By 1991, advertising executives were using "Generation X" as a code word for the post-baby boomer market segment considered so difficult to pin down. There had been a punk rock band called "Generation X" in the early 1980s. But the mathematical variable did not become a common referent for the post-boomer demographic until the success of Douglas Coupland's novel Generation X (1991), which featured a group of jaded twenty-somethings dropping out of the rat-race. By 1993, it was official: the successors to the baby boom were being called "X" by Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, and Fortune. In the four years since 1993, the ubiquitous term has become the inescapable name for the fifty-two million Americans born between 1963 and 1977. Inescapable as the term may be, we can insist on defining the meaning.

1) Renewable loyalty: Xers don't expect long-term relationships with established employers, rather Xers expect to be independent value adders, routinely reinventing ourselves and our roles in any organization.
2) Selective focus: The information revolution shaped the way Xers think, learn and communicate, which makes Xers uniquely suited to thrive in today's tidal wave of information and technology.
3) Creative entrepreneurism: Xers' latchkey childhood taught us to be independent problem solvers. We look for opportunities to prove ourselves to ourselves and others by producing tangible results.
4) Tuned-in to feedback: Xers seek constant feedback from the world around us to guide our ongoing adaptation to change.