Simon and I were at Roffey Park on Friday presenting our Gen Y research at all an all-day event.   Our very own Lamorna was part of a Gen Y panel - five twenty-somethings talking about their views of work and answering questions. I already knew how inspiring Lamorna is. She is 22 years old,  well-travelled, interesting. She co-founded a fabulous company that won last year’s Shell Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The other 4 were equally inspiring. It struck me how confident, self-assured and entrepreneurial they all were. It was interesting to hear the audiences questions which were nearly all indicative of what a struggle it is for Boomers and Xers to understand the world of Gen Y. Questions like "how come you are so confident?", "don’t you ever feel insecure?".

I for one felt pretty envious. Oh to be 26, to have already worked in 6 countries, to have been head of social policy for a think tank and decided to leave all that and become a freelance speechwriter (for some well-known and incredible people) and to be writing a book. Wow.

This was clearly a very special group of people but I am willing to bet that the  confident, fearless, or, as they put it, we "don’t see barriers" mentality is common amongst Gen Ys. The big challenge is for organisations to find a way of harnessing that instead of stifling it and driving them away.

Sally Bibb