If ever there was a generation-defining ‘accident of history’, the Covid-19 pandemic is it. Compared to other recent accidents of history—the 2008 recession, 9/11, ongoing war—Covid-19 has directly impacted far more people, of all ages, on a global scale. Quite literally, everyone is going through this together. We are currently experiencing a classic example of…
With any new generational shift, there is always the hope that the new young upstarts will eventually wise up, settle down and, basically, conform. Anxieties arise as new generations come along with new attitudes and expectations. The current generational shift, however, is about more than the new butting up against the old. Let me put…
by Alexandra Levit Millennials have captured the global workforce’s imagination. And Millennials are important, of course, as they are our current and rising leaders. But what about Generation Z, born 1996-2012? This year, the oldest Gen Zers will enter the professional workforce, and they are very different than what we’ve come to expect from the…
When we brought in four young interns this summer at RainmakerThinking we realized we had a great opportunity to have Gen Zers interview their peers. We’ve been studying young employees since our founding in 1993, when Gen X was the focus of our generational research. Since then, we have kept our finger on the pulse…
Workers of all ages today rely every day on their immediate managers for help meeting their basic needs and expectations and dealing with a whole range of day-to-day issues that arise at work. Workers of all ages today are more likely to disagree – often privately and sometimes openly – with their employers’ stated missions,…