No one knows how long this recession will last. But all of us have choices.

You can hunker down, worry yourself sick, and hope that it all blows over. Or you can     get real, make friends with new acquaintances who are thinking differently about the future, and take responsibility for your own professional development - to ensure that you’re more fit to lead, inspire, and create lasting change for future generations.

Here are three reasons the next gen needs your leadership:

1. The workforce has changed, but the workplace has not. Today, less than 17 percent of us are in marriages where one spouse stays home, and workplace policies have not kept pace. (Source: Mass Career Customization) Our corporate cultures are creaking in the damp shadows of a Ward-&-June-Cleaver family myth. We need leaders who are willing to face facts: we don’t have a single-sized workforce, and we can’t use one-off rewards packages.
2. The demand for management and executive talent is fierce, and will get more pronounced as every developed country faces aging populations. Peter Drucker called this demographic shift the number one issue facing our companies and communities. (Source: Managing in the Next Society) Yet many of our workplaces are cutting leadership development programs and hoping for the best.
3. Cities that attract and keep next-gen knowledge workers win. Today, 18% of the world’s population produces over two thirds of the world’s global economic output and nine in ten patented innovations. (Source: “How the Crash Will Reshape America,” The Atlantic, March 2009).

Leaders today face a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead through the current crisis, and reinvent companies and cities that work better for more people. Are you in?

Comments

Login, Become a Member, or simply Register to comment.