Leading Through Generational Change, AI, and Workplace Friction (Insights from Ryan Vet)

Workforce Alchemy

Most leaders are misreading the future of work and it is costing them.  In this episode, Mason Duchatschek sits down with Ryan Vet, generational futurist, keynote speaker, and USA Today bestselling author featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Forbes, Newsmax, and USA Today. Ryan has advised leaders across four continents and works at the intersection of leadership, AI, and the future of work.  If you are a business owner, CEO, executive, or team leader trying to navigate generational tension, workplace culture, and rapid AI disruption, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership.  This is not another “Millennials vs Gen Z” discussion. Ryan breaks down the deeper, structural shifts shaping behavior, communication, and trust across generations and explains why most leadership strategies are failing to keep up.  What you will learn in this episode:  -Why generational shifts are structural, not trends -What leaders get wrong about Millennials, Gen Z, and workplace culture -How AI is changing work without replacing core leadership principles -Why assumptions about younger employees often backfire -How to lead across five generations in one organization -The role of trust, communication, and difficult conversations in leadership -Why future-ready companies stay anchored in purpose, not technology -How to think critically in an AI-driven world -What separates leaders who adapt from those who fall behind  Key moments: 00:00 Introduction to generational futurism 02:50 Structural generational shifts explained 05:53 AI and the future of workplace culture 08:59 The truth about generational tension 12:09 What future-ready leadership actually looks like 17:58 Bridging generational divides 20:54 Why leaders avoid difficult conversations 24:00 The role of trust in high-performing teams 30:04 Critical thinking in the age of AI 33:04 Final advice for leaders  Why this matters:  With five generations in the workforce and AI accelerating change, leadership has never been more complex. The companies that succeed will not be the ones chasing every new tool. They will be the ones who understand people, communicate clearly, and stay grounded in their mission.  Memorable quotes: “Stereotypes are extremely dangerous.” “Assumptions almost always backfire.” “Work has changed and that is okay.” “Know why you exist and where you are going.”  Connect with Ryan Vet: https://ryanvet.com/  Connect With Workforce Alchemy  Websites:  https://workforcealchemy.com/ https://masonduchatschek.com/  📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReverseRiskConsulting  📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workforcealchemy/  🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/WorkAlchemist  🎥 Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/WorkforceAlchemy  📼 Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/WorkforceAlchemy  📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkforceAlchemist  #Leadership #FutureOfWork #AI #BusinessStrategy #ExecutiveLeadership #WorkplaceCulture #GenerationalLeadership #CriticalThinking #Management

Transcript

00:05welcome to the mason dukacheck show and before we jump into this episode is brought to you by

00:11workforcealchemy.com helping leaders uncover hidden profit leaks inside their workforce

00:17iinvet is a generational futurist keynote speaker and usa today best-selling author whose work

00:26sits at the intersection of leadership ai and the future of work he has spoken across four

00:33continents been featured by outlets including abc nbc cbs forbes newsmax and usa today and he

00:42helps leaders make sense of generational friction workplace trust and what change will demand next

00:49welcome to the show we're super glad but glad to have you here today thanks so much for having me

00:53mason so you call yourself a generational futurist what do you see that most executives still

00:59dismiss as a trend instead of recognizing as a structural shift that's a wonderful question i

01:05think that term uh when i first heard the term futurist described uh for me i was like you know

01:10i don't even know what's going to be for dinner tonight so i don't like that term it's not a

01:14a crystal ball and as i kind of sat with that term it was an introduction actually similar to this

01:19where

01:20someone ascribed that label i was like you know what my work on generations is looking at the past

01:24so we can better understand the futures so i ran with it and i took it and i just uh

01:28kind of modified

01:29it and put the generational part in front of it because a lot of my work started back when i

01:33was

01:34significantly younger and in the venture-backed startup world and i had all of these twitter

01:38followers and everyone wanted to know how i got all these twitter followers and this was like a couple

01:42years like into the platform and it was a big deal and i still have the same number i have

01:47not grown on

01:47that platform i don't really use that platform much anymore but they they were asking me the

01:51question at the time why millennials weren't buying houses and they thought because i tweeted i knew the

01:57answer to that and that's really where i got my start on the generations generational conversation

02:01and over the next my 20-year career in executive leadership roles i was often asked about generations

02:07because i did find it fascinating and i did want to know why people were the way they were and

02:13so when

02:13you ask what what are those structural structural shifts that no one's seeing or not talking about

