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BoSUSA25 | Chika Emebo and Mark Stephens | When Four Worlds Collide - Turning Generational Diversity into your Superpower
Proud Zoomer Chika Emebo is going to fill in the missing gaps for you with some assistance from avid Gen Xer Mark Stephens. So let’s get rid of those cliches, dig into the real differences between the four generations, and focus on practical actions and ideas which you can take home to implement and make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity.
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BoSUSA25 | Chika Emebo and Mark Stephens | When Four Worlds Collide - Turning Generational Diversity into your Superpower
- 1. Chika Emebo (GenZ) / Mark Stephens (Gen X) When Four Worlds Collide – Turning Generational Diversity into your Superpower
- 2. We are goingto talk about ❖ The terrain ❖ The destination ❖ The journey …and there will be audience participation!
- 3. The Terrain ❖ Fourgenerations in the same workplace for the fi rst time ❖ 90+ years of lived experience side by side ❖ Different habits, expectations and communication styles ❖ Can cause friction or fuel success The landscape we’re navigating today
- 4. 4 Generations inthe workforce ❖ Baby Boomers (1946-1964) ❖ Generation X (1965-1980) ❖ Millennials (1981-1996) ❖ Zoomers (1997-2012) (all with their distinctive experiences, caricatures, cliches, strengths)
- 5.
- 6. 1968 ❖ Expensive landlines ❖ Much more limited choice - 3 channels of live TV ❖ Concerns over large scale immigration (‘Rivers of blood’ speech) ❖ Political killings in USA (Kennedy/Martin Luther) ❖ Antiwar protests (Vietnam) ❖ Russia invading neighbouring countries (Czechoslovakia)… Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
- 7. Generation X ❖ Forgottengeneration ❖ Latchkey/ MTV generation ❖ ‘Children’ of Thatcher/Reagan ❖ Witnessed the whole tech revolution ❖ Slackers, cynical, and disaffected / pragmatic and independent ❖ Had a free University education…
- 8. My formative yearswere 1980/1990s Do you recognise…
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- 10. 2001 - Verydifferent in some ways ❖ Expensive smartphones ❖ Limited choice of 100+ cable channels, still nothing to watch ❖ Large scale immigration, much more multicultural ❖ 9/11 attacks ❖ Anti-globalisation…
- 11. Generation Z ❖ Zoomers ❖Unforgettable generation - chronically online ❖ Raised on TikTok, YouTube and memes ❖ Obama experience ❖ Entering adulthood during the pandemic ❖ Not slackers - just prone to shiny object syndrome ❖ Juggling student debt and side hustles…
- 12. My formative teenyears were 2010s Do you recognise…
- 13. Even Gen Zcan struggle with tech
- 14. Baby Boomers (Dinosaurs) ❖undisputed rulers the earth for 165 million years ❖ rewrote the rulebook on everything ❖ still here - hiding in plain sight…
- 15. Millennials ❖ Grew up“IRL” and migrated online ❖ Told to “follow your dreams”… then hit by 2008 crash ❖ Teased for buying avocado toast/lattes instead of houses ❖ Entered the workforce during the Great Recession ❖ Largest share of today’s US workforce (36%)…
- 16. How/what events wewitnessed has profoundly shaped us ❖ Civil rights movement and Vietnam war ❖ First man on the moon ❖ Watergate ❖ Fall of Berlin Wall ❖ End of Apartheid ❖ 9/11 ❖ Growth of PCs/Internet ❖ Financial crisis ❖ Covid (child, adult, read about them)
- 17. Do you rememberwhen you heard about the death of ❖ John F Kennedy (1963) ❖ Martin Luther King (1968) ❖ Elvis Presley (1977) ❖ John Lennon (1980) ❖ Diana Spencer (1997) ❖ Michael Jackson (2009) ❖ Osama Bin Laden (2011) ❖ Elizabeth Windsor (2022) Day we realise our own mortality
- 18. Profound impact on ❖Con fi dences ❖ Skills ❖ Emotional versus abstract thinking ❖ Mental models ❖ How we communicate…
- 19.
- 20. People ❖ Gallup workplacepoll 2025 ❖ % engaged ❖ 31% ❖ % Actively disengaged ❖ 17% I stay here because I like the people…
- 21.
- 22. Diversity is akey feature not a failure Every Star team needs its Ringo
- 23.
- 24. Rules for thejourney ❖ Curiosity mindset - everyone is here to learn and grow ❖ Stereotypes are like models (wrong but sometimes useful) ❖ Non judgmental and mutual respect ❖ Be mindful of ‘generational fears’ We are all after the same outcome…
- 25. Run experiments! Let thedata decide… ❖ Locations - WFH, coffee shop, library ❖ Communication ❖ Meetings ❖ Informal training sessions
- 26. Tribes bond overshared experiences Whatever comes through that gate, if we stay together we survive…
- 27. Us or Them Humouris a good indicator of team culture
- 28. Mix things up Trystuff and see ❖ Make mixing the default ❖ Create mixed groups for tasks ❖ Mentoring works in all directions - reverse and peer…
- 29. JTBD - notjust for sales… The question is not whether this conversation is happening… it’s whether we want to be a part of it
- 30. JTBD for reviews JTBDHiring & Careers – with Katherine Thompson
- 31. Foster a “small”mindset ❖ Small group, big passion ❖ Clear communication: meetings with purpose ❖ Play to strengths: we cover each other’s gaps ❖ Shared wins: one team, one mission ❖ Adapt quickly: change the plan, same destination…
- 32. Encourage diversity whereever possible Encourage people to express themselves
- 33. “How I work” ❖Part of onboarding ❖ Opt in ❖ Flexible feedback options
- 34. How to makeit relevant to Gen Z? Develops PDF libraries to help its customers display PDFs.
- 35. It’s not justwhat, it’s “how” and “why” ❖ Impact ❖ Learn across generations ❖ Autonomy ❖ Flexibility ❖ Con fi dence and purpose Space to grow and make an impact
- 36. Over to you… Wewant to hear especially from the Boomers and the Millennials…
- 37. In Summary Generation CoreStrengths Clichés Key Differences Boomers Strong face to face communication Work ethic and loyalty Leadership experience Resistant to tech change Entitled/lucky generation Overly traditional Prefer stability and hierarchy Value in-person interaction Long term career focus Gen X Work-life balance pioneers Adaptable problem-solvers Analog-digital bridge Cynical "latchkey kids” Skeptical of authority Forgotten generation Value autonomy Of fl ine in fl uencers Results over process Millenials Digital fl uency Purpose driven Collaborative team players Job hoppers Need constant praise Entitled to perks Champion fl exible work Prioritise culture fi t Continuous learning focus Gen Z Social media natives Entrepreneurial mindset Diversity champions Always online Overly sensitive Poor interpersonal skills Frequent feedback expected Comfortable job-hopping Mental health priority