Never before have so many generations shared a workplace at the same time. And never before has the opportunity for both collaboration and conflict been this high.
This week, Tess sits down with Meagan Johnson, generational keynote speaker and co-author of the bestselling book Generations, Inc.: Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work, written with her father Larry Johnson. Meagan has spent over 30 years helping organizations from Harley-Davidson to Boeing to the CIA navigate the very conflicts most leaders are still trying to figure out.
The conversation covers every generation in the workforce right now, what leaders keep getting wrong about each one, why the same story keeps repeating, and where we might actually be headed.
In this episode:
Find Meagan at meaganjohnson.com. Generations, Inc. is available now. Meagan's podcast launches this summer.
00:00: Welcome and Meagan Johnson introduction
01:15: How Meagan became a generational speaker, starting at Quaker Oats in 1993
03:40: The story that repeats every generation: why 20-somethings have always been \"too difficult\"
05:45: How the work evolved from Gen X-focused to covering all five generations
07:00: Writing Generations, Inc. with her father, and planning a wedding at the same time
09:10: The biggest myth about Baby Boomers and technology
11:10: Gen X: the forgotten generation that pioneered working from home
13:00: Millennial managers: turning into exactly what was said about them
15:10: What Millennials got right that previous generations missed: championing mentorship
17:30: The most common Gen Z misconception (hint: they are not just a younger Millennial)
19:00: Gen Z as true digital natives: no dial-up, no cursive, no idea how to sign a lease
21:00: AI in the workplace and why blocking it is exactly like blocking Facebook in 2008
23:30: The root of almost every generational conflict: \"when I was that age...\"
26:00: Technical skills versus personal skills: what has changed with new graduates
28:30: Why managers resist giving the next generation advantages they never had
30:00: The questions every manager should be asking about their own expectations
32:00: The seat belt analogy for resistant leaders: new information, better results
34:00: The Gen Z office myth: they do want to come in, just with the option not to
35:30: Gen Z sees Zoom as face-to-face contact (and why that matters)
37:00: Corporate ladder versus corporate lattice: the Gen Z employee who called the CEO for lunch
39:30: Why we dim Gen Z's lights when they are just trying to figure it out
40:30: Where we are headed: five generations, AI, and the future of the workplace
43:00: Mental health at work becoming the new standard, just like mentorship did
44:30: Emotional intelligence as the new baseline requirement for leadership
46:00: Where to find Meagan and her upcoming podcast
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