02:18i think there's a few things that i know we'll talk about over our time together in this conversation

02:22but one of the big ones is generation swing and what i mean by that is i've got a framework

02:27called

02:27the generational pendulum and we see history repeat itself now not exactly but it kind of i liken it to

02:34driving down a road when you're a teenager and you just get your license or you're even with your

02:38permit and your parent or instructors in the car and you see a deer you're going to swerve you're

02:43going to go off the road and you're going to overreact and over correct but as you drive more

02:47you get the experience and you ultimately recalibrate and that's sort of what the generational

02:51pendulum is it's first we experience something and then just like a teenager we challenge it we

02:56challenge its existence then at some point we over correct and ultimately we come back and

02:59recalibrate and so when i hear a leader and i'm sitting with a c-suite of you know a fortune

03:0450 company and they say kids these days i'm like well what were you like when you were a kid

03:09and they'll be like well i was nothing like that it was a different world and yes it was a

03:13different

03:13world but what were the things that are similar and what are the things that have changed and then

03:16how do you lead to that interesting so a lot of leaders talk about the future of work and slogans

03:22what are the actual changes that are already happening inside organizations that they can't afford to

03:27ignore i think the biggest thing is we're all running towards artificial intelligence and artificial

03:32intelligence is not new at all artificial intelligence was first coined in the 1950s

03:36and even before that you can trace ideas and concepts obviously no no machines computers behind it

03:42back to the 1600s so we're talking about a long existence of this idea that machines could

03:48replace and think in lieu of humans and i think one of the things that is happening now is we're

03:54getting distracted it's our selective attention and we're getting distracted by artificial intelligence

03:59saying how can we implement this and how can we run with this i'm a huge fan of it my

04:03early

04:03startups in the early 2010s like i think there's a lot of benefits but at the same time we need

04:08to

04:08pump the brakes and say what's not going to change as a result of technology growing and moving more

04:15quickly and i think if you look at ritz carlton they're they're well known for incredible customer

04:19experience and the one thing that they equip each one of their team members with is this idea that we

04:24are

04:25ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen so every person on the team whether you're scrubbing

04:29toilets or you run the entire company you're a lady and gentleman serving a lady and gentleman and i

04:34think the profundity of that statement and why i bring it up in this context is there's some things

04:40in our businesses that are not going to change and that's what we need to be looking at and yes

04:45absolutely use technology to focus on those things not so you can be the first one to get across the

04:49finish line but what are those things that when technology i mean by the time you and i are done

04:52discussing this there's going to be 30 new ai tools and 200 that are gone and that's just the

04:56reality of what's going to happen there's going to be a bunch of updates to models so instead of

05:00trying to focus and stay up to date which i'm not saying ignore but what are the things that are

05:03not

05:04going to change and lead to that lead towards your original vision and mission so you speak about

05:08five generations under one roof what do leaders most often misread related to operation generational

05:15tension and what is really going on underneath it in your opinion i think there's two things i think the

05:20first one is interestingly it's the labels themselves we say oh the silent generations this

05:25way which is makes up a very very small fraction of our workforce today and they are the fifth

05:30generation they will be phasing out just by age then you've got baby boomers who make up a little

05:35less than 20 percent of the workforce right now and then you've got gen x millennials and gen z all

05:41that make up kind of a remaining third give or take a couple percentage points on each of those

05:45to um balance out the rest of the workforce and then you do have some gen z in the workplace

05:49as

05:50well it's starting to happen so when you're you're looking at the generations under one roof and all

05:55that we assign labels oh gen z all they do is care about ai and technology oh millennials all they

06:00cared

06:00about was their vacation time and their work-life balance and so on and so forth and that's just

06:05you're nailing them that's what they think about yeah and and that's because we've created stereotypes

06:10it's the label lie right there's a lot of benefit to analyzing and researching cohort-based analysis

06:16regardless of what it is whether you're in medicine trying to figure out a certain demographic that

06:20might be more susceptible to some disease or whether you're uh you know an anthropologist or a

06:25sociologist or a psychologist or a leader looking at who's in your workplace today and say

06:30millennials have these traits but you and i know stereotypes are extremely dangerous and what has

06:35happened when we start labeling is we we start honing in on these stereotypes and then apply

06:40it to everyone and we we're almost blinded by the reality of what's really going on so i think that's

06:46one of the big the big things that leaders need to be aware of when they're when they're diving in

06:52and trying to lead their teams is realize that stereotypes aren't always that helpful and the

06:56labels aren't always that helpful so understand what then shaped each one of them so i think that

