Where Will Tomorrow’s Leadership Come From?

Generation Z and Millennials are frittering away their energy, effort and time on their screens and mobile devices — snapping and chatting, streaming, watching video after video, addicted to mindless (and worse) social media.

They open their mobile phones 60 to 80 times a day and spend 8 to 9 hours a day on one screen or another. Half of Gen Z and Millennials, by their own admission, are online constantly. Over a lifetime, a decade or more will be mostly wasted on these addictive drugs. It is well known that more screen time increases disengagement and inattention, and contributes to attention deficit.

Social media increases anxiety, contributes to depression, promotes peer comparison, dials up social pressures, and encourages bullying. It isolates individuals and makes feelings of loneliness worse.

It’s no surprise that Gen Z and Millennials prefer working from home. They like the flexibility and freedom of working remotely, and the space to be more creative and productive.

What the pandemic has opened the work world to is the potential of hybrid work solutions that fit the organization - the size of the team, the best venues, the type of work that needs to be done, and more.

And, setting aside all of this, what’s more interesting (and concerning) is the question of who will lead the future businesses that develop and grow the economy? Who will give back to society and the communities in which we live and work? Where will the playing to win leaders of tomorrow come from? How will they develop and grow?

LEADERS CHOOSE to be the change they want to see in the world around them. They understand that first they must change, if they are to effect, innovate and lead change.

LEADERS FOCUS on winning. They focus on a few strategic choices that really matter, and on execution with excellence to win with customers, build community’s, provide for employees, and deliver acceptable returns to investors.

LEADERS ENROLL colleagues and communities in a vision. They engage them individually and as a group, enable and empower their collective efforts, and help and support coordinated execution and their ultimate achievement of a common goal.

Put simply, leaders are made not born.

And, it’s hard for me to understand how tomorrow’s leaders will even hear their calling, and invest anywhere near enough personal energy, effort and time needed to develop, grow and learn. To hone in on their playing to win leadership, management and strategy skills, while working remotely (if they want), while killing time and energy on their mobile devices.

There’s no time to learn. Moreover, there’s little or no opportunity to develop important emotional intelligence — self awareness and control, empathy, motivation and social skills— without more interpersonal interactions, group and team work, and importantly connections with the real world of customers, suppliers, stakeholders and competition.

Where will tomorrow’s leaders come from?