It Appears Reports of Gen Z’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.
By Suzy Welch
I was at a social event with a few dozen executive types not long ago, and, as it so often happens these days, the topic turned to the impossibility of managing Generation Z. And not just managing them—surviving their insufferable ways. Stories abounded: the banking intern who informed her boss she couldn’t “get out of bed” for an 8 a.m. meeting. (Murmurs: “Lazy!” “Spoiled!”) The new MBA making six figures at a consulting firm playing a video game on his phone during a client meeting. (“Entitled!” “Rude!”)
Basically, the narrative in the room went, Gen Z is dead to us.
It appears, however, that Gen Z feels more alive than ever. According to the results of a recently released Gallup and Walton Family Foundation poll, the first survey of its kind to involve so many respondents between the ages of 12 and 26, Gen Z believes in its own future with hopeful fervor. The majority even believe they will achieve happy, successful lives. And, shock of shocks, they appear to want to.
Read the full Fortune article.
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Suzy Welch is Professor of Management Practice at NYU Stern.