Generation Y Paradigms of Work and Leadership

Adam Kingl, MBA2004Director of Learning SolutionsExecutive Education

Richard Hytner, SLN2003Adjunct Assoc. Professor of MarketingDeputy Chairman, Saatchi & Saatchi

Generations:

• Silent Generation: 1925-1942• Baby Boom Generation: 1943-1960• Generation X: 1961-1981• Generation Y: 1982-2004• Generation Z, Plurals: 2005+

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4• Gen X will have: 7-8 • Gen Y will have: 15-16

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4• Gen X will have: 7-8 • Gen Y will have: 15-16

So Gen Z will have 32??!

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4• Gen X will have: 7-8• Gen Y will have: 15-16

So Gen Z will have 32??!

Number of employers our:

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4• Gen X will have: 7-8• Gen Y will have: 15-16

So Gen Z will have 32??!

It does appear that the number of employers DOUBLES with each generation…

• Grandparents had: 1-2• Parents had: 3-4• Gen X will have: 7-8• Gen Y will have: 15-16

So Millenials will have 32

Let me say that again…32 employers in a lifetime!

Emerging Leaders Programme survey

• Surveying participant since 2009, 2 cohorts per year• Average age: 29

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We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years• 6-10 years• 3-5 years• 1-2 years

We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years: 5%• 6-10 years• 3-5 years• 1-2 years

We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years: 5%• 6-10 years: 5%• 3-5 years• 1-2 years

We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years: 5%• 6-10 years: 5%• 3-5 years: 53%• 1-2 years

We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years: 5%• 6-10 years: 5%• 3-5 years: 53%• 1-2 years: 37%

We asked them:How long do you expect to stay with an employer?

• 11+ years: 5%• 6-10 years: 5%• 3-5 years: 53%• 1-2 years: 37%

• 90% plan to leave within 5 years• Over a third within 24 months!!

What matters?• Work-life balance• CEO’s reputation• Promotion opportunities• Performance-based bonus• Share price performance• Openness to innovation• Employee benefit package• Organisational culture• Corporate social responsibility practice

Most important factors in choosing an employer:3)

2)

1)

Most important factors in choosing an employer:3) Promotion opportunities

2)

1)

Most important factors in choosing an employer:3) Promotion opportunities

2) Organisational culture

1)

Most important factors in choosing an employer:3) Promotion opportunities

2) Organisational culture

1) Work-life balance

Putting the story together

• 90% plan to leave within 5 years• 37% plan to leave within 2 years• 54% more loyal to team than to organisation• Top employer attractiveness factors do not include traditional benefits,

bonuses, etc.

Some implications:• Are long-term benefits (eg, pensions) valued anymore? Or do such benefits

need to be more easily ‘carried around’?• Employers may need to redefine and reprioritise benefits:

• Immediate talent development opportunities• Promotion opportunities based on performance and stronger mentor-

mentee relationships rather than tenure• Can the employer proposition include a career path that assumes the

employee may leave and come back?• Can the employers focus development and engagement more on teams rather

than on individual ‘high-potential’ employees?

Hierarchy does not exist in their minds.

•Aspiring Gen Y leaders will not worship the Gen X gods of linear advancement and extrinsic reward.

•Gen Y leaders are averse to hierarchical vertigo: ‘where on earth would 32 rungs up a ladder take you?’

•They see ‘a network of possible wanderings’. Helping a friend with her start-up, hopping to a corporate for some skills development, jumping into a not for profit for some front-line action, starting her own business from home.

Hierarchy does not exist in their minds.

•Aspiring Gen Y leaders will not worship the Gen X gods of linear advancement and extrinsic reward.

•Gen Y leaders are averse to hierarchical vertigo: ‘where on earth would 32 rungs up a ladder take you?’

•They see ‘a network of possible wanderings’. Helping a friend with her start-up, hopping to a corporate for some skills development, jumping into a not for profit for some front-line action, starting her own business from home.

They will have 32 opportunities to develop as leaders.

•Each one is an adventure in its own right, not a stepping stone to some predetermined destination.

Hierarchy does not exist in their minds.

•Aspiring Gen Y leaders will not worship the Gen X gods of linear advancement and extrinsic reward.

•Gen Y leaders are averse to hierarchical vertigo: ‘where on earth would 32 rungs up a ladder take you?’

•They see ‘a network of possible wanderings’. Helping a friend with her start-up, hopping to a corporate for some skills development, jumping into a not for profit for some front-line action, starting her own business from home.

They will have 32 opportunities to develop as leaders.

