Gen Zers Will Be Great Leaders—if They “Remember The Past”

Originally published at Forbes.com

Long criticized by “Boomer Doomers,” the tide is turning for Generation Z.

Last October, I completed my first stint as the Poling Chair of Business and Government Leadership at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. After serving as a four-time CEO of multibillion-dollar companies, I was skeptical at first of what I would experience with 20-somethings based on the perceptions out there—too sensitive, too entitled, too “woke.”

But, after spending time visiting with and listening to mostly Gen Zers (and some Millennials), one thing is clear: Gen Z gets a bad rap. My impression today—shared by many faculty members—is that young America has moved back toward the middle in terms of their work ethic, commitment to free speech, and belief in non-discriminatory competition. Young Americans are increasingly passionate about meritocracy again, and we should all be encouraged about their potential as the C-suite’s next generation of leaders.

The optimism is backed up by data. Last November, voters under 30 made the most significant move toward the traditional politics of the moderate middle. Support for concepts like entrepreneurship and government efficiency is particularly prominent among young men, embodied by their adoration of Elon Musk. Months after Election Day, youth support for the platform of tax and regulatory cuts has not wavered, with 55 percent of voters under 30 approving of President Trump’s job performance. Seventy-one percent describe Trump as “tough” (the most of any age group), while 63 percent say “effective” (again, the most), 62 percent say “focused” (the most again), and 58 percent say “competent” (you guessed it).

How times change. Of course, there is an important caveat to the pro-Trump data—young men are disproportionately more supportive, while young women lean more liberal and dubious of Trump as a leader. There is a clear gender divide in American politics, so Gen Z should not be viewed as some monolithic voting bloc.

Yet Gen Z’s mindset is clearly shifting. Most young Americans now see “cancel culture” as a problem, coming out against “trigger warnings” and the like. Even beyond the United States, research shows that Gen Z is actually the most likely generation to actively listen to others’ beliefs, including when they differ from their own.

While encouraging, there is always room for improvement (for any generation, including my own). Working with older Gen Zers and younger Millennials, one more thing becomes clear: Young leaders risk not fulfilling their potential if they don’t learn from the past. The quotes that I get from other faculty members and employers with younger workers are stunning: “They don’t read books.” “They don’t believe in history.” “They think they don’t need to learn from older generations.” “They ask, ‘Why would you study facts you can just look up when you need them?’”

Now, this is not a new phenomenon. Lest we forget the 1905 quote from philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

But ignorance is just as troubling now as it was then, and perhaps even more so given the rise of social media. Another common theme in my conversations is that Gen Z’s ignorance hasn’t been challenged or tempered by experiencing hard times. It has been nearly two decades since the Great Recession, and almost a century since the Great Depression. Lack of personal experience dealing with economic adversity leads to a lack of perspective, and that leaves little incentive to change behavior.

Still, any pessimism needs to be tempered. I recently spoke with my son, Michael Rau, a faculty member at Stanford University who teaches both undergraduates and graduate students, and he opened his father’s eyes. In his words: “You’re right, they don’t believe in learning in advance, and that won’t change. But understand: What they do believe in—and are very good at—is learning on demand. Once they know the issue, they can do excellent ‘deep dives.’”

Projecting forward, deep dives on demand can be valuable for the corporate leaders of tomorrow. But, often when a CEO faces an issue, it was most likely there from day one. Even when issues pop up “unexpectedly,” the seeds were likely planted long ago on the soil of organizational culture—a weak foundation leading to undesirable consequences. Therefore, we members of older generations can be useful in lighting a few candles for tomorrow’s leaders, rather than cursing the darkness.

In practice, the elder statesmen need to convince young people that learning on demand also applies to learning the successful tenets of leadership before ever becoming a leader. Aspiring leaders need to learn what really motivates people, what skills all successful managers utilize to build a career plan, what high-performing workplace cultures look like, what makes communication effective, and what makes creativity so important. Faculty members and mentors will have to learn how to replace studying the wide range of management literature with assigning deep dives on leadership tools that have been proven useful as a new way of teaching critical success skills in advance.

At the Kelley School, I recently agreed to fund four “faculty fellowships” for near-tenure and recently tenured professors. One focus will be helping faculty members apply learning on demand to “remembering the past.” In the nonprofit space, we funded a partnership with the Nonprofit Management executive education program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the nationally recognized Ravinia Festival for art and music, coaching and teaching these young leaders how to navigate the clutter and competition for amusement and enrichment—again, leading change by remembering history.

I certainly have my own biases, but what I have learned over the decades is that very few of those so-called “magic bullets” for leadership pass the test of time. What does work is studying what emerges from those tests of time in practice.

I believe in Gen Z’s potential for strong leadership. But, to realize it, Gen Zers will have to learn both on demand and a little in advance too.