07:00the second part to answer that question is what i call the generational prism and a prism refracts light

07:05it's it's a usually a pyramid and light comes in and something happens inside there i'm not sure of

07:11the science but when you see it on the table or projecting to wherever it is it creates like a

07:14rainbow or a prism and i think that's how we need to look at generations we look at the two

07:19sides being

07:20one age and the other moment and i'll talk to those in a minute and then the bottom layer being

07:25the

07:25label that's the thing that's refracted out that's the last thing we have to talk about so let's talk about

07:30age for a minute age would be how old are they right now so if you're looking at the current

07:35millennial who are still getting accused of being gen z but no millennials are well into their 30s and

07:4040s at this point during the time of this conversation they're older than most people are

07:44realizing so that's their age but now let's look at the moment in history so moment in history is

07:50what's happening right now so as a 30 something a late 30 something let's just pick an average

07:54millennial the moment in history is we've got ai we've got screen time we're starting to see all these

07:59things but if you rewind to when gen x just one generation before was in their mid 30s or late

08:0430s

08:04that didn't exist what they were excited about was that dial-up was going away and so when you look

08:10at

08:10those two things then you say okay what is the label that we can cast when we're shining the light

08:14through accurate generational prism i'll give you one really easy example that everyone's like there's

08:19no way and you can look up this data on bureau of labor statistics i've got all the math worked

08:23out

08:23you can go look it out on my website but the reality is boomers hop jobs by the age of

08:2925

08:295.3 times so the age marker is five we'll get to the moment in just a second gen x

08:35hop jobs they're

08:375.3 times by age 25 now millennials were labeled job hoppers so let's see if the the math works

08:43out

08:44if you go through bureau of labor statistics by age 25 millennials they hop jobs 5.6 times so

08:51slightly more than boomers or gen x so what happened everyone's like that's not true well

08:55let's look at the actual data in the moment in history that boomers were growing up there were

08:59very few child labor laws in most states in the united states so they would start their first job

09:0310 11 12 and so between let's call it age 12 and age 25 13 years they had time to

09:08hop 5.3 jobs that

09:10was figuring out that they didn't like flipping burgers at mcdonald's or you know ice cream from

09:14dairy queen and and then the next generation there were some child labor laws more people were going to

09:19college so you're starting to see that take place so really from age 15 to 25 you still have 10

09:25years

09:25but when you look at the average millennial's first job it's 22 so they hop 5.6 jobs in three

09:31years

09:32that's how you look at the prism so it's like okay because it was heavily concentrated it did in fact

09:36seem like they hopped jobs more and they did hop in rapid succession but when you extrapolate that out

09:41to age 30 it almost levels out across all generations wow i would not have guessed that in your work

09:47what is the difference between a company that's merely reacting to change and one that's genuinely

09:54future ready i think the best future ready companies are ones that aren't always looking

09:59over their shoulders but are anchored in in the past meaning why did the business start in the first

10:03place if you look at amazon and jeff bezos for for a minute in an interview he had several years

10:09ago

10:10he said there's some things that i know that my customers are always going to want regardless of

10:14what technology is there they're going to want the convenience of ordering online they're going to

10:17want it delivered faster and they're going to want it cheaper that's what his customers are going to

10:20want or you remember when amazon was just free shipping and that was a big deal but it still might

10:24take two weeks and then it went to two days and then now in an hour he still is focusing

10:29on the same

10:29thing and so i think it's just a really great and profound example if you think about it what they've

10:34done has never changed i mean yes they started with books and maybe sold some other products but

10:37the core of delivering value to the customer quickly and conveniently at a reasonable price has never ever

10:43changed the question for you and your your company as you're sitting at your boardroom table is saying

10:49hey these technology things are great they can streamline process we can become more efficient we can

10:54have more insight but what are those things that are never going to change that we need to be anchored

10:58to so that when we see the new shiny thing come out that's really exciting and fun and yes we

11:02should

11:02pursue it that we always tether that back to why we are doing what we're doing in the first place

11:07because we lose the sense of why so often when we're chasing after the shiny new technology and

11:13that can be problematic and that's where people lose their course there's a story of rubbermaid the

11:17company that had their you know several products i believe it's in jim collins book good to great

11:22or how the mighty fall maybe but basically what they say is they had a new product a day uh

11:28campaign

11:29for a year and they came out with all these products and it almost bankrupted the company because

11:32they just wanted to keep creating and it wasn't the right thing they weren't anchored to being the

