That's the pressing question of The Gen Z Effect, a must-read for both built-to-last Boomers and build-it-again Gen Z. Jill Dyché, author of The New IT: How Technology Leaders are Enabling Business Strategy in the Digital Age.
INTRODUCTION
Consider that, while it was typical to see two different generations in the workforce simultaneously during the first half of the twentieth century, in the. As the percentage of people sixty-five and older increases, the percentage of the population in the birth to nineteen band decreases.
THE GRAVITY OF THE FUTURE
This is exactly why the unifying power of the Gen Z Effect is so important to the future of any organization. Trying to understand the specific changes this will bring to the way we do business stretches our imagination beyond its limits and almost into the realm of science fiction.
MOVING BEYOND GENERATIONAL FICTION
Imagine computers in everything from the food we eat to the clothes we wear, to the cars we drive (or that drive us) to the implants that are part of us. The fabric of technology that will be woven into every aspect of our lives is the driving force behind the Gen Z effect.
THE SIX FORCES
The Gen Z-focused nonprofit Free the Children has become the biggest Facebook cause in the world without spending a single penny on advertising. Lowe's uses behavioral data to cut across age demographics and identify underlying patterns in how and why customers buy.
ONE LAST THING
Instead, they challenge some of the most fundamental beliefs about how we operate across generations. You'll also find ongoing examples, commentary, conversations, and even debates about the many nuances of the Gen Z Effect.
WHO IS GEN Z?
The barriers and the artificial perimeter of generational boundaries no longer limit your ability to be part of the future - only you can do it. Those of us who choose to be part of Gen Z will play a pivotal role as the last distinguishable generation of the information age and the first generation of the.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF GENERATIONAL BOUNDARIES
So we offer a warning: Generation Z requires an open mind, ready to evolve and tolerant of the discomfort of change.
Making Technology Simple Is Complicated Stuff
The problem is that technology providers and markets continually lose sight of the behavior curve and instead become obsessed with a particular technology. The Kindle Fire HDX is a good example of one. The company steps off the power curve just in time to get back on the next technology that defines the behavior curve.
It’s Only Technology If You Don’t Grow Up With It
The same applies to many of the technologies we take for granted today; we learn and relearn because it's the only way to stay in the game. It is these influential forces that we will examine one by one in the next six chapters.
GEN Z IS A CHOICE NOT A BIRTHRIGHT
While the full impact of the Generation Z effect may not be felt until 2025 (the latest date by which every human will have access to the Internet), we are already overdue in understanding and preparing to work side-by-side with those who embrace this a radically new set of behaviors. So let's begin our journey through the six forces of the Gen Z Effect that are already shaping our world.
Put It Into Action
It is as if over the past five thousand years the pyramid has become an instinctive framework for thinking about the way the world works. It is hard to imagine how we would even begin to break free from this entrenched model of society.
THE END OF THE POPULATION PYRAMID
The result is a global population pyramid that, while still growing in terms of total population, has grown more slowly at the base and expanded toward the top in relative terms. Over the next eighty years we will see the global population pyramid reshape itself into an almost perfect skyscraper.
BUILDING THE SKYSCRAPER
Imagine the population of the world represented by the Great Pyramid of Giza: the dot below represents eighty-five people - less than a bucket of sand the volume of the pyramid. Yet they own as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people—the cubic feet that make up the bottom half of the pyramid.
AVOIDING THE GENERATIONAL TRAP
Since 1950, a definitive trend line has emerged showing a narrowing gap between life expectancy and working life expectancy. Life expectancy and working life expectancy are increasing, although working life expectancy is increasing slightly faster.
THE GENERATION GAP AND OTHER MYTHS
It is not very different from saying that as a member of a political party you subscribe to its platform. It's a lofty goal, but there are companies that have made it their mission to do just that.
THE HYATT STORY: LISTENING BEYOND GENERATIONS
It's interesting that we have all these management tools that were built for a homogeneous workforce. It is not enough to simply say that treating generations as a one-dimensional stereotype is a problem.
CLOSING THE GAP
The possible connections that can be made between all these devices are a direct result of the number of devices that will be connected. There are an estimated 7.5x10e18 grains of sand on all the world's beaches—that's less than 1 percent of the equipment we're designing for by 2100.
IT’S STILL YOUR BRAIN, IT’S JUST MOBILIZED
He had no choice but to conjure images of the future with the words of his time. However, the vast majority of 40 percent in the twenty-two to thirty-two age group are online for thirteen or more hours each day.
THE END OF YOUR LIFE IN TWO WORLDS
It's as if his brain suddenly finds a way to calm those dormant neurons because of his ability to be that way in the moment. In each of these cases, it's not that the building blocks of future technology weren't already in the devices of the present, but that behavior didn't have a chance to form around the technology.
THROUGH THE GLASS
Ultimately, much of behavior is temporal, defined by the norms and customs of the time. In the words of a colleague, George Achillias, one of the first Glass Explorers: "I wanted to draw a hard line between offline and online, and I couldn't.
