Reading the wise words of Kofi Annan sparked me to write this blog to inspire existing leaders to truly reflect on what they are doing in their business to untap the potential of their young people. Annan stated: “any society that doesn’t succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind.” He also went on to claim from his experience with The Elders that the younger generation of leaders are the most educated, most connected and most informed generation of leaders.
So why is is that we continue to hear terrible stories about Gen Y and they continue to be labelled as mutinous, disloyal, greedy……and so the judgmental labels continue? Is it from the fear felt by the existing leaders who don’t like to be challenged and see their questioning paradigm and attitude as a form of disrespect and insubordination? Is it because as Annan says this younger generation of future leaders are the most educated, most connected and most informed and therefore pose the greatest threat for the future of our existing leaders?
As an existing leader think about how you react when challenged by a younger person, especially if it is in a meeting in front of your peers………what kind of language do you use when you respond? What kind of overt encouragement do you provide to support the courage shown by the young person? Or do you prefer to reward the quiet and respectful behaviour of the more senior people who have learned to fit in with the existing culture? Take a deep look inside your current culture – showing up in meetings especially.
I don’t believe existing and experienced leaders have learned how to manage and lead the younger generation so their potential is unleashed constructively. Instead we judge them, label them, try to stuff them into a box until they have “done their time” like we had to do……wisdom is only gained through experience and this takes time – there is no substitute.
Time to shake up this paradigm – it has passed its use by date – we badly need a courageous paradigm where we untap and unleash the true potential of these highly educated and connected young people who want to make a difference – not sit around waiting until we say they are wise enough! They have spent their formative years being actively encouraged to BE high performing, to go out there and make it happen. So don’t ask them to shift into a passive holding pattern when they enter the workforce. I concur with Annan – you will be left behind if you don’t encourage your existing leaders to untap the potential of the young people in your business.
Be courageous and encourage them to challenge you and make sure you build personal change resilience – a necessity for our future leaders.
