This Week in Talent (10th August)

Guess who’s back, back again…. Pav is back, tell a friend!

I know all my fellow 90s kids out there are now singing the next few lines or humming this by now (so am I my friends, so AM I)!

There’s been a lot of chat recently among my friends and family about generational gaps and how “kids are these days”. I guess every generation rants about the one proceeding them and ‘how hard they had it’ comparative to the newer ones. What it really comes down to in the end is the generational access to amenities, privileges, technology, and environment coming into play. The speed of information delivered and consumed nowadays feels like we’re being left behind the trends at light speeds. Whereas others revel in this chaos.

I spent the weekend catching up with kids I used to baby sit who are now in university (!!!) and stepping into the next stage of their lives/career paths. There seemed to be a general consensus/vibe amongst them that I’d noticed though, which I felt wasn’t there when I was the same age. Entrepreneurship and a drive to want to create/build/change the world was the biggest topic of the night. They were either looking for companies with a strong mission or vision that aligns with their needs, impact on environment, or strongly DEI focused. Or if none of these were fulfilled, then it was all about creating their own start-ups. I don’t ever remember being that driven or socially aware at 15-18 years old! Do you?

I remember us as the generation that was told to go to university, study a degree, in order to land a stable, long-term job. That was the end game – get a job and progress up the ranks. There wasn’t a lot of focus around searching for a job that you felt aligned to by their values or being ok with being unemployed for periods of time because you wanted to find the “right fit”. That was just a cherry on top if you did find somewhere that ticked all your boxes.

I’m seeing more and more that this viewpoint has significantly shifted in the last 5 years – and even more so after covid. There’s more of a free flow of people changing career paths, finally taking the jump into ventures they’d long put on hold as ‘too risky’ or wouldn’t flow well on their resume. It’s a refreshing change and I think we’ll be better for it in the coming years.

Question I’d like to pose to you all is: What do we need to understand about the next generation’s drivers, needs and wants, in order to attract, engage and retain them in our futures workspaces? How do we incorporate more generational diversity into the workplace – diversify the thinking, creating more open cultures and allowing new non-traditional roles to be developed as a result? I’ve added a few links to this week’s newsletter that I came across that touch on this topic a bit. How to prep for the changing of work and leadership skills we’d need to develop to be more inclusive of all generations.

I’ll also leave you with a link to Hung Lee’s upcoming podcast which also touches on this topic of Generational Diversity. Well worth a listen, as always!

Visor

Spatial computing designed for work- giving Apple a run for its money! Worth watching this one…

Gen Z in the Workplace

A look at the defining features of Gen Z and how companies can successfully engage and attract them.

Rethinking Leadership for the future of work

This podcast covers a multitude of topics on the future of work. One being how the pandemic has transformed the way we work and the four significant shifts in leadership that have emerged as a result. Worth a listen!

LinkedIn’s new AI coach

LinkedIn seems to be planning an AI ‘coach’ to assist you with job searching, applications, and researching a company’s culture

Why did Freud have his clients lie down during therapy?

Bit of a quirky one – Maybe we need to start doing our 1:1s or work dispute resolutions lying down?!

Generative AI and the future of work

What’s happening around the world? Take a look at McKinsey’s report on Generative AI and how it has extended the possibilities for automation to a much wider set of occupations.

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