Whippersnappers Rule!

As life weren't tough enough, we've got all these slacker stoner layabouts clogging up the pipeline. Worse, these self-absorbed Millennials want to manage stuff, when they can barely get to work on time.

Like many others, I've assumed that these admittedly talented resources could and would benefit from learning leadership lore from more seasoned executives and managers. To my great surprise, research is showing that the younger generation are, in general, better leaders than their predecessors. Gulp!

An HBR article reported a rigorous study that showed younger (<30 years old) managers were superior to an older cohort (>45). 44% of the younger group fell into the top quartile of leadership effectiveness; a relatively puny 20% of the older gang were in that same top quartile.

There's a message in there for a not-so-older generation: Get your act together! Get current. Show some energy. Don't begin any sentence with "Well, when I was… "

What's propelling the new generation into leadership excellence? It's obviously much more than an entitlement expectation, a quest for undeserved recognition. Some things, are, in fact, learned over time. And, strategic context comes with experience.

But, some factors that seriously differentiate the new kids from the old pros are:

Younger leaders welcome, embrace, seek change, even when courage is required to implement new proposals. They inspire others, through their own passion and energy; they pull followers toward objectives.

But, older leaders more often push and drive for results, which then turn out to be transient.

• The under-30s take feedback well, even asking for it—then acting on it. The over-45s are less willing to both ask for and respond to feedback.
• Young leaders are enthusiastic about challenging the status quo, and committing to continuous improvement. They are all about innovation, efficiency, and quality.
• Not only is the next generation focused on results—results with meaning and enterprise relevance, not just mindless performance numbers, they are really big on stretch goals, even undocumented personal stretch-plus goals.

We have our work cut out for us to keep up with this game-changing generation.