Truth for them tends to be determined by context and culture rather than by conformity to transcending religious or philosophical beliefs. Truth is often diminished by a misguided understanding of compassion. Today's twentysomethings have great difficulty when truth and tolerance collide. Many in this generation believe that tolerance sets the parameters for truth rather than vice versa. Because of this they evaluate the communication of truth by the standards of compassion or tolerance rather than by its coherence to reality.
Truth is understood as disconnected facts rather than as a connected framework.
Rather than building a coherent framework of truth, they amass a collection of facts and ideas that have been gleaned from multiple and often variant sources. As can be seen by these observations about loyalty and truth, there is a distinctive way in which twentysomethings approach these topics. Those who lead them must understand this in order for there to be a free flow of loyalty and truth between leader and constituent. If not, miscommunication, mistrust and short-term employment will abound. In next month's edition of Positive Impact there will be practical guidance and suggestions on how leaders of twentysomethings can use this information to build positive, productive relationships with this generation.