Blame it on retiring baby boomers and new generations that grew up with technology their parents still have yet to master — but the business world stands at an unprecedented leadership crossroads, with seismic shifts in workforce demographics changing the very definition of leadership and teamwork. Consider the numbers: millennials currently comprise a majority of the American workforce, and within a decade, will represent 75% of the labor pool. Right behind them are Gen Z’s – about to cross the threshold as 18-year old’s – whose expectations of their soon-to-be workforce suggest a population that views authority, power, leadership and teamwork differently than their previous generation.
Parents of millennials grew up in the era of the heroic leader: simply accepting the role of the all-knowing boss who, like a knight in shining armor, directed his (it was usually his) troops into battle. But that approach is leaving their children underwhelmed and more attracted to models of leadership emphasizing shared values, individual recognition and psychological safety. Like generations before them, today’s younger executives are taking a fresh look at what makes for effective leadership, and they are willing to rewrite the rules of the American workplace.
This perennial disruption — combined with external forces such as rapid technological change and the increasingly global nature of organizational partnerships — has created a tipping point, and it is corporate cultures and aligned leadership models that are determining those organizations that soar – or confront a management precipice.