TURNING THE TABLES THROUGH REVERSE MENTORING
However, fewer than 15 percent of the 600 companies we surveyed for this book have a reverse mentoring program, even though 51 percent have multi-generational teams. The back and forth and the level of irritation on the part of the Boomer illustrated how difficult the process of reverse mentoring can be.
THE CISCO STORY
A CASE FOR REVERSE MENTORING
One of the things I've learned is that I don't force reverse mentoring on our leaders. But for those who don't have that luxury in an informal setting, reverse mentoring is perfect.
SEEING THE INVISIBLE SOCIAL NETWORK
In our work with dozens of organizations implementing reverse mentoring programs, we've found that the idea is still not widely understood, despite case studies going back nearly thirty years. To help you start a reverse mentoring program, we have included in the appendix a basic guide that we use with our own clients to allay some of these fears and educate the organization about the benefits of reverse mentoring.
A Brownie Camera for Social Networks
Using the Crowd to Map the Crowd
Marc Smith, co-founder of the Social Media Research Foundation and the driving force behind NodeXL. You don't have to go anywhere special, like the internet cafes of the 1990s - remember that.
WE’VE BEEN DOING IT WRONG
This is the problem with products such as the Apple Newton PDA and the Sony Data Discman. Although social media usage is currently dominated by the under thirty-four crowd, according to GlobalWebIndex8, don't expect that to continue.
THE SLINGSHOTTING CATALYSTS
USEFULNESS AND USABILITY
They're not driven by the excitement of the technology itself – it'd be better if it were genuinely useful. This is also why business users almost universally hate technology imposed by the "enterprise".
GAMIFICATION
Some of the most successful gaming apps and technologies are those that take a very personal approach. Aim for the most ideal, "blue sky" version of the technology that will help him.
WORKING TOWARD THE IDEAL FINAL RESULT
How much of the technology you use at work (or perhaps develop and deliver) is user-friendly versus user-hostile. The democratization of media is one of the foundations of how Gen Z is changing the relationship between wealth and influence.
INFLUENCE AND OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DISRUPTION
Reciprocity – The principle whereby people return a favor, such as buying a product after receiving free samples. Authority - the principle that people obey authority figures, even when they are asked to perform controversial actions.
ANALYZING AND AUTOMATING INFLUENCE
We don't just look at counting traffic or sales data; it is the collection, correlation and analysis of so many diverse data sources that makes RetailNext powerful.2. In either case, it's easy for retailers to apply just a few of Cialdini's persuasion principles and make the experience more meaningful for you.
POEM, AN ODE TO MARKETING
They are the most easily implemented and clearly understood, making them pragmatic steps to leverage influence for your own purposes.
Paid Media
One of the best examples of meeting customers on their own terms and the impact it creates is Dove's Campaign for Beauty. If you present an ad that fits the viewer's persuasion profile—in other words, it's personalized and actually meaningful to them—.
Owned Media
The YouTube video fades to the end with the simple white-on-black text: "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted." The video created a firestorm of attention on YouTube and across all forms of television and print media, with over three hundred million views across all channels. However, native media and the experiences built around it are often quite expensive to start and maintain.
Earned Media
We spoke with Marc Kielburger about some of the dramatic shifts he's seeing in Gen Z through the unique lens of what has become one of the most influential Gen Z nonprofits in the world. It's about starting a conversation with them to make yourself part of their community, whereby the young person can actually have a conversation about the brand or the brand's values.
MEASURING INFLUENCE
PageRank measures the influence of any given page or pages and brings the "best" results to the top of the search results page. The reason is that the more effective your ad - the more often it is clicked - the more relevant you are to the reader.
THE FUTURE IS FEEDBACK
In traditional hierarchies, people are often pushed into leadership positions when they have no interest in, natural talent for, or training for the role—the classic result of the Peter Principle, which assumes that we all rise to the level of. That's another danger of the wealth pyramid, where the only way to advance in your career is to climb the ladder into territory you may not want to be in, or be thrust into a role you're not suited for.
BIG CROWDS MEAN BIG DATA
The Peter Principle developed, which states that employees will continue to progress until they reach their level of incompetence. They will become incompetent in their current jobs if they do not grow, adapt and develop.
THE LOWE’S STORY
BEHAVIORAL LIFECYCLES
I remember in 2006 at Lowe's, the consumer research team was five people: a statistician, a director and three analysts. What is this behavioral data telling us?” We realized that in that data there is a definite path to purchase for Lowe's customers, with seven discrete stages.
ANONYMITY LOST IS UNDERSTANDING GAINED
This movement towards universal education is the basis for the development of the Gen Z effect, because it closes one of the most dramatic gaps that separate generations: their level of education. As this hole closes and eventually disappears, it takes one of the most with it.
