Millennial Leaders: Naturally Authentic

By Michelle Maldonado
Associate Vice President of Corporate and Strategic Relationships, American Public University System

The millennial workplace transformation isn’t looming on the horizon—it’s happening now. How will the Web 2.0 socialized and media-savvy generation revolutionize leadership approaches in the future workplace? We discuss data-driven answers to this question and many more with renowned human resources expert and author, Jeanne Meister, who literally co-wrote the bestselling book on “The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today.”

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Q: As leadership evolves, what are the essential components needed in order for an organization to stay authentic to the changing demographics of the workforce?

Jeanne: Inspiration, employee trust and communication are three macro leadership attributes that I most often see in highly effective organizations and that have a high performance and authentic employee culture.

Inspiration
Views on leadership often revolve around the ability to inspire people and share a vision. Jeff Weiner, CEO at LinkedIn makes a great observation—managers tell you what to do and leaders inspire you to do it. This is true, but leadership also extends beyond the inspirational aspects. The two other components that go hand-in-hand with inspiration are employee trust and communicating in multiple modalities.

Trust
The second component is the ability to trust your employees. This is a common theme amongst organizational leaders and it’s also reflected in the multiple-generation research I’ve conducted called “Multiple Generations @ Work.” In this survey of 1,189 knowledge workers and 150 managers, workplace flexibility was the top attribute prospective employees seek in an employer and this actually trumped salary and career progression. Quality of training and development programs came in fourth. Workplace flexibility was ranked the number one attribute across multiple generations of employees. Essentially, what these knowledge workers are asking for is to be trusted by their employer to do their job and to meet business goals without mandatory “face time” in an office.

Communication
The third component of authentic leadership is providing employees with clear communications as to the business vision, mission and strategic priorities. And these leaders need to keep sharing this vision consistently and with absolute conviction. Without conviction the message becomes ambiguous and lacks authenticity.

Read on to learn more about Jeanne Meister’s insights on millennial leadership as part of the APUS_Authentic_Leadership_Series,_”Millennial Leaders: Naturally Authentic.”

About Michelle Maldonado:

Associate Vice President Michelle Maldonado is the creator of The Authentic Leadership Series and leads the Corporate and Strategic Relationships team for American Public University. Michelle is a former practicing attorney with more than 17 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, operations and partnership development across the education, technology, and online media industries. She is passionate about talent development, coaching, and mentoring of professionals to support individual growth and success. Utilizing an authentic and consultative approach, Michelle collaborates with industry organizations to form education alliances that support overall talent and institutional growth strategies. To learn more about how American Public University’s programs and services may help you, please visit: www.StudyAtAPU.com/Solutions.