# Generational differences in leadership

- **Episode:** [113](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/113.md) (2024-07-09)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** generational-differences, leadership, workplace
- **Time:** 40:24–43:47 (start 2424s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/113?t=2424](https://truthliesandwork.com/113?t=2424)

---

[40:24] Alexis Zahner: You know, it's such an interesting one, Al. And I would like to say personally, anecdotally, I think that there is some, um, some things that exist across generations. that we can sort of generally say might be the case. However, we've had incredible academics on our podcast, on We Are Human Leaders, that have absolutely schooled me and kicked my butt for claiming that. So we spoke to one woman, Ashton Applewhite, who was just incredible. And she speaks about ageism and how basically the data suggests that these generic groupings of age groups is just utter crap, and she doesn't like it, and the data doesn't empirically back that up. So I would like to say that, yes, I feel like there are some characteristics across age groups that seem to fit fairly true, at least as a millennial leader. When I hear certain things, I'm like, oh, yeah, that resonates. I identify with being that way, or I identify with doing that. But I've had academics absolutely pull me into line for saying that, so I'm kind of torn now, to be honest. What it is more than anything is that we're a product of the environment we're operating in. So in the '90s, when my parents were in leadership roles, for instance, the environment was very different. The legislation around work was very different. We were a single-family household. My mom didn't work; she was a caregiver. So the roles and expectations around women and men were very different, and I just think through time that's changed. So I think more than anything, we begin to absorb what's in our environment, right? And so as a millennial, 20, 30 years on. It's now 2024 and I'm in a leadership position. So what we've sort of learned over the last 50, 60 years, whatever the context is, is just sort of evolving how we lead and the leadership positions we're in today. But if you're perhaps someone who's already been in a leadership position 20 or 30 years and you've got a collection of experiences that you feel work well. We also know behavior change is harder over time. Our neural pathways are harder to change the more and more that we build them in and ingrain them in a certain way. So I think some of these things are just more habitual than they are anything. And I hate to still be a fence-sitter in answering this question, but I really do believe that any age group can be a brilliant human-centered leader. But I do think it takes intentionality, and I do think it sometimes takes us questioning our own core beliefs and the way that we have been. You know, I've worked in local government where the way things are done around here never gets changed just because it's easy, it's comfortable, we know it. And I've seen that come from every age group of leader within that organization, and it's a cultural problem more than it is a generational problem. Um, so sorry, I'm still on the fence, but as a millennial, um, there are things I think that are very stereotypical of me. I'd like to think that some of the younger leaders coming up now are a little more open-minded to some of these concepts. Certainly, as you said, if I'd said something like human leadership even 10 years ago, people would have said that's woo-woo, that's buzz, that's just soft. It's snowflake leadership, whatever the terminology might be. So people are coming around to these concepts now. But yeah, it's a really tough question to answer