Rex Chen

In modern society, I find that many things happen very rapidly. Starting from our daily decision-making process to the various forms of personnel interactions such as face-to-face, phone, emails, online chats, and social networks. And this upcoming “Generation Y” group (which I am borderline for qualification myself) is indeed a very special group of the young generation, with people that are bound to quick grasps, self-teaching students, and fast responses. Gone are the days of reading a book from start to finish (e.g. page 1-400), but in the form of online texts. No longer are people staying 1 or 2 jobs for entire lifetime, but rather a rapid job changing cycle. Our patience, emotions, and thoughts are often short-fused, rather than deep. However, in a nice positive side, these Generation Y are constantly learning new skills and acquiring know-hows.

It was through interaction with a friend talking about skills and interests, that define how my own Gen-Y traits may possibly include:

• the brain of an engineer
• the spirit of an entrepreneur
• the mind of a psychologist

And certainly among my pool of friends, many other categories come up in the list of multi-facet skills:

• the patience of an educator
• the legs of a dancer
• the sound of a musician
• the taste of an iron chef
• the health of a nutritionist
• the strength of an athlete
• the body of a model
• the beauty of a rose
• the leadership of a manager
• the language talent of an interpreter
• the fun of a comedian
• the words of a philosopher
• the knowledge of an encyclopedia
• the energy of a motivational speaker
• the engagement of an effective communicator
• the participation of an activist
• and many others…

I do feel that in order to have a role in the modern and future society, one does need to accumulate a large pool of capacities, expose to a variety of things, and have a “multi-facet” development plan to stay competitive in a society of emerging Generation Y upbringings, globalization, and information traveling at the speed of light.