Remote and hybrid work models have reshaped the workplace, with high-performing leaders often excelling due to their autonomy, discipline, and results-oriented approach, while lower-performing employees may struggle without direct supervision. Research, such as the Stanford University study, highlights the benefits of hybrid work, particularly in enhancing productivity and retention, though challenges arise when remote work is poorly managed. The future of work requires organizations to balance flexibility and accountability, fostering environments that empower diverse employees and adapt to changing expectations.
This post explores the critical role of strategic planning and visioning in helping organizations navigate uncertainty and long-term challenges. It emphasizes the importance of staying at a strategic level, resisting the pull toward immediate tactical fixes, and focusing on the pillars that drive success: leadership, innovation, operations, and customer focus. With actionable steps and insights, it provides a framework for crafting meaningful, future-oriented plans that transform strategic dreams into achievable realities.
True innovation exists at the intersection of trust, vulnerability, and constructive conflict. As leaders, our role is to create the conditions for innovation to thrive. That means checking our egos, fostering trust, and modeling vulnerability. It means leaning into conflict, embracing discomfort, and having the courage to confront the most brutal facts of our current reality.
When teaching or coaching emerging leaders, one topic I push hard on is values. Values refer to the fundamental beliefs and guiding principles that define what an individual, organization, or community stands for. These principles act as a moral and operational compass, influencing behavior, decision-making, and culture. They are part of the magic three: mission, vision and values.
Reflecting on the recent election, the Harris campaign's lack of a clear and compelling vision became evident in contrast to Trump’s well-communicated stance, making it challenging for voters to see her future for America. Drawing from the change formula, a successful campaign requires acknowledging dissatisfaction, defining a visionary goal, and setting clear steps toward achieving it—elements that were more apparent in Obama’s 2008 campaign, where “hope and change” aligned with voters' aspirations and activated widespread engagement. Ultimately, the Harris campaign's struggles highlight the need for leaders to craft a vision that resonates powerfully and unites people around a shared purpose, as fear alone can often overshadow hope if it lacks sufficient clarity and preparation.
In the past year I have seen growing discontent with the focus on generations either in media, training or general discussions. “Why do we talk so much about the generations, especially the Millennials,” many people have begun to ask. Or I’ve heard, “This is a sham, another way to put complex people into simplified boxes.” I can’t say I completely disagree with these arguments. People are amazingly complex with many beliefs, different personalities and various values.
Even though this is GrowingMillennialLeadership.com, it’s also important for us to look at other generations and understand what makes them tick and why they are the way they are. I have a Gen-X friend and colleague who likes to give me a hard time for posting so much about Millennials. So for him, and all of you ‘latchkey’ kids out there (including my older brother), this one’s for you.
As we have with other generations let’s explore some of the characteristics (both labeled and self-induced) of Gen-X. Remember, generations are more defined by life’s events that occurred during their forming years, then the actual dates in which they were born. As historian Robert Wohl put it, “historical generations aren’t born; they are made.” Gen-X, born approximately between 1965 -1980, have been labeled pragmatic, lazy, rebellious, pessimistic, able to take a punch, single, and solitary. Unlike the size of Baby Boomers (80 million) and Millennials (94 million), Gen-X has just about 46 million members, making it a dark horse demographic. They are the middle child of two larger generations and are often labeled the “forgotten generation.”
In this episode generations expert Matt Harrington takes a look at what makes a generation an actual generation. When we talk generations in the workplace or in our personal life we often look at the age or the two points in time the group of people were born into. Instead we should be looking at what took place during that generation, especially in their formative years, that now defines their outlook on the world and the way they think others should act. There are also other tips and tactics in the episode discussed when talking about generations. Enjoy!
One of the biggest challenges we run into when we work with organizations is that GenX does not have the fundamental competency and skill set to think strategically for the organization. This isn’t a slight at GenX; I don’t believe the organizations have prepared them well nor have organizations invested the necessary resources for GenX to be where they need to be at this stage of the game. Whether in meetings or on the shop floor or helping prep for a presentation, we find that many GenXers have a tendency to stay at an operational, 10,000 foot thinking capacity.
In this post-recession business world, we need to prepare our organizations for a huge transfer of leadership and knowledge to new leaders that are ready and competent to close the gap. The looming issue for our workforce and our organizations is that Gen-X and Millennials don’t like each other quite frankly.
