10 Tricks to Hack Gen Z's Brain

Okay, so there's 10 things you should know about working with Gen Z that will really blow their mind. So Gen Z is this generation of people that were born between 1995 and 2010, depending on who you ask. So, you know, as of this year, 2024, that makes the oldest Gen Z people 28, 29 years old, uh, and the youngest one's somewhere around 14 years old. And the interesting thing about Gen Z is several things. Number one is they've been the first generation to grow up in a time when technology was everywhere, right? They grew up with a mobile device in their hand. Everything was instantaneously available. They grew up with Generation X parents. I'm one of those as well. And they grew up in a time of social media. And all these things have been new technological innovations that haven't been seen by any previous generation. And it's made Gen Z, well, just like one of the most interesting generations in history. And it also gives us that get to work with them and deal with them, uh, some really interesting things that we can do to both succeed and also hack their brains a little bit. So let's dig in. Okay. Number 1, never tell Gen Z that we're not going to do that because it's how it's always been done. One of the things you have to realize with Gen Z, like these people grew up and they grew up with Gen X parents. We Gen X, we treated our kids the way we had always wanted to be treated, like a peer. And so we would ask them their opinion and we would see what they have to think. When they show up at work, they have a lot of freaking ideas. They come in, they've been exposed to technology, they've been watching YouTube videos ever since they were a kid. And by the way, because Gen Z was the first generation to have ubiquitous internet, meaning there's like one of these things with instantly available magic internet data that can come into your knowledge. Like the entire knowledge of the world is at your fingertips. And think about what it does to a generation when your entire world is one where you can learn anything you want instantaneously on a device in your pocket that is cheap, by the way. You can click a button and somebody will transport you anywhere, and you can click another button and within 12 to 24 hours, anything you possibly need gets delivered to your house. That is a weird thing. That most of us who are older, whether we're baby boomers or Gen X or even a lot of millennials, we didn't grow up that way. That gives them a different perspective on the world. And because of that, Gen Z comes in and they have no time for situations that are impractical or people that are doing things inefficiently because the world in front of them has always been so efficient. And truly, because they're so practical, they do not care that you have 20 years more experience than they do. In fact, they think it's lame that you're 20 years past them and you don't know how to sign a PDF, uh, like on a computer. So basically you have a situation where Generation Z is the one of the most polarized group of young people. And if you think about it, you see this a lot, like you're seeing it in politics, religion, all this kind of stuff. So, and you think about this also ties back to this ubiquitous internet idea. If you could demand anything of this device and it brings it to you pretty quickly, like, of course you're going to be demanding in life. And so you combine that with the polarization that comes from them seeing so much media all the time and so much of the extremes happening in social media and regular media, of course they're going to reflect that back into the world. And they're going to come to your office, your workplace, and expect them to be demanding in in terms of the things they want. And sometimes that's off-putting to us who are older people because we're like, why are these young people being so uppity? They need to wait their turn, or they need to get some more experience. Well, in the end, like, it's kind of our fault. We were their parents, so they're coming in and being demanding. We gave them whatever they needed whenever they wanted it. So yeah, this is what we get. Okay, so number 3, you need to make sure that Gen Z understands the why of everything. So think back again, they grown— have grown up with the world of information and everything they could possibly need at their fingertips. So that does something to this group of Gen Z. They are more focused on practicality than any generation ever. So like, I remember talking to my kids and explaining to them why they actually need to pass high school. They're like, why does it matter? I don't need to know this. I don't need to be able to analyze poetry, or I don't need to be able to write, you know, do algebra or whatever. They didn't see the practicality of it. Why would you even need to know that stuff? It's 10 years away that I could possibly even ever think to do that, or the iPhone might do it for me. And it's the same thing with people in entering their 20s. They don't see anything unless they understand the practical value of that. And that's why whenever you're doing anything, you need to make sure they understand the why of why it's happening. And if you look back at the responses that I got on Twitter, like, it was crazy. Over and over again, people are like, we were doing all this stuff that I didn't understand why it needed to be done, it didn't really matter to me, we were having these meetings that were pointless, or whatever, we could have done things faster but nobody wanted to actually give a care about it. They would say the same things over and over again. And we'll put a link to this tweet thread, like, you should definitely go check it out because the patterns become very significant as you