job—even when an immediate directive to fire some poorly performing employees created a situation not for the faint of heart.
“That was very challenging for me because I had never been in the position of firing,” she says. “When I first got here, it was a little rough. I had to let some people go. Because of that, I’m very selective in my hiring because I don’t want to be in that position again.”
Tech savvyness is a well-documented asset that is part and parcel of the Millennial generation. Ales regularly trains hotel managers and public-relations personnel on the advantages of an online presence; Roby has launched Facebook and Twitter accounts for her company since her hiring.
“The younger generation looks at different networking tools in a different way,” she says. “Technology is what gets a lot of business in the door. We’re an IT company, so we have to use those tools to move our business.”
A high energy level is not an exclusive trait to young managers, but it seems to be a common assumption. Beyond playing catchup by learning as much as possible about their industries, Millennials are often willing to put more time in at the office because of fewer family commitments and more drive to prove themselves.
“Youth probably is having more energy to just run and get things done. Run the ball and get it going,” Lane says. “That being said, there are also people here in their 30s, 40s and 50s here who have just as much energy as I do.”
So is being a young manager worth it? Definitely, Ales says.
“In your career, how many chances do you have to stop and be part of the huge transformation of an iconic brand?” he says. “I’m not even 30, and I’m doing this. I’m incredibly grateful.”
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