Generation Y, the Trophy Generation, Echo Boomers, the MTV Generation. Millennials have been labeled in ways as diverse as their political outlook in recent years, but none of the titles give more insight into how to manage and harness the power of this group than the moniker of “The Peter Pan” generation.

On the face of it this group of 80m+ Americans, born between 1983 and 2001 (per Elwood Carlson) is awash with confusing contradictions. This is a group that believes it should be rewarded, not just for winning, but for playing at all. They exhibit a deep sense of community but only 35% keep up to date with political affairs (University of Michigan, Monitoring of the Future study). They have the highest expectations of their role in the workplace while facing the highest unemployment levels in over a decade. They want to be constantly challenged but rarely display the desire to stick to any task for more than 18 months or so. In fact there is a pretty high chance that most of them have already stopped reading this blog post by now.

There is a temptation to dismiss this group as confused, untamable and entitled but that would be to the significant detriment of American business.

What unites the great growth stories in recent US business is how ably these businesses have harnessed the characteristics of the Peter Pan generation to create massive success. Businesses like Google, Facebook and even IBM have achieved unheard of scale, IPO’d quickly (in some cases) and recognized huge value by ensuring that the hunger for community, participation, access and variety was met.

Where this generation is well placed to outstrip its predecessors is in that difficult second act. One thing that most of our clients accept is that to be relevant and profitable in future, they will need to partner effectively and extend their brand and business beyond their core offering. The millennial mindset is one that craves that diversification; it requires it to continue to be challenged. They are redefining the meaning of Peter Pan by refusing to grow up but demanding to grow out at the same time.

The millennial mindset makes leaps, takes risks and embraces ideas because idea based companies afford them the room and flexibility to grow and make an impact. It is no surprise that Google was the most preferred future employer of 18% of Millennials surveyed (source: Millennial Inc.). When they were asked “Why Google?” the answer wasn’t pay or prestige but because they felt “their ideas would make an impact there.” The brands that stand for ideas rather than products will be the ones that attract the greatest talent pool of millennials. The ones that give them an environment where they can be impactful quickly will drive their business in new directions and open up greenfields to drive choice, loyalty and charge price premiums.

To do that, companies need to ensure that their core brand idea is well crafted and well understood internally. They need clarity and commitment from senior executives to ensuring the vision is intimately and explicitly linked to business decision making. Most of all, they require the responsiveness to ensure that their employees are heard and recognized at whatever level for their ideas because now, more than ever the Peter Pan Generation are motivated and have the means, role models and wherewithal to fly away and make it on their own.

Hugh Tallents is a Strategy Director at Interbrand New York. He is not a Millennial, but sometimes acts like one when it suits him.

I recently came across an article proclaiming the defining feature of the “Millennial Generation” to be entrepreneurship. In The New York Times, William Deresiewicz asserts that the ideal social form of this “Generation Sell” is the small business and that Steve Jobs is our new deity.

A Millennial myself, I’ve certainly observed a small, but visible, subset of my peers foregoing the 9 to 5 route to attempt tech start-ups and caused-based clothing companies. Deresiewicz explains that “the Millennial affect is the affect of a salesman,” suggesting that this has resulted in the entrepreneurial trend. Although a bit of a stretch, I agree to a certain extent that young professionals my age have been taught to market and sell ourselves to a greater degree than past generations. From navigating increasingly competitive college admission processes to attempting to land a first job in a dismal economy, we’ve learned to package ourselves in compelling ways on paper and tell the right stories when interviewing or networking. Call us what you will - Millennials, digital natives, Generation Sell or Generation ME - we know a thing or two about the importance of branding, particularly the brand of self.

Today’s marketers, therefore, face the challenge of defining their brands among a growing sea of newly minted start-ups - to consumers who are more brand-savvy than generations before them. Today’s marketers must also consider the intersecting social trends that produced and resulted from the entrepreneurial spirit of our generation.

I believe my generation suffers from conflicting psychological needs of acceptance and individuality to a greater extent than past generations. We have an innate need to feel accepted, but our desire to be unique and different is even greater than before as Silicon Valley eclipses Wall Street as our generation’s definition of success. Stanley Hainsworth, a former creative director at Nike and Starbucks, explains this paradox: “It's part of our nature to want to be accepted. Yet, at the same time, we have this desire to feel like we're different from everyone else -- which is the complete opposite of that yearning for acceptance, but is nonetheless relevant…No matter how hard we try to look different, we almost always still look like someone.”

The ease of content creation, among other benefits, provides the environmental backdrop for entrepreneurship. Opportunities abound for self-expression through music, blogs, YouTube videos etc. But what happens when everyone can be an artist or inventor? There has always been an inherent conflict when a unique look becomes trendy, but, today, being inventive, unique and having a better story is the ultimate goal. As more individuals strive for uniqueness, competition inevitably increases, diminishing one’s chances of achieving true individuality. Adding pressure to this cycle is the transparency of our generation’s lives. We have the opportunity to express ourselves through our online profiles and show the world who we are through a collection of images, blogs and online resumes but, in turn, we open ourselves up to scrutiny and comparison to millions of others. The world has gotten bigger and online self-expression has become self-brand management.

Today’s generation will struggle to balance the need to belong and the desire to be unique and I believe brands that learn to walk the line between these conflicting unconscious pulls will reap the benefits. Nike does an exemplary job of this through their NIKEiD offering, where fans can customize a range of Nike shoes and apparel on their website. Nike customers can bolster self-esteem and fulfill the need to belong by wearing and participating in the creation of a product by an esteemed brand. At the same time, customization allows them to exercise their creativity and demonstrate their individuality, reassuring themselves and signaling to others that they’re trendy and cool, yet different from everyone else. That is, until customization becomes cliché.

Margaret Baughman is a New Business Coordinator for Interbrand New York.