•Each one is an adventure in its own right, not a stepping stone to some predetermined destination.

‘Complete’ leadership is a dream state never quite attained.

Progression not promotionEmployers need to reframe the career conversation.

Progression not promotionEmployers need to reframe the career conversation.

They need to co-create a portfolio of multiple opportunities that deliver directly to the Gen y leader’s personal purpose:

• Responsibility• Recognition• Learning• Joy

Progression not promotionEmployers need to reframe the career conversation.

They need to co-create a portfolio of multiple opportunities that deliver directly to the Gen y leader’s personal purpose:

• Responsibility• Recognition• Learning• Joy

Lateral as well as linear; sooner rather than later.

.

Progression not promotionEmployers need to reframe the career conversation.

They need to co-create a portfolio of multiple opportunities that deliver directly to the Gen y leader’s personal purpose:

• Responsibility• Recognition• Learning• Joy

Lateral as well as linear; sooner rather than later.

C leadership roles rather than A roles alone.

.

Conventional leadership roles

Organisational leader

Business Unit leader

Functional leader

Team leader

A instead of No 1

Conventional leadership roles

Organisational leader

Business Unit leader

Functional leader

Team leader

A instead of No 1

Consiglieri leadership roles

Loadstone

Educator

Anchor

Deliverer

C instead of No. 2/3/4

Title of thepresentation

Sub title

Top priority if you were CEO?• Run things democratically• Retain only the most productive staff• Rotate staff to avoid complacency• Expand into new / emerging markets• Grow the current market• Ensure environmentally sustainable practice• Develop / promote innovation• Benefit the community• Diversify the business• Research customers more thoroughly

Top two answers:2)

1)

Top two answers:2) Expand into new / emerging markets

1)

Top two answers:2) Expand into new / emerging markets

1) Develop / promote innovation

What type of CEO will you emulate?• Focus on how business is trading

• Focus on global impact of the business

• Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doing today?’

• Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make my organisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

• Focus on financial worth of the business

What type of CEO will you emulate?11.5% Focus on how business is trading

• Focus on global impact of the business

• Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doingtoday?’

• Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make myorganisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

• Focus on financial worth of the business

What type of CEO will you emulate?11.5% Focus on how business is trading

11.5% Focus on global impact of the business

• Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doingtoday?’

• Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make myorganisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

• Focus on financial worth of the business

What type of CEO will you emulate?11.5% Focus on how business is trading

11.5% Focus on global impact of the business

33% Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doingtoday?’

• Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make myorganisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

• Focus on financial worth of the business

What type of CEO will you emulate?11.5% Focus on how business is trading

11.5% Focus on global impact of the business

33% Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doingtoday?’

43% Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make myorganisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

• Focus on financial worth of the business

What type of CEO will you emulate?11.5% Focus on how business is trading

11.5% Focus on global impact of the business

33% Focus on retaining the entrepreneur’s POV: ‘How’s my baby doingtoday?’

43% Focus on renewing personal mission: ‘How do I make myorganisation and world a fundamentally better place?’

1% Focus on financial worth of the business

Let me say that again…1% would focus on financial worth!

Financial worth is no longer king!

• We’re crossing a meridian where social and community impact is more important

• Shareholder value is an outcome, not an output• Will be initial tensions and growing pains among organisations and public

markets about expectations• What happens when the CEO doesn’t care about the share price today?• What happens when the investor doesn’t care about the share price today?• Will the next generation of leaders at last have the courage (and possibly the

permission) to think long-term, beyond quarterly results?

A CEO – or A - for our Gen Y times

• Ultimately accountable• Team decider• Trusted• Emotionally intelligent• Serving a higher order purpose• Able to embody that purpose – personally• Able to sustain that purpose• Authentic in the limelight• An impermanent first among equals

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency • Avoidance of global warming – too much exposure to the limelight

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency • Avoidance of global warming – too much exposure to the limelight• Active listening – long distance

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency • Avoidance of global warming – too much exposure to the limelight• Active listening – long distance• Revealing your generosity – selfies are bad for your image

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency • Avoidance of global warming – too much exposure to the limelight• Active listening – long distance• Revealing your generosity – selfies are bad for your image • Nurturing the culture

Challenges for the Gen Y CEO

• Long-term sustainability vs short-term seduction • Social currency vs personal currency • Avoidance of global warming – too much exposure to the limelight• Active listening – long distance• Revealing your generosity – selfies are bad for your image • Nurturing the culture• Casting and curating your C leaders

Generation Y Paradigms of Work and Leadership

Adam Kinglakingl@london.edu

Richard Hytnerrhytner@london.edu