Boomers beware: you may lose your top talent. The emerging Generation X cohort is poised to take on senior leadership positions and the top performers are demanding a seat at the table. Bottom line: in this environment of constant change and uncertainty, the emerging Generation X leaders bring a set of skills and values that are essential to addressing today’s challenges. If the opportunity to share leadership does not surface, the most valued Gen-Xers in your organization will likely walk out the door and find something elsewhere. If you haven’t seen the recent HBR article by Tamara J. Erickson, it’s really worth a read. It also dovetails with what we’ve been discussing in our Convergence report.
Archive for the ‘Generational Shifts’ Category
The Leaders We Need Now
Friday, May 7th, 2010
Creating space for emerging leaders to emerge
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010This is my golden year. In some traditions when the year you were born coincides with your actual age, it is referred to as the “golden year.” Next month I will be 55 and, you guessed it, I was born in 1955.
But like most baby boomers, that number has no correlation to my self-perception. I am, in fact, wondering how a 32 year old man such as myself can actually have a 55th birthday.
This cognitive dissonance first surfaced about three years ago. My wife and I, with some friends, went to the Oakland Coliseum to see a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert. Prior to the start, I stand up, look around and am amazed by the crowd. “Who are all these old people, and why do they like my music?”
Nonprofit Leadership – The Future is Here
Saturday, January 9th, 2010If you’re interested in the future of nonprofit leadership in its many diverse forms, Rosetta Thurman is a name you should really know. She has been a prolific blogger on next generation leadership and diversity in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector since 2007, and has been tapped as a speaker and presenter numerous times by those seeking to better understand the changing face of leadership in the social sector.
Lessons From Gen Y, Implications for Us All
Friday, November 20th, 2009The nonprofit sector as a whole is underperforming in the area of talent management. Perhaps the greatest consequence of the chronic under-resourcing of organizational capacity is the failure to have more effectively developed our sector’s most valuable (and expensive) asset – our workforce. In a recent survey conducted by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, 45% of nonprofit employees said they were considering jobs outside of the sector for their next positions.
New Podcast: How Social Media Impacts the Social Sector
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009In this podcast, we interview Beth Kanter, author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, and Michael Hoffman, CEO of see3 Communications. Beth and Michael comment on the impact of web 2.0 on the social sector, including how nonprofits are increasingly using networks to get their work done and how smaller nonprofits can leverage technology to get their message out.
Download the Podcast with Beth Kanter and Michael Hoffman (.mp3, 4.5 mb) and tell us what you think.
Generational Shifts
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Many next generation social sector leaders are interested in greater life/work balance – not a defining feature of the nonprofit sector. They are also less ideologically driven and more interested in solving problems. As corporations offer more opportunities for engagement in solving social problems, the nonprofit sector, as a destination, may be less appealing.
If this young talent can work for a corporation, make a good living, and still do socially meaningful work, why would they choose to work for a nonprofit?
