by Edward J. Ulman

n the 19th Century, if you could not read or write, it was common to sign legal documents with an “X.”

Countless Americans moved through history in this way.

One notable example is Harriet Tubman, the famous abolitionist and political activist who was born into slavery. During the Civil War she served as cook, nurse, scout, soldier and spy for the Union Army. Decades later, Tubman requested a pension from the United States government.

She signed with an “X.”

Gen Xers took it hard when Boomers called us slackers because we questioned their workaholic mindset, preferring work-life balance instead.

I see you there. Hiding in your business meeting debating how to reach digital audiences and effectively tap the Millennial market. Working on a mobile solution that efficiently provides a cost-effective customer service that retiring Boomers will prefer. In the boardroom discussing the pros and cons of digital micro-transactions and how to philanthropically engage “younger” people – with nary a mention of what might work for or appeal to the invisible Generation X.

I see you. I was born in 1966. Like you, I’m a Gen Xer.

We despised the labels printed and stuck on us as if we were a parcel to nowhere. Gen Xers took it hard when Boomers called us slackers because we questioned their workaholic mindset, preferring work-life balance instead. We were viewed as cynical, when in reality our growing skepticism was the result of consuming an ever-expanding media diet promoting politicians, athletes, business leaders and pop culture icons who were caught lying, cheating, stealing, or worse. Our Boomer parents, who took part in the ‘60s civil rights and social revolutions, thought us disaffected because we believed their “movements” had failed to effect lasting, systemic change, while we secretly believed we were powerless.

The Pew Research Center claims that anyone born between 1965 and 1980 is Generation X. And according to Paul Taylor, executive vice president for special projects at Pew, we Gen Xers received the short end of the generational measuring stick. While Boomers and Millennials were each granted a span of about 20 years, Gen Xers are allotted a mere 16. That means, in quantifiable terms, there are around 65 million of us compared to 77 million Boomers and 83 million Millennials.

It feels comfortable, however, to remain hidden and avoid bringing up those old labels. To be rid of these Gen X stereotypes, which are persistently more negative, perhaps gratifies the lonely “latchkey kid” inside each of us. We endured higher rates of divorce, single parenthood, or, if we were lucky, had two working parents, all of which were increasing demographic trends in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Today, we’re the parents and even grandparents. We have cast off those Gen X memes by making our way into the workforce, saving through challenging economic times, getting married, buying homes, raising families, and earning promotions. But we continue to be defined as the “in-between” generation whose earning power and savings were compromised by the dotcom crash in 2000, the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed.

We are in our prime and we should be primed to lead. Let us set aside our skepticism together and prove those negative Gen X stereotypes wrong.

But that’s no excuse. If we are to persist, to strive, we must recall how past generations persevered despite insurmountable odds. The Plague. Revolutions. Civil War. Slavery. World War I. Women’s Suffrage. The Spanish Flu. Polio. The Great Depression. Genocide. World War II. Civil Rights. The Cold War. HIV.

Times are tough. It appears that they will not get easier. We find ourselves in a pandemic and an economic crisis. Global climate change will impact how every human lives on the planet. How we live together, cooperate, collaborate, and support each other will shape our success. Our generation began during the Civil Rights movement and we are taking part in and/or witnessing the largest social justice movement in our lifetime. Meanwhile, the United States has not experienced this level of political division and upheaval since the Civil War era.

Which brings us to Harriet Tubman. Before volunteering for the Union Army, and long before she became the first American woman to lead a military raid, Tubman risked her life to provide “transport” for African-American slaves escaping to freedom in the North. She spent eight years as conductor of the Underground Railroad and in her own words remarked, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” She received no pay as a soldier. After the war she toured and gave speeches in support of the Women’s Rights Movement started by Susan B. Anthony.

Harriet Tubman was not born a leader. No one is born a leader. Leadership is not a generational predilection or trait. What we can take from Tubman’s experience is that individuals assume leadership when and as the situation demands. What matters first is motivation: are you spurred to action? And what matters foremost is: are you prepared to lead? In short, leadership can and must be learned. If Harriet Tubman can subdue the stereotypes that must have come from being an illiterate African-American slave, then Gen X can do the same.

A leading authority on leadership, Richard Heifetz, played a pioneering role in establishing leadership as an area of research and study. In The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, one of the many books he has authored as a Harvard professor of more than 30 years, Heifetz writes:

“Leadership is a difficult practice personally because it almost always requires you to make a challenging adaptation yourself. What makes adaptation complicated is that it involves deciding what is so essential that it must be preserved going forward and what of all that you value can be left behind. Those are hard choices because they involve both protecting what is most important to you and bidding adieu to something you previously held dear: a relationship, a value, an idea, an image of yourself.”

In response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, many gave their lives to save others. The majority of the firefighters and police who took part were from Generation X. Likewise, the majority of doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the pandemic today are Gen Xers as well. You see, when called upon, even the middle child comes of age ready to serve and lead.

Let us set aside our skepticism together and prove those negative Gen X stereotypes wrong. Now more than ever Gen X must lead.

In 2020, the oldest Gen Xers turned 55 while the youngest of our generation are 39. We are in our prime and we should be primed to lead. Let us set aside our skepticism together and prove those negative Gen X stereotypes wrong. Now more than ever Gen X must lead. As Heifetz writes:

“You know the adage ‘People resist change.’ It is not really true. People are not stupid. People love change when they know it is a good thing… No one gives back a winning lottery ticket. What people resist is not change per se, but loss. When change involves real or potential loss, people hold on to what they have and resist the change.”

This next decade calls us. We are the generation of the moment. If we fail to act, there is much to lose. Remember that list of pandemics, wars, and human atrocities. Without advanced medicine, the bubonic plague ravaged Europe for six years, resulting in an estimated 75 to 200 million deaths. The Civil War was preceded by bitter partisan divide. Slavery existed for 246 years in America and despite passing the 13th Amendment in 1865, the social movement for equity and equality continues.

Our ability to pursue the American dream and democracy are at stake again. “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today,” President Abraham Lincoln remarked. It is time for us to boldly, genuinely and with facts, truth, and integrity accept the responsibility of leadership.

Gen X, it is time for us to make our mark.