For those that don’t know gap intelligence, we have a great history of being a young, hip and energetic company. This made for a tough transition when I came on board because I’m old, square, and haven’t stayed up past 11pm since Chevy Chase and John Belushi were on Saturday Night Live.

The transition started on my first day, when I wore my favorite wrinkle-free khaki dockers with my equally smooth micro-fiber polo shirt “tucked.” It turns out that tucking in your shirt is no longer cool and wrinkles are… So, I had to switch my entire wardrobe from “country club” to “fight club.” On the bright side, Costco carries plenty of denim, tee shirts, and sweats, so I didn’t have to switch stores, just tables.

The next thing I had to learn was the word “like” cannot be overused. My typical conversation with a younger employee goes something like this: Me – “so how was your weekend?” Younger Co-Worker “it was like so awesome. I like partied Saturday night and like slept all day Sunday but I’m like still so tired I’m like craving red bull like all frigging day.” I’ve also found that “Like” is now used heavily on the computer where you can “Like” everything you like so your friends like know what you like.

This brings me to Facebook where all this “Liking” apparently got started. I have 3 teenage daughters and I saw the movie, so I definitely know what The Facebook is. I just haven’t figured out why I would want to use it. I’m on a computer all day at work. The last thing I want to do at night or on the weekends is be on the computer. I know the younger generation does a lot of this “facebooking” on their phones. Unfortunately, unless I have my reading glasses, I can’t read what’s on my phone, let alone use my big thumbs to type on a keyboard designed for undersized pixies. Fortunately or unfortunately, I only have a few good friends, so I call them when I want to know how they’re doing. I guess if I had a few thousand friends like my younger co-workers, I’d have to learn another way to communicate with all of them.

I don’t want to give the impression that I’m an Andy Rooney type who’s completely adverse to technology. I learned to embrace email and found it’s much better than the old days when we relied on phones, receptionists and the ever-popular pink “while you were out” notes. Unfortunately, I learned at Gap that email is no longer cool and I had to set up a “google talk” account and “friend” all my co-workers. I still send them emails anyway…

In closing, I’ve learned a lot from the younger generation at Gap and hope I’ve been able to impart some wisdom their way. Thanks to them, I can now dress every day like its Saturday morning. Thanks to me, they now have to read their email. Someday, I may even “Like” a few of them on Myspace.