Black Capitalism: THE GENERATION GAP IN THE CORPORATION

THE clamorous demands of youthful activists, which have shaken the universities and unsettled the political parties, are spreading to the world of business. A new generation—confident, iconoclastic and thoroughly professional —has entered the nation's corporations. The young managers are steeped in the computer and case-history techniques of business schools, and they sometimes believe that they know more than their bosses. Older businessmen feel challenged and often bemused by what seems to be a paradoxical mixture of avarice and altruism in the corporate newcomers. The younger men, who have grown up in an era of affluence and clearly enjoyed the luxuries of suburbia, claim to reject traditional incentives. As Gordon Grand, president of Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp., says: "The days of the stick and carrot are gone."

Opting for Impact. What, then, do the young managers want? Very largely, they want almost instant responsibility, a chance for individual expression or, as one General Electric personnel psychologist put it, "opportunity for impact." They are getting the message through to chief executives that they are not willing to put in the usual stint as a trainee, shuffling paper and learning company routines. "These younger, better-educated people demand a different kind of direction," says Edward J. Hanley, chairman of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp. "You have got to give them their head, put them in positions where they can make mistakes." Because many large companies are accustomed to stockpiling skills, the brightest young executives often move into small firms, where they can more readily assume the responsibility that they impatiently demand.

Today's young businessman is a member of the committed generation who insists on meaning and a sense of social responsibility in both his job and his life. Martin Gerstel, 27, a founder of Alza Corp., a California pharmaceutical research firm, argues: "It is not good enough any more just to be a manager, to do a good job making and selling candy bars. You have to feel that the product or service coming out of your organization is really important to society." Other young managers demand time off from their jobs to do consulting for black businessmen or to assist in urban development programs. They prefer to work for companies involved in projects such as pollution control or urban renewal.

For all their idealism, young men want —and get—record salaries. "The young employee is more rapacious these days," says Robert E. Cody, a vice president of California's Security Pacific National Bank. "The fact that his boss worked 20 years to get where he is does not move him." George T. Henning, 27, assistant to the comptroller of Boston's Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates, agrees. He earns $17,000 and intends to be making $45,000 by the time he is 35. George Woodland, vice president of Milwaukee's Rex Chainbelt Corp., complains: "A lot of these kids are looking at money and not relating it to what they contribute."