CURATED READS ON GEN Z IN THE WORKPLACE

Welcome to the latest edition of Mind the Gap. We hope you find our perspectives useful. Let us know what you think at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Axel_Karlsson@McKinsey.com.

—Alex and Axel

first up

Are leaders born (specifically, between 1997 and 2012) or made? The answer: both.
 
That’s what companies should keep in mind when assessing which of their younger employees will make up the next generation of leaders—especially since in 2025, one in ten managers will be Gen Zers. Some of them may seem like natural hand-raisers, doers, and go-getters, but don’t count out the rest of the pack just yet.

“We often think we know who the high performers are before we begin building systems for people’s development, continuous learning, and the like,” McKinsey Senior Partner Kurt Strovink said in a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast. “But one of the interesting things about leadership cultures is, sometimes people rise who you didn’t think were your high-potential folks.”

That’s where the “leadership factory” comes into play. In the 1980s, the late Ron Daniel, who was then McKinsey’s global managing partner, coined the term “leadership factory” to describe the process by which people become leaders: They invest their time in other colleagues, provide regular feedback, and share personal and collective insights. 

While these principles of leadership are still relevant today, McKinsey Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels and his coauthors built on that concept to identify six traits that leaders need to be able to tackle today’s uncertain environment: optimism, selfless leadership, continuous learning, resilience, levity, and stewardship.

Those who have been quick to accuse Zoomers of being ill-prepared for the demands of the workplace might take these perennial leadership lessons to heart. Tomorrow’s strongest leaders can benefit today from onboarding programs for new hires, mentorship and apprenticeship, role modeling, coaching, and other real-world interactions with colleagues. (Remember: Gen Z is the only age group that ranked “career development and advancement potential” as the top reason for taking a new job, a factor they also ranked among their top three reasons to stay in a job, along with workplace flexibility and meaningful work.) 

“I’ve [had] a lot of [experiences] where I was perhaps not ready to play the role,” McKinsey Senior Partner Daniel Pacthod noted in the same podcast episode, musing about the early career opportunities that he grew into. “When you look back, these are perhaps the moments when you actually learn and develop the most.” 

VISUALIZE IT

More survey respondents say they prefer remote driving—when an offsite operator uses a simulator to drive a car—over autonomous driving.

WAIT, DON’T SCROLL

Ship it, pack it, cop it. A new survey of US consumers reveals what they really want from their online-shopping deliveries.

Home-grown solutions. US homeownership has declined among young adults in the past 30 years. While quality, affordable housing is out of reach for people across demographic groups, the issue disproportionately affects Black Americans.

Don’t you know that you’re toxic? Toxic work environments correlate with higher rates of employee burnout.

NOT US; STILL GREAT

The good, the bad, and the AI. What are the implications of being the “chatbot generation”? [Business Insider]

Carrots and sticks. Office attendance is now a performance metric for companies. Some are using incentives—rather than punishments—to bring employees back to work. [FT]

CROSSWORD

—Edited by Alexandra Mondalek, editor, New York