A few days ago, T. Boone Pickens paid a visit to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show.  The resulting interview was one I found immensely intriguing.

Not because The Pickens Plan mission is to “Rid Our Dependence on Foreign Oil” is news to me (I’ve been a supporter since day one), but because I’m also a regular viewer of the Daily Show and I’ve rarely seen the always sarcastic Jon Stewart get behind someone’s crusade so quickly.

At one point, Stewart even stands up to salute the 80 year old Mr. Pickens and says his predominantly younger viewer audience (18 to 34 years old) would “follow him out of the building” if Boone would lead them.

The salute happens ~ 6:10 minutes in the video below.

For those who are reading my words while listening to the video, you might find the interview is somewhat boring without Stewart stepping in and adding some Anti-ADHD pizzazz that keeps younger people interested and The Daily Show among the most watched news programs in my age group.

As always, this got me thinking about the communication disparities among the older generations (e.g. baby boomers), that of my generation, and even the generations younger than myself.  What some refer to as “the generation gap” and how it negatively impacts those who have solid ideas for change, but can’t get the necessary support due to simple communication glitches.

For someone like Boone, who in all fairness is not the most effective communicator (in my opinion) from the many interviews I’ve seen him give on CNBC over the last decade, he appears to have some difficulty bridging the generational gap when talking to the younger generations.  Particularly those who aren’t interested in economics or creating a sensible energy policy.

Of course, everyone wanted to join the debate when oil hit the $100/barrel mark and everyone was fuming mad that gas was hovering in the $4 to $5 per gallon range.

But what I find so intriguing is the near silence of Stewart once Mr. Pickens got into a staccato like rhythm rattling off those statistics and facts that he has constantly repeated since he started the Pickens Plan.  You could almost feel the immediate support from the audience once they realized how serious the issues really are and how effective the Pickens Plan will be when it’s finally executed.

As Pickens said in the interview, “this is your problem [pointing to the young people in the audience], not my problem … because I’m 80 years old“.

Maybe those words sank into our iPod loving, Halo playing brains a bit more than normal.

Let’s hope so!

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