When Authority Shrinks and Maturity Rises

For the past week, I’ve been thinking about a line I heard on a podcast—and watching how people responded when I shared it.

“The age of authority is going down. The age of maturity is going up.”

I first heard this framing from Tim Elmore on a recent Harvard Business Review IdeaCast episode..

At first glance, it sounds almost paradoxical. But judging by the responses I received—from seasoned professionals, leadership coaches, and people early in their careers—it named something many leaders are feeling but haven’t quite had language for.

Here’s what I think is happening.

Younger employees often arrive at work with real expertise—especially around technology, digital tools, and cultural shifts—that leaders simply didn’t grow up with. That alone disrupts traditional hierarchies of authority.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Many younger adults are entering the workplace under very different developmental conditions than earlier generations did. Longer life expectancy, extended education, delayed financial independence, and a childhood shaped by global instability have all stretched the timeline of adulthood. In simple terms: the pressure to “grow up fast” has eased, even as the complexity of the world has increased.

In other words, Gen Z isn’t a younger version of us. Expecting them to lead, regulate emotion, or claim authority in the same way we did at the same age sets everyone up for frustration. They may bring advanced technical skills and cultural fluency into the room—while still developing the kind of emotional and relational maturity that earlier generations were often forced to acquire sooner.

That combination can feel unsettling if you’re leading the way you were taught.

For decades, many of us learned to lead by projecting certainty. We learned to fake it until we made it. We learned that authority meant having answers.

But leadership today is shifting—from authority to presence, from control to connection, from knowing to learning alongside.

One response to my post came from a retired tax manager who put it beautifully: leadership works best when we recognize we’re not all good at everything, and when we’re gracious and appreciative of one another’s strengths. That kind of collaboration, they noted, makes work not only more effective—but more humane.

This is where generational inclusion really lives.

It’s not about harmony. It’s about accompaniment.

Walking with people whose experiences, timelines, and strengths differ from our own—and staying present when the old rules stop working.

The leaders who are thriving right now aren’t the ones doubling down on control. They’re the ones willing to learn in public, listen differently, and model the kind of maturity they hope to see grow in others.

If this reflection resonates, I invite you to continue the conversation at my upcoming Leading Through Change Roundtable, where we’ll explore how leaders across generations are navigating uncertainty, authority shifts, and what it means to lead well now.

We don’t need all the answers. But we do need the willingness to stay in the room.

Grateful to be in the conversation,

Mary