Once upon a time, though not so long ago and not so far away, when older leaders told younger followers what to do, they did it. Maybe not happily or even willingly, but by and large the young followed the lead of the old. Now, not so much. Now juniors have far fewer compunctions telling their seniors where to get off, telling them they’re mistaken or misguided, or stupid or maybe just obtuse.
Two examples:
First, the scene last week in Glasgow, at the major meeting on climate change. The week began with some 130 presidents and prime ministers posing for a group photo. Fewer than ten of them were women – and their median age was over 60. Small wonder the week ended very differently. It ended with boisterous protests, some 100,000 people, many women and girls, overwhelmingly young, taking to the streets to demonstrate against their seniors, their leaders, arguing loudly and energetically they were not acting smart enough or fast enough to slow global warming.
Second, what’s happening now at the office. Apart from the issue of who’s working from home and who from the office, there is this: a new and younger cohort of subordinates who question the antiquated ways of their often only slightly older superiors, especially their willingness to tow the company line and spend long hours on the job. Here a few points pulled from an article in the New York Times titled, “The 23-Year-Olds Want to Run Things.”
The generational fault line “crisscrosses industries and issues.” At a retail business in New York, managers were distressed to find young employees who wanted paid time off when coping with period cramps. At a supplement company a Gen Z worker questioned why she would be expected to clock-in for a standard eight-hour day if she was done with her to-do list by mid-afternoon. And across sectors and start-ups, the youngest members of the work force are demanding a shift from what was standard corporate neutrality to more pointed expressions of corporate values.
On the one hand none of this is new. Younger people naturally resist older ones. Moreover, the shifting balance between leaders and followers, in favor of the latter over the former, has been going on for years. (See my 2012 book, The End of Leadership.) On the other hand, the impact of the pandemic has accelerated the trend. When those who want to “run things” – want to be leaders – are 23 years old, “The Times They Are A-Changin” even faster than when Dylan himself was a stripling.
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