How Generation Z Wants to be Led: A Guide to the Minds of Tomorrow's Leaders

The idea behind this book came from three intersections. A colleague, Mark Beal, has been writing about Generation Z for some time and his recent book “Decoding Gen Z” prompted my interest to dive deeper into this Generation. I have been immersed with some Gen Zers in my undergraduate classes and I wanted to learn more to create optimal engagement opportunities. Finally, another colleague had an opportunity to interact with a group of Gen Zers in a “Principles of Management” class.These three intersections promoted the notion of “crowdsourcing” a book on Gen Z to help add to the dialog about this rising generation. It was also a chance for this group of Gen Zers to explore and apply the concepts and practices they were discussing in class.We explored the literature and thought it would be interesting to gain the Gen Z perspective on want they expect as they enter the workforce—and also how they want to be led. The book was designed to capture the Gen Z voice throughout.The team of Gen Z co-authors and I brainstormed the book concept, topics, and the overall tone and approach. We divided the tasks among Strategy, Editorial, Creative, Technical, Content, and Promotion teams.The team also demonstrated a core value, deciding to donate 100% of the net proceeds of the book to the two named charities.Overall, it was an ambitious project with a self-imposed timeline of 15 weeks, but the team stepped up and delivered. It was not a completely smooth process, we had some bumps in the process, but stayed focused. “71% of Gen Z say they believe the phrase, “If you want it done right, then do it yourself,” and they did.