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Passing The Leadership Torch

Each Generation Must Share Leadership Lessons Learned, Both Good and Bad Ones.

By Terry MansfieldPublished 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 6 min read
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Photo by Shalaka Gamage on Unsplash

“What lessons will our generation leave behind, lessons that the next generation can benefit from, or even consider?” -- Paul Myers, MBA

Let's take Paul Myers' question above and break it down into its three parts as separate but related items.

Is there a conflict between generations? My personal opinion is that every new generation is full of spit and vinegar and believes they have the answers to problems that the generations before them haven’t been able to solve.

Fair enough. That’s the right attitude to start with. You know, stand aside, and we’ll take it from here. Every generation in the history of humankind has probably felt that way. So let’s just concede that point and move on from there to discuss these three questions stemming from Paul Myers' original overall question (and note that I will be answering from the perspective of my generation, the Baby Boomers):

1. What leadership lessons will our generation leave behind?

My generation, the Baby Boomers, have been around for a long time, and still have a good ways to go before they pass from the scene. Consider the fact that the Greatest Generation from the World War II Era still has living members, although not many. If you asked them the above questions, I’m sure they’d have some cogent things to say, as well.

According to Psychology Today: “If you were born in the U.S. after 1946, you are a Baby Boomer; if you were born after 1964, you belong to Generation X; and if you were born after 1980, you are a Millennial.” And not to leave out the very youngest generation, anyone “born roughly between 1995 and 2012, Generation Z, is the next generation and still growing up.

In terms of leadership, the Baby Boomers can be characterized as having a “can-do” approach to getting things done. Of course, sometimes you “can do” too much or do the wrong things, even if you think your initial reasons are correct (e.g., Viet Nam War, second Gulf War, etc.) Also, the Baby Boomer generation has been made up predominantly of men in leadership positions. Women Boomers in influential leadership positions are relatively scarce. Generations after the Boomers are making good progress in this regard but still have a long way to go to have anything close to fair and equal representation.

Thanks to the original American G.I. Bill, thousands of former members of the U.S. military got the opportunity to go to college and then enter the workforce. The G.I. Bill had a major impact on society because it allowed a whole generation if they wanted to, to get a college degree, and dramatically improve their prospects. And most of those who were eligible made the most of this chance to leap ahead and eventually move into leadership positions in a vast number of industries.

So what did the Boomers’ leadership mean to America, and what lessons can we learn from their experience? First, I’d say that, while well-intentioned in most cases, the Boomers were easily led astray by their misguided hubris. They not only wanted money, but they also wanted as much of it as they could their hands on. They not only wanted to build things, but they also wanted to build the biggest and best of everything, regardless of the lack of practicality in doing so (who can build the tallest building in the world, for example). They not only wanted to do great things, but they also wanted to be the absolute best at whatever they attempted. And they wanted to make sure America was at the forefront (the race to the moon is a good example; the America First political jingoism is a recent case of this).

Baby Boomers have had their chance to lead, and now they must let younger generations pick up the mantle. The younger generations would do well to stop long enough to study the successes and failures of the Baby Boomers. There was much that was good and a lot that wasn’t. Boomers shouldn’t be defensive, but they will not be able to force their views and ideas on younger generations. The smart ones in the younger generations will ask Boomers for advice or opinions if they think it benefits their overall agenda; if not, they won’t. Again that’s the way it’s always been throughout time. There’s nothing new about this.

2. What leadership lessons from our generation will the next generation be able to benefit from?

The very next generation, the Z Generation that’s now growing up, will have a wealth of generational lessons to draw upon from their predecessors. But they will process those lessons through their lens. A good example is that the Z Generation has been very active in trying to make a difference in the climate change debate. They understand very well that their whole existence is at stake if something isn’t done soon to address the problem of the detrimental effects of climate change in the future. The leadership lessons they can learn from the Boomers, as well as other, prior generations, is that action is required now, not later. Everyone before them has kicked the proverbial can down the road, and nothing positive has resulted. So the youngest generation must prepare themselves to lead because the clock is ticking down on all of us.

However, the Boomers and other generations have left some good legacies that the latest generation can build off of, even though some of these good legacies came out of the ashes of failures (such as the sub-prime loan crisis that devastated the economy but resulted in long-needed financial reforms). Generation Z is the first one to grow up immersed in technology.

They live and breathe it every day, and are very comfortable using it; that includes marshaling technological ways and means to address tough problems. Baby Boomers are generally not comfortable wielding modern technology in ways to benefit humanity (they were far more comfortable using nuclear technology to build the first atomic bombs). Other generations are fairly comfortable with modern technology, but Generation Z can still run rings around everyone in that regard.

3. What leadership lessons from our generation should the next generation even consider?

All things should be on the table for consideration. There are so many lessons to be learned that the trick will be to sort through what are the most useful ones to delve into deeply into to help frame leadership approaches in the here and now, to set the stage for a better future.

I think Generation Z may eventually establish a Leadership Lessons Institute, or something along those lines, to most effectively organize and examine the leadership lessons from past generations but also to be forward-looking as far as what good leadership should look like in the future.

These kids are extremely smart already; they’ll be even smarter when they reach adulthood in a few years. I believe we’ll all be in excellent hands when that time comes. They’ll know how to lead, I’m sure.

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Thanks for reading. Copyright Terry Mansfield. All rights reserved.

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About the Creator

Terry Mansfield

Trying to be the best writer I can be. Specialist in eclecticism.

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