Do you feel that you are out of touch as a business leader when dealing with younger generations of workers? Well, have no fear!
NO FEAR, an innovative business leadership book by Pekka A. Viljakainen and Mark Mueller-Eberstein, explains the crucial significance of why today's business leaders must adapt to the culture of the younger generation to keep their companies relevant and how to retain a competitive staff.
These Gen Y Digital Cowboys are the first to adopt new phenomena and inventions. They constantly generate new innovations; they use new networks to solve problems in an innovative manner, provided their interest is piqued. This generation grew up with social media and technologies - they now expect their leaders to be inspiring, responsive, available and open.
What makes you an authentic leader?
Standing out from the crowd is not a virtue in and of itself. Good leaders do not join companies because they have an opportunity to stand out. Many top professionals choose the organisation based on its stability. The leaders are a visible manifestation of this stability. The new generation of workers is looking for stability, too, but in their own way. For a growing number of experts, the values and the true soul of the company mean more and more. Companies know this and, until now, talking about values has been good enough. But it's no longer so.
Now employees are starting to ask questions.
- Does my boss have the guts to act based on these values, even if it sets us apart from the crowd?
- Can I identify with the leadership of the company to the degree that I am ready to ride into battle with them?
- Do I know what they really think?
- Is the substance of these "company values" messages empty jargon generated by corporate communications?
- With the Internet, more information becomes available to these employees much faster.
These employees are asking plenty of questions and they look to the company leadership for answers in a new kind of working culture. The network economy is going to be mainstream. As a leader, you must engage your Gen Y Digital Cowboys to expand your network of contacts to both retain and expand your company.
With thanks: Coach2Coach e-newsletter, 7th April 2012.