Thank-you to Greg Rollet for this great post today!

Mark Zuckerberg gets a lot of credit for making Facebook tick and he should. He took an idea from his dorm room and made arguably (I still think Twitter has more potential due to SMS but) the best online community the world has ever seen. Mark is young, talented and has a vision that most people his age are not even pretending to think about.

However, Mark is part of a growing number of Millennials that are working to fight the status quo, have an entrepreneurial spirit and show the world they are ready for big business. For however smart, and the grand vision Mark has in his head, he needs a team to help him execute and become an influential leader instead of a passing fad. Mark and Facebook have done an amazing job recruiting top talent and leaders in perspective areas that compliment the brilliant young minds behind Facebook. Much like Barack Obama has strong values and beliefs, he needs a top-notch team of advisors to compliment him in areas that are not his strengths.

Complimenting your strengths is a great way to succeed and it has proved worthwhile for Facebook. Although they have not hit the business goals that they set out to achieve in 2008, with the growth in users from the Gen-Xers and its International growth it is only a matter of time before Mark and his team find the Golden Ticket.

So who are some of these people?

Mike Murphy is the VP of Sales and came from another Internet juggernaut, Yahoo. Mike brings with him experience from Yahoo’s Media Sales Division and also some entrepreneurship and leadership from his own startup TAG.

Chamath Palihapitiya is Facebook’s VP of growth and has done a great job in that role. He comes from a VC background, which means long hours evaluating business plans and looking into the hearts of companies. His leadership has been an integral part in helping Facebook get the numbers they have in different demographic sectors and overseas.

Dan Rose is the VP of Business Development and Monetization after a career at eCommerce supersite Amazon.com. The experience he learned at Amazon helped him in the creation of the Kindle, which is one of the products Amazon is hoping will grow their business even further in the future. While his efforts at Facebook have not sizzled to that of the higher than high expectations, Dan is a great leader and asset to Mark and Facebook’s vision.

Sheryl Sandberg is the COO in Mark’s army and came over from the company Mark has a chance to really compete with, Google. Sheryl also worked for a big shot political star, Bill Clinton. That may be the type of leadership any hot shot Gen-Y business leader would want on their side.

Another Googler, Elliot Schrage is now the VP of Communications over at FB. Where Mark may be the technology brains of the operation, his stories of brilliance only go so far as his PR and Communications staff brings him.

Mike Schroepfer is the VP of Engineering and came from Mozilla. The guy who was instrumental in Firefox is someone who has leadership ability and would be a great addition to a young technical mind.

And…

Gideon Yu is the VP and CFO and held the same title at a site you might have heard of, YouTube. He was the negotiator in their $1.6 billion sale to Google. Not a bad money man to round out the team.

I am sure there are others in Zuckerberg’s team that also compliment his strengths and have turned him into the Millennial Leader that he is today. By adding people that are smarter than him, that challenge him to be better everyday, Mark has built a team that is ready for the future and can deliver on its promises. Hopefully the same can be said for another guy with a great team that will have great power come the 20^th.

(Greg Rollett is a Social Media guy from Endagon Innovations, a Social Media boutique that focuses on Youth Culture and Hospitality. He can also be found blogging at http://gregrollett.blogspot.com or emailed at greg.rollett@endagon.com.)

I had the honor to be able to interview James Sun three times during 2007-2008 on his views about his success on The Apprentice, leadership and how Generation Y is embracing our world for the opportunities it offers. James is a Gen X, but he really has his finger on the pulse of what Generation Y most needs and wants.

One of the interviews was published as an article by Young Money Magazine in May of 2008, and I hope you enjoy it!

James Sun: The Millionaire Apprentice

 Angela Marino has a great post from yesterday on Brazen Careerist, offering some great advice to Gen Y.  Marino is a Gen Y-Gen X tweener.

I also believe that Gen X has a great deal to offer Gen Y.  I am noticing a bit of sibling rivalry in the workplace between these two generations…many Gen Xers are saying that Gen Y is jumping over them to get what they want.  In the first place, this is a broad generalization.  I am meeting a lot of Gen Y’s who are not jumping over Gen X and who are listening to their Gen X bosses and managers.  However, if you are the leader of a company, I encourage you to sit down with your Gen X leaders and ask them to step up and provide some sound mentoring and advice to Gen Y on strategies like these by Marino on how they can improve their career.  Gen X is going to start moving into more Senior leadership positions in the next 3-5 years as Boomers retire, and it’s time to start getting everyone to play nice! (As nice as possible.)