change with people, keeping to my authentic self through it all is a non negotiable for me though. I've seen too many organizations where older employees feel like they're being pushed toward retirement and younger ones feel like they're not being taken seriously. Both scenarios are expensive mistakes. What is the impact of having different generations in your team (impact to team and the business)? The impact is transformative, but it requires intentional management. On the team level, we've seen incredible knowledge transfer. Our senior team members are mentoring junior ones, meanwhile, our younger team members are teaching everyone about emerging technologies and the latest trends whilst reviewing from a different perspective. But here's what most articles don't tell you: it's not always smooth. Different generations have different definitions of urgency, different comfort levels with ambiguity, and different expectations about feedback. What stands out for you with regards to leading younger and older team members (does this impact how you manage)? Absolutely, it impacts how I manage, but
maybe not in the ways people expect. The biggest difference isn't about technology or work-life balance—it's about career trajectory expectations. Younger team members often want rapid advancement and diverse experiences. They'll ask me about promotion timelines in their first month, which initially surprised me. But I've learned to channel that ambition productively through positive engagements. These young ones are also more likely to push back on decisions they don't understand, which keeps me sharp as a leader. Older team members typically want stability and recognition for their expertise. What is crucial about our older team members is that they bring incredible depth and judgment. They also serve as institutional memory, which is invaluable during challenging times. What 'new words' are you learning from Gen Z and Alpha? Oh, this is fun! My teenage daughter is my unofficial consultant on this. Some of my favourites that have actually made it into our work vocabulary: "Slay" has become a way of celebrating wins. When someone nails a presentation, we'll say they "slayed it." It's more energetic than "good
job" and the whole team has adopted it. "It's giving..." as a way to describe the vibe or energy of something. We'll say "this process is giving 2015" when something feels outdated, or "this project is giving chaos" when things are disorganized. The interesting thing is that adopting some of their language has made me more approachable to younger team members. But I'm careful not to overdo it—nothing's worse than a middle-aged executive trying too hard to be cool, business professional language is still the way to go. What are some of the new ways of working from Gen Z and Alpha that are challenging your worldview? The biggest shift is their relationship with traditional work structures. They're not trying to be difficult—they're genuinely confused by
some of the practices we take for granted. They're also challenging the notion that being busy equals being productive. I grew up in a culture where working late was seen as dedication. They'll ask, "Why are you staying late if you finished your deliverables?" It's forced me to examine whether I'm modelling healthy boundaries or just performing busyness. Their approach to learning is completely different too. They expect to be able to access information instantly and learn through videos, interactive content, and peer collaboration. Perhaps most challenging is their expectation of the pace of promotion. They want to move up far too quickly as they need to understand not just what we're doing, but why we're doing it and how it fits into the bigger picture. It does take 3 years to get 3 years of experience and that experience also has a place not just new technologies and ideas.
My Gen X pragmatism, combined with my Millennial colleagues’ digital fluency and our Baby Boomers’ institutional knowledge, created an incredible strategic advantage.
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