Practice Development Counsel

Phyllis weiss haserot
Phyllis weiss haserot


President & Founder


212 593-1549
pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com
www.pdcounsel.com

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Who Has the Greater Appetite for Leading?

We are wading deeper into a period of large leadership shifts. The Baby Boomer generation, still the largest group in charge, increasingly will be handing over their leadership roles through retirement or, while sticking around, through voluntary or involuntary role shifts to step aside for new blood.

The early consensus had been that Gen Xers, by age and tenure the next in line to take over, was not really very interested. They were at first, as a generation, labeled “slackers” in the ‘80s. In truth, they have turned out to be hard workers, seriously committed at work and often overly involved parents. But owing to the relatively small size of that generation and a lesser tendency to self-express and self-promote than the Gen Y/Millennials and Boomers, they are neglected as leadership material and consumers. That may be a mistake.

After reading the press release about a recent survey, a journalist from MainStreet.com put out this query: “Explain why Millennials are more willing for the leadership roles and why that trait never matured in Gen Xers.”  Here are the survey findings followed by my response to the query.

The study of 412 Millennials in the U.S. (ages of the group studied were not given in the press release on the study so I am uncertain precisely how the generation was defined), The Millennial Leadership Survey by Virtuali and Workplace Trends, indicated the following:

  • 91% of Millennials, including 52% of the women responding, aspire to be leaders.
  • Almost half of respondents define leadership as “empowering others to succeed.”
  • 43% said “empowering others” was their greatest motivator to lead.
  • 5% said they were most motivated to lead by money.
  • 63% want to be “transformational leaders.”
  • 28% said their biggest hesitancy about being a leader was difficulty achieving work-life balance.
  • 51% said communication was one of their strongest skills, and 58% think that is the most important leadership skill.
  • 66% said ability to build relationships was one of their strongest skills, and 55% said that was the most important leadership skill.

(Adding 58% + 55% totals 113%. In any case, those were the top two choices.) Those are self-perceptions of their skills. It is possible they think technology skills make them fine communicators and relationship builders.

  • The leadership skills they say they are weakest in are industry experience and technical expertise.
  • The type of training they think would be most effective for their development as leaders are online classes (68%) and mentoring (53%). This sounds like individualized training.
  • 55% are not satisfied with the leadership development opportunities their employer offers.
  • 39% of respondents said their company’s leaders are weak in their development of others; 50% said the biggest problem with their leaders is communication.
  • 83% would prefer to have fewer layers of management where they work.

My Response

First, I question the query’s implication that Millennials are, and Gen Xers aren’t, eager for or willing to take on leadership roles is accurate as a broad brush statement, especially throwing both older and younger Gen Xers into the group discussed. The two halves of the cohort are different from each other, just as older and younger Baby Boomers differ. Whether or not they have that desire to lead “trait,” many Gen Xers are becoming leaders, many of them strong leaders, and some other surveys have indicated many Millennials don’t aspire to leadership.

As to why the Millennials have developed the “eager for leadership trait,” it derives from their formative influences, including more widespread adult expectations and support than former generations had. For example:

  • They were encouraged by Boomer parents to be leaders and were mentored and coached from a young age.
  • Parents, mentors, teachers and coaches built up their confidence and self-esteem and praised them to “go for it,” especially if they were passionate about something.
  • Those with a high quality education (not necessarily an elite one) were encouraged to speak up, initiate and lead in school.
  • And they were taught the importance of, and encouraged to, network and develop relationships. (Sometimes “pushed” was the more accurate description than “encouraged.”)  But Millennials in general may be overestimating their leadership communication skills other than technological savvy.

The older half of the Gen Xers’ formative years were quite different. (The youngest Gen Xers are more similar to older Millennials.) Faced with a few recessions, their bumpy road was not eased by doting parents, teachers, coaches and mentors. They have felt they survived and developed on their own, so they are not as motivated to give back by “empowering others” as leaders.

Who do you think is more willing to lead? Who is most prepared to lead? Who will ultimately be the better leaders? Contact me at pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com with your thoughts or post on the Cross-Generational Conversation group on LinkedIn.


© Phyllis Weiss Haserot, 2015. All rights reserved.

Please forward and share this with your colleagues and friends and send your comments to pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com.

Keep the conversation going on the Cross-Generational Conversation group on LinkedIn. Let’s spread cross-generational conversation about these issues toward making more workplaces “best places to work.”

* The generational chronology for easy reference: Generations are defined by the similar formative influences – social, cultural, political, economic – that existed as the individuals of particular birth cohorts were growing up. Given that premise, the age breakdowns for each of the four generations currently in the workplace are approximately:

Traditionalists:                        born 1925-1942  
Baby Boomers                        born 1943-1962
Generation X                           born 1963-1978
Generation Y/Millennials        born 1979-1995   



08/2015