Marc Haine talks with a guest who argues that Millennials and Gen Z aren't unmotivated, just motivated differently. Young workers will work overtime and travel for demanding jobs, but they need different leadership approaches. Their fluency with IT and AI makes them fearless and productive from day one.
Let's shake this myth snow globe. And what are things we need to point out to the leaders who might be tuning in that we're maybe talking about the wrong— we might be telling ourselves the wrong stories?
I think the generational myth is one to start off with. I work with a lot of young people and they want to be part of it. They want to work overtime. Saturday? Sure, no problem. Out of town? Sure, no problem. They're very interested in that. There's just a different key. that opens that door than the previous generation's key, which was, well, for me, was my father from Glasgow would kind of insult me. And then, I'd feel like kind of a pride loss. And then, I would step up. And that kind of worked for me. That's how I was raised and that's the way. This new generation, they're not reacting the same way to that. And quite often, I hear leaders say, they just don't care. They're not motivated. They don't want to be a part of this. They just want to do their work and go home. And sure, there's going to be people like that. But hey, in Generation X, there were lots of people like that too. Uh-huh. I think the distribution's the same. Leaders just need to find the key. And I think what this generation wants to do is they want to tap dance. They have skills and they want to show them off. And never before actually have young people been such a significant help in the workplace because of their understanding of IT, their understanding of AI. Honestly, Marc, when I arrived at my first construction site, I was useless. I was a walking hazard because I didn't know anything. But young people arrive at a worksite now and they actually know what to do. Not exactly what to do, but they can contribute something on day one. And that's AI help, IT, that kind of thing.
Is it fair to say that they tend to be a little bit more fearless because they've been exposed So, so many changing technologies so quickly in their young lives.
I think that's definitely fair. I, I feel it myself, Marc. I don't know about you, but I feel when I look at AI, this great big monster, I have to take a deep breath. I go, come on, Al, you don't have to be scared of this. It's the people who are going to master this that are going to be accepted into the next phase. You're not necessarily going to lose your job to AI. I mean, you might at some point, there might be that kind of, uh, paradigm shift, but the initial phases of it are the people that learn it are going to get the key to the VIP room. They're the ones that are going to retain their jobs and get better jobs and all the rest of it. So, don't freak out. My kids, they're not freaking out. They're excited about it. Right. So, I think that energy, that optimism can be harvested by workplaces for sure.
