Could Gen Z be what your business needs right now?

Every generation does it.
Don’t we?

Every generation complains that the generations following them: “Don’t Know They’re Born!”

We (the Adviser majority, aged 50+) moaned about The Millennials.

I remember us mumbling:
“Unbelievably high expectations. Unbelievably low willingness to put the years of graft in”

Or as my Papa said to me: “You wouldn’t have survived on my father’s farm in Jamaica. I can’t see you milking cows at 5 o’ clock each morning. Huh!”

Well, here’s the uncomfortable truth.
Millennials are now taking over ‘the show’. Now!
THEIR voice will define the future (and present) of your business sector!

And THEY are now having to listen to the expectations of this Gen Z.
Those born post-1995…
delivered with an iPhone hermetically sealed to their palms.

Like our parents… we all scoff at their expectations.

The demand for something more than a pay cheque, and all-the-benefits.
The demand for work which has Real Meaning.
The demand for a culture in which they, and their efforts, Truly Matter.

Many (most?) founder-owners and CEOs struggle… when their Command-and-Control plus Carrot-and-Stick efforts don’t work with this generation.

They struggle with “… all this Woo-Woo stuff about Culture and Meaning”

But here’s the thing…

It doesn’t matter what service you’re marketing and providing.
What matters more is that you create a CULTURE where people feel they Truly Matter.

“People” being your clients.
“People” being your colleagues, your team.

Because – paraphrasing another of my favourite GapingVoid posts – “CULTURE isn’t just how you do things.
CULTURE is the thing itself!”

It’s the art of creating an experience for ALL the people.
An experience where they (clients and teams) come – again and again – because they WANT to. Not because they have to.

This is a culture where Gen Z flourishes.

And if your team is flourishing… then everything else in your business will take care of itself! (Won’t it?)

So…
Quite apart from them helping to keep you relevant (as AI consumes and improves much of your advisory role)…

We’d do well to listen to their Gen Z voice…

Showing us how to reshape our business…
for the world-of-increasing-expectations we actually live in.