Really off topic from the generational thing, but I have to mention Col John Boyd, USAF (great biography: "Boyd" by Robert Coram). Boyd was a real maverick and a very important military strategist with a big influence on aircraft design and much else.
Boyd used to take promising young officers under his wing and say: "You can be BE somebody, or you can DO something. You have to choose."
What Boyd meant was, you can kiss ass, and rise up and get big promotions -- but those people often don't make any sort of lasting contribution; but they can say,"Do you know who I am??". But the mavericks -- the people who don't care about the promotion -- the people who just want to really make a difference: those people DO things. They may not often become colonels or generals, but they make everything work.
Young people who just want respect because of WHO they are (and they aren't anybody), those people have already missed the boat in a big way.
“You can be BE somebody, or you can DO something.”
Those who CAN do. Those who can’t strive to “be somebody”. The latter overwhelmingly populate the political class.