11:36best making enclosures and containers so i think the same thing is true with all the technology and

11:40things going around us today so i know that you have a keynote that's called a familiar future what

11:46patterns from the past do you think today's leaders should understand better as they navigate ai

11:53culture shifts and workforce change yeah i think with any technological advancement regardless of what

11:59it is there's a couple questions that always come up it's like is this going to replace my job

12:02and that's always a big question and how is this going to change society and all of that and i

12:07think

12:07just what's so important is if you look at the generational pendulum you look at the ebbs and

12:11flows throughout history we do repeat and and when i say repeat there's that recalibration right we're

12:16never exactly on the same orbit that we were originally but we're slightly different because

12:20we have new technology new data new science whatever it might be so a familiar future is really looking

12:26at how do you understand and establish the patterns that have been around for all of humankind and

12:31figure out what are those main drivers and motivators that human beings want we we all want a sense of

12:36purpose we all want a sense of identity and each generation has sought that in different things

12:40you look at baby boomers for example they sought it in titles you go ask a baby boomer what they

12:45do they're

12:46going to rattle off all their accomplishments what their volunteer positions are what boards they're on

12:51you go to gen x gen x is more inclined to tell you you know tell me about yourself you

12:55asked the same

12:56question they're they're going to tell you about their family maybe their community where

12:59they live and then mention their job millennials are going to tell you about their experience and

13:03the trip they just went on and the restaurant they just ate at and you look at this but that

13:07was what

13:07was valuable to each generation and the same is true as we start to look at a workplace and as

13:14we go

13:14through you mentioned the keynote of familiar future it's like what are those patterns that don't

13:18change and as leaders this is what's so important because there's different types of leaders for me

13:22especially when i was in the day-to-day of leading organizations i'm the visionary guy the shiny new

13:27thing i was like every single thing i was squirrel in fact at one of my earlier startups venture back

13:33startups my team would always they'd go squirrel if i just went off on a tangent because they knew

13:39that it was going to happen i had people that reined me in like that was their job they were

13:44paid to

13:44throw water on my parade but that's really important to stay focused and it's like okay some

13:49squirrels are helpful to chase after and look like that golden retriever but how does it tie back just

13:53like i said a minute ago what are you tethering to that humanness that reason that we exist because

13:58there's two things true in every business time is equal for all of us you can't buy more time we've

14:03tried to do that with technology we've tried to do that by speeding things up you can't do it it's

14:07it's

14:08the same and then when we do create something that speeds up time we just fill it with something else

14:11to

14:11make us more productive look at the washing machine and dishwasher the ads literally said that those

14:16were designed to allow mothers to be with their kids more and that didn't happen it allowed them to do

14:21other housework or go get jobs and and ads did buy time but the time wasn't used for what the

14:28time

14:28was allegedly supposed to do in the 50s and 60s as those ads portrayed and we do that with everything

14:33with technology with uh with cars you know if you have two cars in the house it's going to make

14:37your

14:37life so much easier because you can get around well no now you just go to you make sure the

14:41kids are in

14:42soccer and ballet instead of just soccer after school and riding the bus home so it's just this cycle

14:46so where do you think executives are being too timid and where are they being maybe even reckless

14:53i think there's i mean that's a big question and i i have a a laundry list depending on on

14:59the

14:59executive but i think if we go back to the the generational side for a minute leave technology

15:04in the corner because people have such differing opinions on that i think a lot of generation uh

15:10generations that are in leadership so you're looking mainly at millennials gen x and boomers and

15:14interestingly there's not a lot of gen xers in leadership they've kind of been skipped over for

15:18multiple reasons that we don't have time to get into i think a lot of generations in leadership

15:22are afraid of gen z and gen alpha they're afraid of the bad online reviews they're afraid of the

15:28litigious nature they're afraid of being ghosted they're afraid of these younger generations and

15:33what's so interesting in so many surveys by pew by gallop by you name it a lot of what these

15:38younger

15:39generations want is actually leadership and mentorship it's a really fascinating kind of paradox

15:43because you have these older generations or more mature generations that are are almost afraid of

15:49these younger ones and what they can do with a keyboard or their phone and then you've got these

15:53younger generations that just want to be led and they're these more mature generations are afraid

15:57of having difficult conversations now is the way that they're going to have this true that is there's

16:02a marlene chisholm she's a business consultant out of springfield missouri and she is known for saying

16:07almost every business problem can be traced back to a conversation that didn't take place that should have

