Handing Off to Incoming Generations

If there is one thing that ties together all sectors it is the need to address the exit of experience and leadership with the entrance of different values, emerging leadership and more of an intuitive inter-connected take on life. This theme as surfaced repeatedly in conversations over the last two weeks and it crosses sectoral boundaries.

Overall there is an opportunity to explore the belief system held by the generations leaving and the belief system operating in the generations coming in. From the senior generation it sounds like: You have to earn respect; You have to pay your dues; you have to gain experience before you can do certain things. From the emerging generation it sounds like: respect is earned not deserved no matter who you are; I can do anything as well as or better than you. In the health care sector, using strictly anectotal observations there is even a difference between new grads and those who graduated 5 years ago. We can ponder why but the real opportunity lies in taking down the walls of difference and seeing what can be learned from a young community who function and communicate using community networks that span the planet. What if organization's were organized around nodes of purpose and intention rather than hierarchy? One thing for sure, the old structure of authority just won't work for emerging leaders or managers. It simply does not fit.