YOUNG OR OLD, LEARN OR BECOME OBSOLETE
ENTER MOOCS
The education we are going to talk about does not take place in classrooms, at least not of the kind that many of us have become accustomed to. The majority of academic institutions that offer MOOCs - unlike the University of the People - do not say that you graduated with a degree simply because you took their online courses.
CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS
They will make moving picture material of the lecture as well as hi-fi tape recording. Without the help of the Khan Academy, I might not have been able to do it.
THE GOOGLE STORY
LEARNING ON THE JOB
THE EVENTBRITE STORY
EMPLOYEE-LED TRAINING
That represents a hundred people who could sell the company to everyone they meet. Managers would even ask employees who had big projects to make one of their quarterly goals to give a Brite Camp explaining their work to the rest of the company.
THE ROCKSMITH STORY
We rolled out more Brite Camps on design, competitors, finance, forecasting, fundraising, SEO and marketing. That's what made it sing as something that not only the employees could get behind, but also bosses.
DYNAMIC LEARNING FOR MUSIC
TWAMC #GenZ Learn from Gen Z Leaders
In this chapter, we explore one of the most fascinating and disturbing aspects of Gen Z, its propensity to bypass the system or "hack the system." Thousands of questions have been used to build the site, which is powered by an incredibly simple front-end that allows a visitor to ask a question and then presents them with all the necessary resources.
THE BRIGHT(ER) SIDE OF HACKING
For the vast majority of humanity's existence, we have solved problems based on empirical evidence. If the solution seemed to work in a repeatable way, we addressed the symptoms of the problem. For example, in the future, medicine will work directly at the genome level to change the most fundamental mechanisms of how our bodies prevent and repair disease.
THE THREE MOST DISRUPTIVE HACKS
So, let's not mince words: it's a damn good thing that Generation Z is confident and coming into the world with faith in its ability to meet the challenges of climate change, income inequality, lack of universal education, unemployment, financial crisis, energy needs. , limited access to clean water and poor sanitation. The ability to raise capital from wealthy institutions and individuals has been a necessary pillar of success for almost any scalable business.
THE FUNDING HACK
In fact, the growth of the largest organizations in almost every industry comes from acquisitions. The importance of scale innovation brings to mind a conversation we had with the CEO of one of the world's largest technology companies.
Owning a Small Piece of a Big Future
But what if you could test your idea in the market for no cost other than your time? If the idea gets market approval, what if you could scale it up immediately with the funding already in place?
Assurance Contracts
The Hidden Billions
Simply crowdfunding, however, is no guarantee of funding, and most crowdfunded offerings never reach their funding goals, no matter how small or large.
The Gen Z Celebrity
Some of the most visible examples of Gen Z celebrity influence are in the entertainment industry, where talent has been funneled past the quagmire of middlemen who typically stand guard at the gate. She quickly found a large following, was picked up by the record company Lava Records and became the most viral music star of the year.
Crowdfunding Inside the Enterprise
At sixteen, the relatively unknown Lorde posted her music to SoundCloud, the audio-only equivalent of YouTube; at a glance, SoundCloud may seem as necessary for music as YouTube for video, which is to say not at all. In Lorde's case, the record label used the crowd source passively, simply watching her rise to the top and plucking her from the masses, bypassing the traditional talent spotter.
THE IBM STORY
CROWDFUNDING INSIDE THE ENTERPRISE
One of the questions asked if the person who invested in the idea was "not known to me" - in other words, a complete stranger. It is the strength of the idea rather than personal relationships that seems to be the most important factor.
THE MANUFACTURING HACK
At the same time there is something called the phonocardiograph; it's an old technology that will literally record the heart's sounds and give you a printout graph of the waveform. I think the multigenerational workforce holds great promise because it means that it's not just one perspective that runs the world.
THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY HACK
In fact, one of the largest enterprise software companies today is Red Hat, an early adopter, promoter and developer of open source and Linux. In fact, in one of the most perverse twists in the patent wars, Google was once an investor in what has become the world's largest invention marketplace, Intellectual Ventures (IV).
PULLING THE ANDON CORD
Do you see the value in each of these hacks, or do you feel a resistance to one or more of them. How do you use goods, products or services that are copyrighted rather than copyrighted?
CONCLUSION
Technology will be the great equalizer; it is fundamental to the Gen Z effect because it creates common ground. For most of history and for many of the world's inhabitants, secondary and post-secondary education has been out of reach, precluded by the need to survive and eke out a meager livelihood.
IT REALLY IS YOUR CHOICE
TOSS THE GENERATIONAL FICTION
It's who we are and why we act the way we do - or at least that's the way we've identified ourselves. Of course, but many more of us—the vast majority—will live, work and play together on a common technological and social platform.
YOU HAVE ARRIVED
If anything, the six forces we have described in this book amplify the individual's voice, influence, and influence. Think of the Queen Mary - the whole ship goes by and then comes the helm.
APPENDIX