start to listen to what people said here. This is going to be the most depressing one. Number 4 is you need to be a partner. You need to show Gen Z a path forward for their future. Look, like, this entire Gen Z has grown up with the most negative-facing set of inputs ever, right? They have Instagram people showing them perfection all the time, uh, they have people doing cyberbullying, they have more polarized negative news. We have negativity and polarization in politics and all this kind of stuff, and it feels that way more than it ever has. What that has done is it's created an entire generation of Gen Z who has these kind of defeatist and pessimistic attitudes. And you'll hear Gen Z talk this way: oh, it seems hopeless. Oh, there's no purpose in all this. Oh, all the good houses have already been bought. I'll never own anything. This type of pessimism and negativism to like us older people sounds like crazy talk. I'm like, the world is out there, you just go make it happen. For the first time, we have a generation that for the most part, and for many of them, they're approaching the world with a level of negativism and pessimism that has never been seen again. It's basically the opposite of what the baby boomers did, like that oldest generation when they came back from the war, when you had this level of just exuberance. We had won World War II and we had— everything was happening in, in favor of the United States. And you see the exact opposite happening with these Gen Z folks. They need you to be proactive because they're coming in with this feeling of, well, just kind of helplessness. And that's where you have an opportunity, like, go in there and be a partner with them and help them shape the future they want to have. And it's not just professionally, it's also kind of factoring in what they want to do personally. Where do they want to live and all that kind of stuff. They will be transparent with you and happy with you to talk about those things. And your opportunity is to, even though it's hard for you as an older boss, like, be a partner with them in figuring that out. Okay, number 5: expect anything you do to get shared online. And look, Gen Z, universal internet, iPhones— they have relationships that are very different than what we had as old people. You had people at work, you had people at home, you had your friends at school, whatever. They were all basically in-person relationships. Now, this is the first generation to have grown up with all these different types of relationships relationships, right? They have parasocial relationships in which a lot of people know Taylor Swift, but she doesn't know all of them. But she— they feel like they know her as a person. You as a boss, when you do things, um, like you're letting somebody go over Zoom or whatever, like, expect it to be recorded, expect it to be shared. Like, that is just the way this is gonna go. And for you, that definitely requires, like, be careful, uh, because it's all getting recorded. And to folks that are Gen Z, like, they don't even think that's weird. It's just they're digital natives. They've grown up during an era of COVID in which, like, like remote first and remote only relationships are a normal thing. So like they're just digital natives. Number 6, more important than any other generation, you have to compensate Gen Z for their results and provide them autonomy. So Gen Z, they just hate that baby boomers, like the generation directly after World War II, they believed in rewarding seniority experience. If you tell somebody else they just have their job because they've been here 15 years longer than you, Gen Z, most practical generation of all. They feel like if the pie is growing and they help to grow it, they practically want to be paid and they feel like they deserve a part for the results they're bringing. So if you can figure out ways to give them skin in the game and then give them the autonomy and get out of their way, and they will just totally love you for it. Next one, number 7, protect Gen Z from quote unquote unnecessary bureaucracy. So basically, if you go back and look at that Twitter thread, the number one complaint from people was Number 1, we did things like they were always supposed to be done. Number 2, there was just politics, bureaucracy, and crap that they felt like they had to deal with, like people's feelings or incompetent employees or some process that needed to be done. Like these Gen Zs who responded to all this, like that came up as a recurring, recurring theme. Your job as a boss is when you see them getting frustrated by unnecessary bureaucracy, old company habits, politics, all that kind of stuff, like you need to insulate them from that stuff. In the end, they just want to know like what you really want them to do. And then they want the autonomy and freedom, especially if you can give them location and schedule to work wherever they want or travel around or whatever. A lot of them complain like, I don't understand why I have to be at the office at exactly 9 a.m. every morning. And the reason is, is because baby boomers like that, they beat it into us Gen X. And so, yeah, sorry, sorry, Gen Z. All right. So number 8 with Gen Z, by the way, I highly recommend this book. Super fun. But there was a study that talks about this next point. And the next point is you need to be authentic with Gen Z. The interesting study is they went through 70 million words that Gen Z folks were using, and they were much more likely to use words like this: relatable, gender identity, free, true, honest, fake, cancel, ghost, block, fam, and squad. And the interesting thing, as you dig into all those words and talk about how often they're used compared to previous generations, is they're all concerned really