The Twentysomethings

Today's twentysomethings have been labeled the "lost generation" for their presumed inability to identify and lead fulfilling lives, "kidults" for their alleged refusal to "grow up" and accept adult responsibilities, and the "least religious generation" for their purported disinterest in religion and spirituality. These characterizations are not only unflattering -- they are wrong. The Twentysomething Soul tells an optimistic story about American twentysomethings by introducing readers to the full spectrum of American young adults, many of whom live purposefully, responsibly, and reflectively. Some prioritize faith and involvement in a religious congregation. Others reject their childhood religion to explore alternatives and practice a personal spirituality. Still others sideline religion and spirituality until their lives get settled, or reject organized religion completely. Drawing from interviews with more than 200 young adults, as well as national survey of 1,880 twentysomethings, Tim Clydesdale and Kathleen Garces-Foley seek to change the way we view contemporary young adults, giving an accurate and refreshing understanding of their religious, spiritual, and secular lives.

A mother-daughter writing team reports on what's really up with kids today Science writer Robin Marantz Henig and her daughter, journalist Samantha Henig, offer a smart, comprehensive look at what it's really like to be twentysomething—and to what extent it’s different for Millennials than it was for their Baby Boomer parents. The Henigs combine the behavioral science literature for insights into how young people make choices about schooling, career, marriage, and childbearing; how they relate to parents, friends, and lovers; and how technology both speeds everything up and slows everything down. Packed with often-surprising discoveries, Twentysomething is a two-generation conversation that will become the definitive book on being young in our time. "The fullest guide through this territory . . . A densely researched report on the state of middleclass young people today, drawn from several data sources and fi­ltered through a comparative lens." —­The New Yorker

You are twentysomething and in the prime of your life. You are current, capable, cosmopolitan, and completely confused. Thrust out of the comfortable existence of a college student and into the cold, hard reality of life in the "real world", you face a whole new array of responsibilities. You have to find a job, possibly relocate to a new city, find a place to live, figure out how to pay the bills with the entry-level salary you land, make new friends, and find a church (just to name a few)! The good news is that you're not alone. Margaret Feinberg-twentysomething herself-wants you to know that there are tens of thousands of others facing these same challenges. "Our twenties really can be some of the best years of our lives, no matter what our landlords, bosses, parents, or anyone else says," encourages Feinberg. Offering Scriptural insights, encouragement, humor, and practical wisdom, twentysomething confronts this "crisis" and shows you how to survive without losing your patience or your passion for life. twentysomething will inspire you to hold onto your dreams and to embark fearlessly on the journey God has for you.

“For an age group overwhelmed with information, Bradbury-Haehl finds a way to make it all manageable.” --Publisher’s Weekly Let’s face it: adulting isn’t easy. That’s why young-adult minister Nora Bradbury-Haehl created this essential guide to help you avoid the mistakes, missteps, and financial failures that took others years to learn. Each chapter includes practical, actionable advice that addresses the full range of life’s challenges, including how to: make a new city feel like home; find the right job for you—and thrive once you’ve landed it; ward off loneliness and build meaningful post-grad relationships; set boundaries and live in harmony with your roommates—whether they’re your peers or parents; and replace destructive habits with ones that make your life better. Whether you’re seeking meaning and purpose in your life and career or just feeling stuck and confused about your next steps, within these pages you’ll find answers to your most pressing questions and advice, encouragement, and inspiration from others who want to help you through these challenging years—together.

Understand and Solve Your Customers’ Real Problems with Agile Business Analysis To deliver real value, you must understand what your customers truly value, and solve the problems they really need solved. Business analysis can help you do this—and it’s as crucial in agile environments now as it always has been. In Business Analysis Agility, leading experts James Robertson and Suzanne Robertson show how to perform business analysis in an agile way: trying new things, adapting to changes and discoveries, staying flexible, and being quick. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience of hundreds of projects and organizations, the Robertsons help you prioritize relentlessly, focus investments on delivering value, and learn in ways that improve your results. Uncover the real customer problems hidden behind assumptions and conventional solutions Hypothesize potential solutions and quickly test them with safe-to-fail probes Understand how people, hardware, software, organizations, and other components come together in an optimal customer experience Write stories that help you find solutions that deliver more value to customers and the business Think about problems and projects in more agile, nimble, and open-minded ways The Robertsons’ approach to analytical thinking will be valuable to anyone who wants to build better software in agile environments: analysts, developers, team leads, project managers, software architects, and other team members and stakeholders at all levels of experience.

Your twenties are your defining decade, the time in which you are setting the course for the rest of your life it. You don't want to look back later and realize you ended up somewhere you never intended to go in the first place. How do you block out all the lies, half-truths, and "supposed-to's" constantly assaulting you from articles, social media posts, and well-meaning friends and family? How do you find something real, something true, something infused with purpose and meaning? Funny, vulnerable, and to the point, this book exposes the false beliefs that can derail your current happiness and future impact, like - having big dreams is naïve - success just happens - everyone else is experiencing the success you were supposed to - when you fail you're a failure - and many more This story-driven book shows you that you're not alone in your insecurities and second-guessing, then shows you how to replace the lies with the truth--that you can live a life of purpose, earn a good paycheck, leave a legacy, and have fun doing it.

Foster good habits. Press into pain. Never, ever get another perm. Despite what many think, our twenties aren’t that dead space between youth and real life. Done right, they can be among our most important years. In 20 Things We’d Tell Our 20-Something Selves, college professors Peter and Kelli Worrall look back on it all—the good, the bad, and the miserable—to give you the best of what they’ve learned. With humility, warmth, and brilliant storytelling, they invite you not only into their wisdom but into their lives, sharing about faith, marriage, drawn-out adoptions, dark nights of the soul, and the God who’s in it all. 20 Things is more than a list of advice; it’s a book that can change your life. Let the trend of your twenties be sowing wisdom, and who knows what the rest of life will bring? Includes action steps, discussion questions, and ideas for further reading at the end of each chapter.

The Builders, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials—all make up workforces in every type of industry all over the world. The generational gaps are numerous and distinctly different between each age group, and Millennials have gotten a reputation for being particularly unique and often challenging. In this updated and expanded Second Edition of the popular guidebook Managing the Millennials, you'll see how Millennial traits are the same around the globe. In fact, Millennials are more alike than any other generation before them due in large part to rapid advances in technology that let us share more experiences together. These same rapid advances are also redefining the fundamental ways businesses operate, and this revised edition includes the international perspective today's valuable leadership needs to attract and retain these high-performing workers with very different values and expectations. With fresh research and new real-world examples, the powerhouse authorial team reexamines the differences between how different generations work today in businesses around the world, with insightful exploration into what makes the Millennial generation so different from the ones that came before. The authors reveal nine specific points of tension commonly arising from clashing value systems among generations and prescribe nine proven solutions to resolve conflict and build communication, nurture collaborative teams, and create long-lasting relationships among colleagues of every age. A wealth of informative tables and convenient end-of-chapter summaries make this an invaluable everyday reference to support you: Making the most informed decisions with up-to-date, research-based guidance on getting the most from twenty-something employees Executing solutions to the most common obstacles to younger workers engaging and learning from the people who manage them Enhancing your skills as a job coach with practical tips and hands-on tools for coaching Millennials, including concrete action steps for overcoming roadblocks Complete with case studies of real managers and employees interacting in every area of business, enlightening analysis of performance and behavioral patterns across generations, and easy-to-use techniques you can use right away to improve your organization, Managing the Millennials, Second Edition gives you everything you need to inspire your entire workforce to new levels of productivity.