16:12yeah yeah a recent harris poll said that 1.2 trillion dollars of potential is lost every

16:18year in the united states alone due to poor communication and a lot of that communication is

16:22a dude is due to lack of trust and generational barriers have one of the biggest uh reasons they're

16:28one of the biggest wedges that create lack of trust it's like a gen z-er and now i'm stereotyping

16:34so

16:34i want to be careful here but a gen zero walks in says oh look at that boomer okay boomer

16:37you know

16:38and then a boomer is looking down at that gen z-er and they're like you know they're gonna walk

16:42in

16:43with their pink drink and their crop top which is totally not professional and they're you know

16:47gonna just air pods in and this isn't your fourth day at the office is it yeah yeah it's but

16:54but the

16:55reality is this is people are are more likely to play to the stereotypes and be more frustrated about

16:59the stereotypes and say hey this is a professional work environment and here's our expectations not so you

17:04change what you're wearing or you come in on time but because the customers that we serve or the

17:08clients that we have the opportunity to work with expect a certain level and that's why we exist and

17:14most people not all are are receptive for that and that that's a blanket generalization there's nuance in

17:20every business of course but at a high level do what leaders have always done and lead cast a vision

17:26and bring people along and to borrow another great business leader get the right people on the bus

17:31and it will work out even with these different generations in the workplace and again that's

17:36gross over the generalization but the the concept is there so what are some early warning signs that

17:42a leadership team is starting to fracture across values generations or assumptions about the future

17:48yeah uh we live in a polar society in fact gen beta which is born 2026 and onward the current

17:55generation being born right now i wrote a an essay on the idea that they're the romeo and juliet

18:01generation meaning they're born into a time where polarity is not just existent but expected you

18:07can't be friends with those people if they go to that school if they chose public school or private

18:11school you can't be friends with someone that voted for that other person i was giving a keynote

18:16in in memphis a couple weeks ago and i i used an example i said i i was at a

18:21family thanksgiving and

18:23we have a huge extended family and a kid who was probably call it five or six kindergarten first grade

18:28maybe seven years old came running up in a conversation of adults and said my parents voted

18:33for x person in this election and the other person's horrible because x y and z and i'm just looking

18:38i'm

18:39like first the fact you know two people that ran in a presidential election is really impressive but

18:43that polarity that just seeped into this young child and this is the generation that we're seeing

18:47being raised now and so i think for leaders it is an exceptionally challenging time because there's

18:53especially with gen z out there and and some gen alpha latching onto this if you speak up and you

18:58speak the wrong thing you're wrong and if you don't speak up your silence is also wrong and and so

19:02you

19:02you live in this tension and that's where i have to go back and i do even though i'm out

19:06of uh you

19:07know operational leadership day to day i still sit on the boards of several companies and i do have a

19:11few smaller portfolio companies and one of them is very public facing just because of the nature of what

19:17it is and that leader that's in there i work with him regularly and he gets so frustrated because

19:23people expect him to speak up on every political issue in their city and you know celebrate this

19:29holiday or don't celebrate that holiday and i said here's the deal i said if you worry about treating

19:33every single person that walks in your door equally and treat them like human beings they're not going

19:38to care if you celebrate that holiday or don't celebrate that holiday and yes you're always going to

19:42have someone that's upset but stop trying to please everyone because in the effort of trying to

19:46please everyone you're actually going to make enemies so just focus on what your business is and

19:50do it to the best of your ability and people are still going to come so how should a ceo

19:54lead when

19:55maybe one part of the organization wants stability and the other wants transformation right now or

20:00wants it transformation yesterday what advice tips or guidance do you have for a situation like that

20:05yeah so when you're not even talking about stuff going on outside but you're talking intercompany

20:09conflict right that that brings in a whole nother level and i would say this there's always been

20:14resistance to change use that generational prism again when typewriters first came there was

20:19resistance to change when computers first came when laptops first came when you could get a company

20:23cell phone when you could get a company email when you could check that email at home like every single

20:28time and those seem so insignificant now because they're such a part of our daily life but they

20:33weren't always a part of our daily life and so there's always been change and as a leader again this

20:37is

20:37where i think a lot of leaders and i want to be careful here but a lot of leaders have

20:42almost

20:42resigned to the fact that it's too hard and so they don't do the hard things but you're at the

20:47top and as a leader you have to do the hard things make the hard decisions and you do have

20:51to draw the

20:51line and and a good leader understands their team and where their company is going and says hey

20:56you know we're going to implement email addresses for everybody if your company doesn't have that

