Thread by @lillianmli

1) Let's talk about the generational mental model differences in China and its impact.
Rather than talking about boomers, gen x, millennials and zoomers. Chinese media segments their population by birth year ranges with monikers of post-80s generation, post-90s and post-00s.

2) This is very fine dicing of the population but highly relevant.
Given China's fast pace change, every decade saw substantial changes in living conditions and therefore massive shifts in that generation's mindsets and values.

3) China went from a state of material scarcity in the early 1980s to high variance in affluence by the 2000s. The transition to more abundance mindsets is clearly seen with each generation.
(variance across regions applies, but this holds especially true for the top cities)

4) To sum up (stereotype) each generation:
Post-80s - hardworking, loyal to organisations, consumeristic and optimistic
Post-90s - Only child/ little emperors, independent, and liberal
Post-00s - Self-expression, international, creative and yolo

5) To me it feels a little like the jump from late boomers to zoomers in three decades.
The difference in the emphasis put on the self versus organisation is quite different with each population (though of cause, there's a lot of variance in between each population)

6) It used to puzzle me how much upper management (the post-70s and post-80s) worried about communicating and managing the post-00s and post-95s.
After interacting with more folks, the culture gap is very real.

7) The old hierarchical way of management that the post-70s and post-80s are used to just don't work on the kids like they used to.
The change in generational values is causing vibration in management styles up and down the country and its fascinating to observe.

8) Bytedance's culture of 'Context, not control' has won over many among the younger generation. Its success has lead to much rethinking among tech and startups management styles.
This will continue as the post-00s keep entering the workforce