No technology is a monolith. That ought to go with out saying. However over the previous 12 months, there’s been a rising narrative in enterprise and media circles that Gen Z, a cohort born between 1997 and 2012, is beginning to break up in two. One half is described as entrepreneurial, image-conscious and extremely motivated. The opposite is labeled cautious, emotionally overwhelmed or disengaged from conventional profession ambition. It’s a neat storyline — and it makes for a fantastic headline.
However from the place I sit — in a university classroom, 12 months after 12 months — it’s not that straightforward.
I’m a enterprise and management lecturer, and I’ve labored with Gen Z for the reason that earliest wave entered greater schooling. I’ve taught the identical core programs for nearly a decade, throughout a variety of backgrounds and educational efficiency ranges. And whereas I’ve observed adjustments in conduct and mindset through the years, I don’t see a clear generational break. I see a technology that’s extra nuanced, extra considerate, and sure, extra internally divided at instances, however not fractured in the way in which some would counsel.
One instance comes from an train I’ve used each semester since 2016: the Management Trait Public sale. It’s easy in construction however revealing in its execution. Every pupil receives a fictional price range and should bid on management traits they worth most. The alternatives embody qualities like kindness, humility, confidence, innovation, robust communication, empathy and decisiveness.
Through the years, the outcomes have been remarkably constant. The identical traits are likely to rise to the highest: kindness, robust communication and information/experience. That hasn’t modified. What has modified is the way in which college students speak about these traits.
Within the earlier years, college students would bid rapidly, justify their picks in simple phrases, and transfer on. “I desire a chief who’s good.” “Communication is essential.” “Kindness is underrated.” There was conviction, however not a lot dialog.
In recent times, although, one thing has shifted. College students linger over the alternatives. They debate. They ask, “What does kindness in management truly seem like?” They think about whether or not communication continues to be a key management trait if AI instruments may help folks write emails or handle schedules. They talk about whether or not innovation issues extra now as a result of the world feels so unstable. They ask: What’s going to this trait do for me, not simply emotionally, however virtually, in a job?
There’s an mental curiosity that’s emerged — not in what they worth, however in why they worth it. That’s what I discover fascinating. The traits haven’t modified. The depth of engagement with these traits has.
In a manner, it mirrors how this technology has grown up. The primary Gen Z college students I taught had been formed by the 2008 recession, mother and father who struggled to bounce again, and a high-achievement tradition that also promised one thing on the finish of the tunnel. The scholars I see now got here of age in the course of the pandemic, watched social actions unfold on their telephones in actual time and are keenly conscious that success doesn’t all the time observe effort. They’re not any much less pushed, however they’re extra skeptical of the trail.
That skepticism reveals up in small moments: a pupil asking if kindness in management is “performative” or “sustainable,” or a bunch discussing whether or not decisiveness continues to be admirable when leaders are sometimes compelled to pivot rapidly. These aren’t indicators of disengagement. They’re indicators of a technology that’s grown up watching adults fail to dwell out the values they preach — and is decided to not be fooled by polished exteriors.
There are variations between the older and youthful ends of Gen Z. I see them. However I don’t see a divide: I see a continuum, stretched throughout completely different cultural moments. Older Gen Z college students entered school with a stronger perception within the system. Youthful ones have been compelled to query it extra brazenly. The end result isn’t a break up; it’s a rising willingness to speak about discomfort, contradiction and doubt.
And right here’s one thing else that will get misplaced within the generational dialog: kindness nonetheless wins. That trait, above all, stays essentially the most constantly bid-on and defended within the Management Trait Public sale. Not as a result of it’s fashionable or comfortable, however as a result of Gen Z understands one thing many older generations typically overlook: that kindness is a type of credibility and a present of confidence, particularly in unsure instances. It’s not fluff; it’s construction. It’s a basis.
So, am I break up on the Gen Z break up? Possibly. I perceive the place the dialog is coming from. I’ve seen college students with extensively completely different coping kinds, management philosophies and engagement ranges. However I additionally suppose that’s true of any technology — particularly one which spans greater than a decade and a half.
What I haven’t seen is a lack of values. I’ve seen values below stress. And I’ve seen college students rise to satisfy that stress with reflection, humor, honesty, and in some circumstances, the emotional readability that many people didn’t be taught till maturity.
They’re not fractured a lot as they’re adapting.
And when you ask me, the power to query what issues — and nonetheless come again to empathy, communication and information as core management traits — isn’t an indication of generational confusion. I feel it could be an indication of development.
