A national poll of 613 C-Suite to entry level business and nonprofit leaders reveals a significant gap in meeting the leadership needs of Gen Z (27 years old or younger) and younger Millennial (28-34 year old) leaders across diverse fields and industries. Over half of these younger leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership in their industries.
Conducted by the Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character at the Wake Forest School of Business and the Wake Forest University Program for Leadership and Character, the survey helps to understand the needs and values of younger leaders and employees. Understanding these needs and values is crucial to enhancing individual effectiveness, leadership satisfaction, employee engagement and improving retention rates within this demographic.
“Older Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer leaders must recognize that younger Millennials and Gen Z hold distinct perspectives and expectations regarding leadership. Younger generations see leaders primarily as facilitators, resource providers, and coaches, rather than sources of authority or legitimate power,” said Pat Sweeney, Executive Director of the Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character and Professor of the Practice of Management. “They desire inclusion in decision-making, transparency, well-being, serving a worthy purpose, personalized attention, flexibility and a positive ethical culture. Younger workers also place a high value on work-life balance and seek to join organizations that have a meaningful mission, support environmental causes and contribute to help resolve key social issues.”
Older Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer leaders can enhance the satisfaction and engagement of younger generation leaders by investing time to build trusting relationships, communicating and aligning people on a compelling vision, seeking input, keeping them informed, empowering them, holding all accountable, investing in their development, providing regular developmental feedback, and linking their work to the organization’s purpose.
Furthermore, younger leaders indicated a significantly lower level of satisfaction (34 percent) with the ethical behavior of their organizations, compared to their older Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomer counterparts (53 percent level of satisfaction). This finding suggests that Gen Z and younger Millennial leaders might have potentially higher expectations for the ethical behavior of their organizations or are less inclined to see their organizations as not aligning with their values. Poll results suggest that older Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer leaders can bolster perceptions of their organizations’ ethical behavior by demonstrating greater respect and being more open and transparent in their communication with younger generation leaders. Moreover, older leaders can make ethics part of all operations and link the rationale for their decisions to their organizations’ core values and missions to bolster perceptions of ethical behavior among all leaders.
“The poll results indicate that younger and older organizational leaders alike understand the importance of ethical business practices as a key to success. Ethical behavior fosters trust among members and stakeholders. It not only enhances the organization’s brand but also fosters a positive workplace culture that attracts people, nurtures principled leaders, and helps in retaining top talent,” Sweeney said. “Gen Z and younger Millennials prioritize integrity, social and environmental responsibility, and a purpose-driven approach to success. All leaders can elevate their ethical practices and character by treating everyone with respect, honoring differences and being transparent when communicating.”
This poll was a collaboration between the Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character at the Wake Forest School of Business and the Wake Forest University Program for Leadership and Character.
The poll findings can be found here.