You don't consider that your position of authority affected a different dynamic than if you were a lower ranked individual contributor?
> As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college.
I'm not sure how this is relevant. One might as easily conclude that these folks don't know any better due to youth and inexperience as that "it's just a different age and culture."
I had this exact thing happen. I was consulting for a team that just acquired a small company. They had this huge building, but got most people into a large open area. The lead was certain it was so useful, he was tuned in, everyone loved it. Plus "they can go into offices if they need it". In personal interviews with employees, nearly everyone hated it and wished they could just permanently have an office and only come out at times, but didn't want to say anything.
> As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college.
I'm not sure how this is relevant. One might as easily conclude that these folks don't know any better due to youth and inexperience as that "it's just a different age and culture."