Reality check: 20somethings today are not all about Facebook and a gig at Crispin -- despite what you may be hearing from over-40 creative directors.

Today's young talent represents not-able cultural shifts: They're digital, message savvy, global and green. (Listen to the Flobots' "Handlebars" and you'll get the picture.) They mark fundamental changes from previous grads entering the industry. They're more associative, culturally networked, nimble and intuitive. While they're more cynical than cohorts past, they're also more apt to call BS or volunteer for environmental or political causes. They are easy in their gay-or-straight, vegetarian-or-meat, tatted-or-not choices. F-bombs are tossed around like Frisbees. These kids run hard, adapt easily.

How they live has everything to do with how they work. They time shift. Favorite shows happen online on-demand. News is 24/7. There's not much use for e-mail. Instead, they're YouTubing, Stumbling, Digging, Twittering, blogging, updating. They're Loopted and LinkedIn. Caffeine drives the day and night. In this world, wristwatches and alarm clocks are as necessary as rabbit ears. They grew up IMing, and the cell phone rules. Area-code identity is mobile but long lasting -- a virtual network.

They also own their playlists. Music is a mixed bag, all about the eclectic range of songs in a collection. (Think Gunther, Jack Johnson, Rehab, Kenny Chesney and show tunes.) They have the right music for any occasion. For every event, road trip and experience, a playlist can define the moment.

The multiracial contingent of this generation is tsunami-like. They routinely deride those geezery federal five-box guidelines that signify identity. One student recently told me, "I'm not checking African American or Native American or white" on her registration. She's all of those, so she checks "other" and gets lost in a data pile. She's not alone. The reality of multiculturalism is that it's regularly misidentified and these kids know it. With universities and high schools emphasizing travel, they have made their way all over the planet. A summer in Europe, a term in Ecuador, a field trip to Beijing. They know this is a small world.

It's the shortcut generation. That toolbar up top is for old-timers; these guys learned to Cmd-Option-Shift-A in middle school because it was cool, not necessary. Desktops are institutional holdovers. Everyone has a set of on-the-go tools: camera, laptop, videocam, hard drive, cool bag to tote it all. They're experts early on, manhandling Final Cut or Flash with intuitive authority. They're Idea 2.0, the mashup generation and one with confluence, that place beyond convergence where the old sloughs off and the new quickly gets morphed into the cultural DNA.

All this makes them, at their best, unbelievably creative and productive. On the other hand, they also think they have all the answers. Morley Safer wrote recently of this generation's entitlement issues: They've grown up with everyone as winners, with inspired birthday parties and planned events, with middle-class privilege and opportunities at every camp, academy and take-your-kid-to-work experience. They expect careers, not jobs. And they expect to have their names—very soon—in an annual or this mag. Hell, they know their blog on a good day might get more eyeballs than the trades.

Talking to a wide swath of students at the One Show Festival in May, I realized most simply want to be inspired. Sure, they can name the best agencies, but their ideal starter office lets them jump into career-building assignments, offers mentors. It takes chances. It stays real.

They're taking cues from superheroes like Tony Stark and Brit Russell Davies. They mix studied cynicism with bright ideas, then care in that smart, offhanded way. And, oh my, they sense irrelevance. They don't come in trying to make 35-45-year-olds feel like dumbasses, but that's what's happening. They ninja their way into the best pitches and win on their own terms.

What does it mean for agencies? This cohort is ready to invent rather than work the assembly line. Their sense of immediacy means quick fixes. They might need help finding a resonant brand voice, but when they do, step back. Awesome becomes meaningful.

Buckle up. This group does not look or work the same as generations past. They will not do any of the same tired shit. It is not to say they are the industry's saving grace, smarter than any before them. But the truth is that this is a nimble, adaptive and perceptive bunch, and they're not good at playing by the old rules. They'll change the way this industry behaves. And they'll do it on a 24/7 clock, no problem.

Deborah Morrison is the Chambers Distinguished Professor of Advertising at the University of Oregon. She can be reached at debmor@uoregon.edu.