with one thing. The opposite of fake is being authentic. And ultimately, like, Gen Z is super concerned with that. And if you think about why, the why is really interesting, right? They grew up with this phone, right, that has a— just everything screaming at them that is fake. Fake Instagram, fake people, fake politicians, fake messages, fake emails. Everything is something they have to look at and be like, well, is that real or not? And ultimately, that did something to this generation. Gen Z wants you to be authentic. And so they can't stand it when somebody in a position of authority or anybody in the world comes to them and it's supposed to be somebody they trust and that person is inauthentic or does the opposite of what they say. So like you as a boss, your opportunity and the must that you do is to be authentic with them. If you say you're gonna do something, you need to do it. If something is happening for a reason, be direct and real and truthful with them. And if you're being fake, once they figure it out, like you'll lose their trust forever. And then the next step is they'll be out the door or just unmotivated, not doing much at work. So be authentic with Gen Z. It's that important. So this next one is super interesting. Expect Gen Z to be not so adult in their 20s. And so what's happening is, is because of the influence of technology and also the way a lot of their parents were, Gen Z is the slowest to grow up, like, generation ever. And this has been a trend that's been happening ever since World War II. Like, the Millennials started to grow up more slowly, and then Gen Z started to grow up even more slowly. And by growing I mean the things that folks like in my generation, Gen X, so 50-year-olds, like did as kids. Like we were bad early. Like there was premarital sex, drugs, rock and roll. We were outta the house partying and all that stuff happened when we were, well, much younger. What's going on with Gen Z is the opposite of that. Like they're delaying adulthood by a lot. They're slowing down on things like premarital sex, dating, relationships, getting a job. You know, when I was growing up in the '80s, it was very normal for a 14 or 15-year-old to have their first job. Now you're seeing something very different, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's something for us to take away when, well, we're at work, right? If you're the boss of a Gen Z, this may be their first job. They may be calling mom and asking her how to do different stuff because they didn't have a lifeguarding job when they were 16, or they didn't have their first job at fast food when they were 18 because they've delayed growing up so much. So this is just a mindset shift and an understanding that we need to have as coworkers for Gen Z is like, they're going to be slow to adulthood. And there's, there's nothing wrong with that. But understand it when you see them doing stuff, that's just perfectly normal. This last one, be compassionate with Gen Z. And I think they deserve a lot of compassion. Like many of them are depressed and sad because Gen Z has also been the generation to sleep the least as teenagers of any generation in recent history. And the reason for that is they were up all night on their phones tweeting, texting, Snapchatting, and they are the most sleep-deprived generation in history, which when you're sleep-deprived, guess what that is? That's a gateway drug to being tired, which is a gateway drug to being depressed, anxious, and all that kind of stuff. So a vicious cycle there. And then you get on the phone and the phone causes even more of that. They're anxious, sad, worried, pessimistic, and chronically underslept. That's a rough composition when you're a young person. Gen Z deserves a lot of compassion from us, and I have a lot of compassion for them watching my own kids grow up and go through the stresses that they've had and deal with the foibles of me and my generation as parents. The good news is like Gen Z is the most comfortable generation in history to talk about their mental health challenges. But it's great that we have Gen Z who's going to show up to work and they're going to tell you how they feel. And when they have challenges, you're going to know about it because they want you to be a partner in helping to solve those. Ultimately, like all of this stuff, and I finish this one because I want us to just have compassion for Gen Z. These are good people. They're growing up in a very weird world and one where I think we have an opportunity to help them meld in and work as well as possible with us older folks. As you can see now, what's gonna happen, um, interestingly in the next decades or so is we're just starting to see the beginning of Gen Z folks showing up in the workplace. A lot of these characteristics are not gonna be as distinct, uh, that I talk about here until some of the younger Gen Zs coming out of the next 5 to 10 years, they start to show up in the workforce. Cuz remember, it's not like a, a generational change happens overnight. It's a gradual thing as it works its way through year after year of new, new babies, new people being born. But personally, I love this stuff. I'm so excited to talk about it. I hope you've enjoyed this a bit in this discussion of how to work well with Gen Z. I have another video about how to do it with Gen X. And again, thanks again to this book, which I would highly recommend, called Generations by Dr. Twenge. Check it out. There's some good stuff here. We quoted a lot of it in this video. And check out my Twitter where I talk more about generations, business, and what I call beautiful business, which is how to do business and life beautifully and work on beautiful businesses. So hope you enjoyed the video. Tell me what you think.