I See You. I've Got Your Back. You're Safe.
TO: Millennials
FROM: Your Boomer Ally
RE: Your Gen Z Sibs
Here’s why you, millennials, are so important right now: You are role models for many in the new generation, and you are far more relatable than us boomers. Gen Zs look up to you whether you are their boss or co-worker.
Millennials, please keep an eye on your younger sibs.
If you are noticing above-average levels of anxiety among your Gen Z team members during this crisis, know they come by it honestly.
Think a minute: Gen Z was born during and just after 9/11. They arrived in a world that went from pretty safe to pretty dangerous in an instant. Experts tell us these early life experiences have a profound effect on our nervous systems and determine our general sense of well-being in the world.
They suffered the Great Recession before reaching their teen years. Many saw at least one parent lose their job, leading to financial instability and possibly housing and food insecurity. As much as parents want to protect their kids from hardships, this one was hard to escape. Even if it didn’t directly affect them, there was a miasma of distress swirling for at least four years.
School should have been a safe haven from strife at home, but it wasn’t. School shootings peppered the headlines and active shooter drills became the norm. Students developed an acute awareness that they could be a direct target, not accidental collateral damage.
Having survived international terror, a major recession, and the real threat of school violence, higher education hasn’t been picnic, either — given how stupidly expensive it has become to reach the next rung of the ladder toward adulthood.
What’s that you say? “We had to live through these crises, too!”
Yes, you did, but think with me about your station in life:
How old were you on 9/11? What was your perception of the world before the attacks? How did your life experiences help you make sense of the big security changes we underwent?
How old were you in 2008? Did you live at home? Were you dependent on your parents for survival? Did you feel that you had some agency in providing for yourself? It wasn't the best of times, but were you optimistic that things would improve?
Did school shootings worry you? As a mom of a millennial, I don't remember school violence being a clear and present danger. Yes, they happened, but had not yet become an epidemic. How much did they impact your association with school?
The cost of higher education has all of you in its grip. I’ll give you that!
Even a few years more life experience can make it easier to handle some of these disruptions.
What makes me such a know-it-all?
Well, I taught you in college.
As a professor, I noticed a huge shift in generational thought between you and your Gen X predecessors. You were more outgoing and creative than the degree-focused Gen X students. Similarly, I noticed a heightened seriousness and tension in the Gen Z students that followed you. The trait doesn’t belong to all Gen Zs — but enough to concern me.
I saw many students overwhelmed by expectations, uncertain about their capacity to manage new challenges, and driven by perfectionism. I realized, as a teacher, I had to slow down and pay attention to individual needs. I quickly learned to discern when a student needed a firm framework to work within and when to remind someone their mental and physical health was more important than an assignment.
A Harvard Business Review reported that 75% of Gen Zer’s have left a job voluntarily or involuntarily partially due to mental health.
According to the American Psychological Association, 90% of Gen Zer’s reported having symptoms related to stress, mainly depression:
Am I suggesting that your Gen Z brothers and sisters are irreparably broken by these slings and arrows? Far from it. They will bring new meaning to word resilient. See Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. They are joining you in ushering in a new way of leadership.
I have a simple call to action: In a way that suits you best let those younger than you know: “I see you. I’ve got your back. You’re safe.”
This will mean more to Gen Z than you may ever know. And it sets you on the path of being the kind of mentor and leader the world needs now — more than ever.