A Message from Our CEO – February 2024

“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”

--Oscar Wilde

What are we learning about Gen Z and the emerging Alpha generation? We’ve learned that half as many are doing illegal drugs compared to Millennials and Gen X when they were young. We’ve learned they’re having less sex compared to Millennials and Gen X when they were teens. Boomers were a total freak show when it came to sex, or course. Beer and alcohol consumption has plummeted as this temperate generation turns to nifty non-alcoholic spritzer libations. They value humility. They are thoughtfully sophisticated in the nuances of emotional self-regulation. They are sleeping longer, rejecting the “hustle culture,” turning in early with healthier sleeping habits (see article below). Dressing up and looking “respectable” is turning into a thing (see other article below). They are more “civic”—they vote at higher numbers compared to previous generations when they were young. In a remarkable throwback, they are starting to learn cursive handwriting. Finally, at work, they want to work in a job that contributes to a more just society.

I’m warming up to boring. Bring it on. I’ll take boring over the volatility and the dark side that comes with “charisma.”

As an employer, how do you manage these perfect young people that we raised? First, throw away your old notions of how you were managed in the 90’s and early 2000’s. There are 5 must-have areas required today for a better performing organization that were not in your playbook 5 or 10 years ago. To future-proof your company:

1. Foster collaboration and inclusion. They value diversity of opinion, and a culture of collaboration and teamwork.
2. Promote and practice work-life balance. Support flexible work arrangements. Understand the importance of “balance” by investing in their well-being (mental, emotional, physical).
3. Emphasize recognition and frequent feedback. Speed up your feedback loop. Reinforce positive behavior while setting clear guardrails.
4. Provide meaningful work. Link their task to the organization’s mission and objectives.
5. Embrace new technologies. Use the latest digital tools and platforms to enhance productivity and collaboration. What tools? Ask Gen Z, they’ll know.

Easy, right? Stick with this simple to-do list, and you’ve perfected the workplace. Not so fast. This is a leadership issue and requires a hard look at your readiness for the future workforce. It may even require a real hard look at your current culture, which may require you, the leader, to change your worldview. You can use Psilocybin mushrooms for this. They have been found to shift and reorient a leadership team’s thinking, but they’re illegal and you might throw up in front of your colleagues.

Another option is to hire a culture doctor to assess your generational readiness and prescribe a course of action. We have world-class experts in this niche field who’ve developed a culture assessment to identify the “cultural resilience” of your organization and prescribe a course of action. If you want more information on how we do it, let us know and we will dispatch a culture doctor pronto.

Boring. Is a. Blessing.

Warren