21:00that's a whole nother you know we're talking 20 years ago but we're going to say hey we are going

21:03to adapt ai and we are going to use it for these things and we're not going to use it

21:07for these

21:08things and some people are going to be like well i could do my job so much faster if you

21:11do let me use it

21:12while the other people are going to say i don't want you to do that because then i don't have

21:15a

21:15job it's like at some point you have to make a business decision and yes you're in the business

21:18of people and you serve people every day but you do have to make tough business decisions i think a

21:23lot of leaders are hesitant because of the tough it is a difficult probably one of the most difficult

21:27seasons to be a leader of any organization of any team even a manager it's extremely challenging but

21:33you still have to lead and we are called to lead and i think uh too long we've been stuck

21:37on this idea

21:37of management and while there's great management books and great management principles it's more

21:42like herding cats not hurting but herding cats you know like a cowboy with a lasso trying to chase and

21:47you can't their claws are out and they're always hissing at you but instead it's like how can i lead

21:52you instead of trying to go get them after they're already out of the the gate how do i go

21:55in front of

21:56them and say this is where we're going and i want you to come with me because i think this

21:59is best and

22:00you you have to trust me so what do younger employees often wish senior leaders understood

22:04and what do senior leaders wish younger employees better appreciated uh i think for for senior

22:11leaders or i would just say even more more seasoned people who've been in the workplace a while um

22:15especially if you're looking at baby boomers and a little bit of gen x they always complain about work

22:18ethic every single i mean that is probably the biggest complaint i i hear is they don't have the

22:23work ethic that we once did and i would say that work has changed and what i mean by that

22:30is

22:31on one hand from a work ethic standpoint baby boomers for the most part again generalizing but

22:37they they wanted to be the first ones in last ones out that's how they climbed the corporate ladder

22:40they were seen and in the time that they put in they were all about quantity not necessarily quality

22:46gen x would do exactly what they needed to do they would keep their heads down they were great workers

22:50and sometimes they would stay late if they needed to and they wouldn't complain about it they'd come

22:54early if they needed to they wouldn't complain about it but they still want to work life balance that's

22:57actually their word not millennials so gen x is to think for that that phrase and then you had millennials

23:02who could do the same work and this is what's really hard could do the same work that gen x

23:07or boomers could

23:07do just faster because they grew up technology native they grew up with computers in their hands and so

23:12wasn't that their output was less but they were also less likely to be self starters so once they were

23:17in

23:18you know if they did a task and you told them to do xyz they're going to do it and

23:22then they're going to

23:22sit at their desk and go on facebook because that's just what they would do now you have a whole

23:26different generation with gen z and again we're generalizing here stereotyping pretty broadly so

23:31this isn't applicable to everyone who grew up in the social media era so one step further and what

23:36i mean by that not that millennials didn't have it but gen z had it from birth right they they

23:41don't

23:41really know life or a world without smartphones and without social media and so they get a lot of

23:47their affirmation through either seeing what other people are doing or trying to get likes and so they're

23:53going to start on tiktok until you tell them to do something and and that's again a gross generalization

23:57so i think part of it is the way people work has changed and that's okay how can you leverage

24:03that

24:03if a millennial can do something three times as fast as a baby boomer that's not a real statistic that's

24:07just a conceptual statistic because they're faster typers they they know the tools whatever it might be

24:11why don't you leverage that instead of look at that as a you know a downside to the way they're

24:17working so what and a lot of people are gonna i'm gonna get emails about this but so what if

24:21they

24:21only have to work 18 hours a week to accomplish the same things you did now you have to figure

24:25out

24:25do you let them have the other what is that oh now i'm doing math see i shouldn't have done

24:29this 22

24:29hours a week the rest of the week off how about that rest of the week off or do you

24:32feel that 22

24:33hours was something else and that's what we call the productivity paradox it's the whole idea that

24:37computers were supposed to shorten the work week you know make us retire earlier and yet we're working

24:42longer hours we're working later this productivity paradox and uh that's where we find ourselves so

24:48when leaders try to bridge generational divides what tends to backfire assumptions almost always

24:54assumptions it's like for what give me a couple examples yeah because you're gen z you um you'd

25:01rather be on tiktok you'd rather be at home you'd rather not work you don't know how to work hard

25:04and so they they start to assume and then a gen z person looks right back at them and assumes

25:09the opposite direction well you're out of touch you don't even know what's going on

25:12in the world you talk like an old person um and you have this huge divide right there instead of

