Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six sixty six. Today, I want to talk
Speaker 2: about something that's sitting right in front of us in
Speaker 2: every organization, every shift, every office, every team meeting, and
Speaker 2: most leaders are missing it completely. We hear a lot
Speaker 2: about DEI diversity, equity, and inclusion in those conversations matter,
Speaker 2: they absolutely do, But there is a form of diversity
Speaker 2: that is quietly causing more friction, more confusion, more miscommunication,
Speaker 2: and more leadership failure than anything else. Right now, it's
Speaker 2: generational diversity. Right now, for the first time in history,
Speaker 2: we have five generations working side by side, Baby Boomers,
Speaker 2: Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and now Generation Alpha starting
Speaker 2: to enter the early workforce. That means five completely different
Speaker 2: views of work, five different expectations, five different definitions of respect,
Speaker 2: five different communication styles in five different ways people receive feedback,
Speaker 2: and leaders are walking into this every single day acting
Speaker 2: like everyone should respond the same way. And that's where
Speaker 2: things start. To break. Let me paint the picture for you.
Speaker 2: You have a baby boomer who believes work is about loyalty,
Speaker 2: long hours, and earning your place over time. You have
Speaker 2: Gen X, who values independence, efficiency and getting the job
Speaker 2: done without being micromanaged. You have Millennials who want purpose,
Speaker 2: development and to feel like their work actually means something.
Speaker 2: You have Gen Z who expects speed, flexibility, real time communication,
Speaker 2: and transparency. And then you have Generation Alpha coming in
Speaker 2: behind them, raised on technology, instant access and a completely
Speaker 2: different relationship with information. Now Here is the leadership problem.
Speaker 2: We're trying to lead all of them the same way,
Speaker 2: and that doesn't work. If you talk to a baby
Speaker 2: boomer the same way you talk to a Gen Z employee,
Speaker 2: one of them is going to walk away confused, frustrated,
Speaker 2: or checked out. If you give feedback the same way
Speaker 2: across all five generations, you're going to lose people. Not
Speaker 2: because they're weak, not because they don't care, because you're
Speaker 2: not speaking their language. And leadership is communication. Let me
Speaker 2: say that again. Leadership is communication. If your message is
Speaker 2: not landing, it's not their fault, it's yours. This is
Speaker 2: where real leadership shows up. You have to understand how
Speaker 2: each generation sees work. You have to adjust how you communicate.
Speaker 2: You have to be intentional about how you give feedback,
Speaker 2: because feedback that motivates one generation can shut down another.
Speaker 2: For example, a direct, no nonsense correction might be respected
Speaker 2: by one group, another group might take that same approach
Speaker 2: as disrespect or dismissal. One group wants face to face communication,
Speaker 2: another prefers quick digital communication. One group values stability, and
Speaker 2: other values opportunity and movement. If you ignore that, you
Speaker 2: create friction. If you understand it, you create alignment. And
Speaker 2: alignment is where performance lives. Here's the mistake leaders make.
Speaker 2: They say, well, this is how I lead, and that's
Speaker 2: not leadership. That is convenience. Real leadership is adapting without
Speaker 2: losing your standards. You do not lower expectations. You adjust delivery.
Speaker 2: You don't change the mission, you change how you connect
Speaker 2: people to it. This is where your seven minutes of
Speaker 2: leadership comes in. Spend seven intentional minutes thinking about your team.
Speaker 2: Who are you talking to today, how do they process information,
Speaker 2: how do they prefer feedback? What motivates them? Because if
Speaker 2: you're not thinking about that, you're leading blind and blind
Speaker 2: leadership creates avoidable problems Here's another layer to this. Generational
Speaker 2: diversity is not a problem to fix, it is an
Speaker 2: advantage to use. Think about what you actually have. You
Speaker 2: have decade of experience sitting next to fresh perspective. You
Speaker 2: have proven methods sitting next to new ideas. You have
Speaker 2: stability sitting next to innovation. That is not weakness. That
Speaker 2: is a leadership gold mine if you know how to
Speaker 2: manage it. The best leaders do not try to make
Speaker 2: everyone the same. They build systems where different generations learn
Speaker 2: from each other. They create environments where experiences respected and
Speaker 2: new ideas are welcomed. They bridge the gap instead of
Speaker 2: ignoring it. And that takes effort, because left alone, generations
Speaker 2: will drift apart. They will form silos, they will misunderstand
Speaker 2: each other. They will label each other lazy, old school, entitled, outdated.
Speaker 2: And once those labels start, your culture starts to crack.
Speaker 2: You've seen it, you've felt it, and maybe, if we're
Speaker 2: being honest, you've contributed to it. That is where accountability
Speaker 2: comes in. You are the leader. You set the tone.
Speaker 2: You decide if your team becomes divided or aligned. You
Speaker 2: decide if those five generations work together or work against
Speaker 2: each other. So here is your move. Start paying attention,
Speaker 2: listen differently, and just how you communicate, ask better questions,
Speaker 2: and stop assuming that everyone sees work the same way
Speaker 2: that you do, because they don't and they never will.
Speaker 2: And that's not a flaw, that's reality. The leaders who
Speaker 2: figure this out are going to build stronger teams, retain
Speaker 2: better people, and create cultures that actually work. The leaders
Speaker 2: who ignore it are going to keep wondering why things
Speaker 2: feel harder than they should. This is one of those moments.
Speaker 2: This is a red key moment because how you handle
Speaker 2: this will define your leadership, not in theory, but in
Speaker 2: real time on real teams with real consequences. So the
Speaker 2: question is simple, are you leading one workforce or are
Speaker 2: you leading five different ones like they are one? Because
Speaker 2: those are two very different things and only one of
Speaker 2: them works. So if you take nothing else from today,
Speaker 2: please take this. Your team is not difficult. Your approach
Speaker 2: might be. Adjust how you communicate, understand who is in
Speaker 2: front of you, and lead with intention. This is how
Speaker 2: you turn generational differences into a competitive advantage instead of
Speaker 2: a daily frustration. This has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more. Paul Fellovolito Podcast. Is It? Paul Fellowalito dot
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