From Typewriters to TikTok: The Power of Generational Wisdom within Modern Leadership
& Steven Shook
"The whole goal of our conversation, our objective, is to move from frustration with someone else based on their age to fascination."
What it was about
Generational stereotypes are real patterns worth understanding, but they're dangerous when used as absolutes. The goal for leaders is to move from frustration with people unlike them to fascination, using tools like values clarification and reverse mentoring instead of age-based assumptions.
By the numbers
Key notes
- Use generational information as clues to understand teammates, never as absolutes or excuses to stereotype individuals.
- Practice reverse mentoring: deliberately ask younger or less-tenured colleagues to teach you something (an app, a skill, a cultural reference) instead of only mentoring downward.
- Have new employees (and yourself) complete a values clarification exercise, then go beyond naming shared values to specify how each person wants that value enacted (e.g., which communication method).
Take this back Monday
Ask a younger teammate to reverse-mentor you on one app or skill this week, instead of only mentoring downward.
Generational data is a clue for understanding people, not an excuse to stereotype them — the goal is fascination, not frustration.
Watch out for
- Assuming all members of a generation share the same traits (stereotyping) instead of treating generational data as a pattern-recognition clue.
- Running a DISC or personality/leadership assessment with a team, feeling good about it, and then failing to actually coach or mentor people using that information.
- Trying to change stable traits like personality or core values instead of focusing coaching energy on changeable skills like emotional intelligence, perspective, and growth mindset.
Charlotte has clocked over 45 years in higher education and, in 2004, founded her own compliance-training consulting firm, Strickly Speaking.