25:19again going it's so simple and yet we just don't do it why are you here working for most people

25:24it's

25:24earning a paycheck especially in an early job okay so let's get past that layer and say what impact

25:29are you making by the work that you're doing and why it doesn't matter that you're a part of this

25:33team not just so you can pay the bills but go back to like leadership 101 and say hey your

25:38job is

25:38to get people excited to cast a vision for where you're going and why they're a part of the team

25:42from uh the person you know that is cleaning toilets all the way up to the person in the

25:46corner office gen z listening corner office used to be a big dream for boomers but now it's the

25:51bullpen so what conversations are executives avoiding that they really really should be having

25:58right now i think one of the things that's so interesting to me is i think generations any

26:07generation that's in leadership is just afraid of having difficult conversations the conversations

26:11that are essential to to grow a team to lead an organization they don't want disagreement because

26:17of how polar our society is and how you know people go from zero to 100 almost instantly uh from

26:26an

26:26emotional standpoint it seems like and so leaders are afraid to have this conversation i can think of

26:31you know when i i was leading in one of my first leadership positions that i i had and i

26:36remember one day

26:36coming home to my wife and said i think almost every single person has cried in my office and she's

26:41like are you that mean to them i said i haven't made a single one of them cry she's like

26:45then why are

26:46they coming crying in your office what are you running a daycare and what was really interesting

26:50as we looked about it looked at it and i i reflected on it is i had had tough conversations

26:55with a lot of

26:56that team because that company was just hard we had big goals we had a board that uh wanted us

27:02to

27:02achieve certain things and we were in a highly regulated industry so we're always up against

27:06regulations and changing laws and trying to be compliant there and so it would require long

27:11nights and we would have tough conversations and there was not room for failure because we were

27:15dealing with a medical device and pharma and patients and so we would have tough conversations

27:19if someone messed up and and i would be able to have that respectfully and so when they came into

27:24my

27:24office and and when i was leading a team of other managers in that company mid-level managers it was

27:30true all of them had cried in my office within the course of a month because they felt comfortable

27:34coming to me with things that were hard and again i don't necessarily endorse a a environment in which

27:40you could you know everyone openly cries that that was a unique situation and some really

27:45extenuating circumstances and a lot of millennials so there you go uh that could be part of it but i

27:50i

27:50think what was so interesting was they trusted me and that's what i want to get at and all that

27:54is

27:55they trusted me with what was going on in their workplace and they were willing to have a

27:59difficult conversation with me when they knew it could be bad for them because they also saw

28:07that i trust that i was going to have a difficult conversation with them in respect i think that's

28:11what it boils down to we want respect as human beings we want to interact with other people and

28:15we want to be treated the way that we should treat others the way we want to be treated and

28:19i think

28:19there's just a lot of opportunity for us to go down to those basic like hey this is not working

28:24let's have a difficult conversation not avoid those things because we're afraid someone's going to lash

28:28out against us i had a guest on a few months ago his name was bryant wright w-r-i

28:33-g-h-t and we ended

28:34up writing a book together as a result of it but one of the things i learned who built right

28:38w-r-i-g-h-t

28:39what it takes to build something that lasts he taught me something that i i want to share because it's

28:44piggybacking on what you're talking about he talks about correction as care yeah he said he said with his

28:50in his leadership role he always treated correction as care and he's made sure that it was always calm

28:56specific and grounded in observation and i don't care what generation you're in if someone cares

29:03enough to say look i care about our company i care about you i care about our team our culture

29:08we can

29:09improve here and that's calm it's and let me be very specific this took place a happened then b happened

29:16then c happened so we're very specific yep and i saw it happen and here's the reports so it's calm

29:23it's specific and it's grounded in observation it's like oh you're terrible or oh you're not

29:26smart what's the matter with you or or you're lazy or you're playing on the internet or whatever it is

29:31not those opinions it's calm specific grounded observation and delivered from a place of care

29:38and concern and and when i heard him describe things to me that way i was like wow if if

29:44if people do

29:45nothing more than take that away from his book and take that to the office the office will be a

29:50better

29:50place and i don't care what generation you're running i completely agree mason i think you're

29:54you're spot on there it's kind of like parenting and i don't know who to credit with this advice

29:58that i was given but they're like don't discipline for the behavior train the character because the

30:03behavior will always follow the character and so it's very similar you want to be caring in the way

30:07you correct you want to be specific and it's not you shouldn't run in the house right it's hey

