Book review: The new rules of engagement (McQueen)

At about 180 pages I found this to be a relatively easy read. McQueen writes with a very easy flowing style. He breaks his narrative with relevant stats, quotes and stories.

He sets out his argument in three sections. Section 1 outlines is a fairly standard treatment of distinguishing between and describing generations. Section 2 deals with what he calls the issue of 'paradigm rift' rather than paradigm shift (a phrase often used elsewhere). This section attempts to show why generations think differently. Section 3 is far more practical and offers advice for older generations in dealing with Gen Y. He gives particular advice for three groups of people (parents, teachers and employers).

One of the strengths of this book was section 2. Here McQueen analyses eight ares where generations think very differently. The areas are; Concept of truth, respect, patience, communication, the future, loyalty, work ethic and learning. For someone who ministers to Gen Y this section was very informative and the topics were very pertinent. With some consideration McQueens analysis can easily be used as good advice for many pastoral situations.

His final section had some very helpful practical and concrete ways of different generations relating to Gen Y. At times I felt that the advice was driven much more from anecdotal evidence but given his breadth of experience this may be overlooked. The section also draws more heavily on Baby Boomers relating to Gen Y with not many comparison between Gen Y and Gen X. Notwithstanding these comments the section will be very helpful for many who have never really tried to think through relating to Gen Y.

I appreciated this book as it draws heavily on an Australian audience. It is a very helpful introduction to Gen Y and how to engage with them. He states:
"Identifying the characteristics of our own generation and the nuances of others should ideally empower us to connect across the generation gap rather than provide an excuse for why conflict is inevitable." pg 18
and I think that he achieves this and provides a good breadth of information and practical stratgeies to relate well to Gen Y.