Generation Z

Nearly fifteen years ago, I composed a blog post titled Before There Were Hippies, There Were Beatniks. In it, I tried to explain that Beatniks were more focused on artistic and literary expression, while the Hippies were more concerned with peace, love, and social change in America. The “beat generation” was more individualistic, tending to reject mainstream values, while the Hippies being more communal, emphasized the importance of working together to create more of a humane society. After recognising a few more distinctions between them, I ended the post saying that maybe a new generation would come along, if they could get their heads out of their weapons of mass distraction and take over where the nonconformist “flower child” left off. Since then, I gave up on even  the slightest amount of hope that I would live long enough to see my vision get off the ground. And then they finally showed up!

Born in the mid-1990s, members of Generation Z (Gen Z) comprise the first generation never to know the world without the internet, and as a result, are the most diverse generation to establish connection, community, and involvement. Their presence could not have come at a more relevant time in American history. At a time when a rebirth of the American dream seems to be all but vanished forever, they showed up to reignite the values and principles that have always separated America from the rest of the world.These visionaries are a highly collaborative cohort that cares deeply about others and have a pragmatic attitude about how to address the many inherent problems facing them in today’s digital landscape. They arrived just in time to help me launch my grassroots social program You And Me structured to bring awareness to the significance of brotherhood, sisterhood, and solidarity, while fostering equality between the sexes. Small groups of men, women, and our youth, will play a significant role in strengthening connection, community, and involvement, while subsequently promoting girls’ and women’s leadership roles.   

For those who are now experiencing Gen Zers in the workplace, we need to recognize that these new colleagues are used to working collaboratively with flexibility and efficiency to get the job done, and done right the first time. They are pragmatic and value direct communication, authenticity, and relevance while knowing the existential value of self-care. They are more likely than older people when they were Gen Zers age to question rules and authority because they are used to finding what they need on their own. Although they are not always right; often, they don’t know what they need especially in new settings, and this is where intergenerational dialogue becomes extremely helpful. 

Both the older and the younger peer groups  can learn from one another by listening with more respect, appreciation, and trust. The older folks can also learn new ways of getting a job done, at the same time younger people may learn good reasons why things have been done in a certain way. Without that dialogue, we’ll end up in a “wasteful tug-of-war” between the past and the future. The goal is for older and younger generations to work together with openness and trust, to ensure that the wisdom- but not that which has become excess baggage of the past, is not lost to future generations of both young and old alike.  

Gen Zers, on the whole, adapt much better to life in the digital age than those of us who are older, and they can become very frustrated by what appears to them to be outdated and often irrelevant ways of doing things. For quite some time, people were critical of what they saw as a generation that was too “coddled, soft, being referred to as “snowflakes”, who were unwilling to grow up. That is far from the truth.Gen Z is ultimately an optimistic one, suggesting they have something to teach all of us about how to live and thrive in this digital world.  

As they emerge, they will become known as extraordinarily thoughtful, promising, and perceptive, while relying on themselves and their peers to work collaboratively to solve the problems surrounding the homeland they have come to love. They will sound a sincere warning to their elders around the world; a warning of complexity and depth. When asked, “What form of communication do you like best?”, nearly all responded with “in person.” 

To me, that says everything we need to know about them.