30:14we're cooking and if you run through the kitchen while the oven's open it's not going to end so well

30:18for you and and so it's more correcting not the behavior but the character like hey we need to

30:22pay attention that the opportunity there is to pay attention to your surroundings and be sure that

30:26what you're doing is safe not that running's wrong and i think that has been a really that that's

30:31translated to leadership for me as well as parenting so five years from now what will separate the

30:36organizations that have evolved well from the ones that slowly became irrelevant yeah i mean i think

30:43we're we're definitely in another blockbuster moment and we're going to see people that are going to

30:47accelerate ahead and try to hop on the latest technology what's so different about artificial

30:53intelligence and generative ai in particular with the technology that we're in is it's equal anyone

30:58can become pretty much anything that they need to be whether it's a developer a designer video editor

31:04pretty rapidly you you're removing most of the barriers that were there before if you wanted to

31:09build the netflix instead of a blockbuster you needed a team of engineers you need a lot of tools and

31:14resources and skill and an understanding that you just don't need right now and so i think that is

31:20really really interesting the scary part about that and this is one of the things that i always

31:25talk about whether it's hiring or building teams is the fact that when you go pursue almost like a

31:30godlike ability to speak something into existence you can go to cloud code and speak into uh or cloud

31:36co-work rather and speak into existence an object and have it 3d printed like literally from your

31:42voice have something created it's unbelievable and so we live in this era but what that's doing

31:46is it's removing friction in our lives and i think that's the important thing and this is what's going

31:50to set companies apart in five years if we remove all the friction that makes a team great you look

31:55at

31:55the best teams and sometimes the best are war stories right the teams who have these incredible

32:00accomplishments and war stories or even sports teams are the ones who have gone through something

32:04hard together and can weather that storm and can navigate that that's friction that's what makes us who we are

32:10that's how we learn it's when a baby falls down after trying to walk we applaud we don't say why'd

32:16you fall down you're so stupid we get excited because they tried to walk it's friction and they

32:21get that positive reinforcement so i think that the companies that that could become irrelevant are not

32:25actually the ones that are going to seem most innovative now because they're using technology it's

32:29the ones who remove friction they remove that teamwork they remove the the teams collaborating

32:35together they remove how do you actually do the work that makes the thing happen um and i think

32:40that's really really challenging and i think when we start to remove friction from society and we

32:45remove friction from our companies we lose critical thinking when you lose critical thinking you can't

32:50make decisions when time gets hard and there's going to be a time when ai is kind of a great

32:56equalizer

32:56in some respects when everything seems equal you're going to need something to break out ahead of the pack

33:01i love henry ford's quote he's like if people if i would have asked people what they wanted they

33:05would have said faster horses and at some point we're all going to have horses and that's going

33:08to be ai and it's all going to be riding the same who are the people that are going to

33:11break out ahead

33:12it's the people who know the fastest way to get the hot wheels car out of the lucky charms box

33:16is not to dig through the box and eat all the cereals to flip it up on upside down open

33:20it from the

33:20bottom because it's sitting on the bottom of the box and if you open it upside down you grab the

33:23hot

33:24wheels car out and you have it it's the people who are critical thinkers who are seeing the world

33:27different and i think that's what organizations risk losing the most is that critical thinking and

33:33if they take that out of it and their team starts to suffer from cognitive erosion we're going to

33:38become the machines we're going to be so programmed and so dependent on these technology platforms which

33:42are good in many respects but we're going to miss the whole human experience of creating friction that

33:48makes us great so for anyone watching or listening which is typically business owners executives

33:54managers who are aspiring into executive roles if there's only one piece of advice you would give

33:58to people listening or watching what would it be i would say know why you started on your journey in

34:02the first place where is it that you're going there are so many technologies so many things that are

34:06distracting but the companies that have longevity and have had longevity through and weathered

34:11technological storms weathered economic storms are the ones that always are certain on where

34:15they're going why is it that they exist and then if you you have that anchored then play with

34:20technology then figure out how that changes your team dynamic but know why you exist and where

34:25you're going if people want to learn more about you your books your work what's the best way or ways

34:30for them to connect yeah you can find out more about me at ryanvet.com r-y-a-n-v

34:35-e-t on there i

34:37publish a weekly essay that goes deep into some of the numbers and other stats on kind of futurism

34:42generations uh and so you can look at that it's called collide you can find me on youtube instagram

34:49wherever wherever you enjoy hanging out i'm sure i'm there it's been a pleasure having you thank

34:54you so much for joining us thank you mason

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