Generation Y Will Lead the Future

By Jean Cristophe Vautrin Updated Jan 23, 2019

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Introduction
Millennials adapt to ever changing global economy
Unique skills set Generation Y up for success
Millennials turn to MBAs to develop leadership skills

Generation Y Will Lead the Future main image

The members of Generation Y, also called digital natives or millennials, are living in a world that is fundamentally different from their parents’. The 'e-revolution' is entirely changing society’s external environment, global economy and structure and transitioning into a world that functions with and produces information exponentially. Accordingly, the world has seen massive changes to the way information is processed.

Whereas the Baby Boomers and Generation X (post World War II, 1945-1980) were trained to process and find information in a Cartesian and linear manner, Generation Y (post 1980) must select the most relevant information from countless resources available to them and understand how to use it in an efficient and effective manner.

Millennials adapt to ever changing global economy

The ‘’e-revolution’’, together with the continually expanding global economy and financial crises, repetitive corporate scandals, perceived greed and ecological challenges, have a tremendous impact on Generation Y’s behavior. Lack of trust in institutions coupled with a global and digitalized world have transformed and continue to transform millennials’ perspective of business and markets.

The Generation Y paradigm has caused some media to qualify them as individualistic, lazy, selfish, bored, disloyal and soft. This opinion is not shared by all, as the millennial generation has produced numerous business successes and examples of leadership, including Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder), Andrew Mason (Groupon founder), Chad Hurley (YouTube co-founder) and Stacy Bendet (Alice + Olivia founder).

Unique skills set Generation Y up for success

Eric Spiegel, the 56-year old president and CEO of the Siemens Corporation said: ‘’Research shows that the millennial generation is diverse, comfortable with technology, confident, upbeat, open to change, and possesses a strong, civic sensibility. They have a passion for problem solving, an ability to learn from mistakes, intellectual curiosity, a willingness to try something new and the ability to work well independently.’’

The qualities and needs described by Spiegel, as well as the fierce competition in the workplace and global economy and new technology, have led Generation Y to pursue further studies in order to adapt and develop their leadership skills. Undertaking a longer education serves many purposes, including self-actualization and better adaptability. An MBA certainly contributes to building a personal competitive advantage through the acquisition of unique competences, experiences and leadership skills.

Millennials turn to MBAs to develop leadership skills

Generation Y understands that the way to success is to keep adapting to the global economy and society’s ever-changing needs. Many young people recognize the MBA as a tool to be better prepared for such changes, accounting for the global phenomenon of an increasing number of MBA students.

The global MBA growth is confirmed by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) who runs GMAT testing. The organization’s website states, “the 2012 GMAT exam volume was up 11% from 2011, 8% higher than the previous record of 265,613 in 2009.”

Eric Jackson, Forbes Magazine contributor and author of Skills Will Always Be in Demand, Career Advancement, Networking and Better Pay, observes that there are more advantages, often undervalued, that are linked to MBA education and degrees. Those advantages include:

the chance to make some lifelong friends who will accomplish great things over their careers in business, the chance to realize how little you understand about the world, the chance to think about the global economy and not just your little world where you are used to working, the chance to refocus yourself, the chance to learn about managing people and the chance to learn how to get up and string a few sentences together.

Global competition, technology and other environmental changes leading to shorter product and company life cycles render setting clear goals, objectives, and strategies both increasingly essential and increasingly difficult. Organizations therefore need effective employees with leadership skills able to interpret information, build a vision and manage an organization toward long-term success.

By focusing on managerial methods and an understanding of the increasing challenges present and future leaders face, an MBA in Leadership develops the innate abilities of each student to apply their own leadership skills to the needs and demands of organizations or alternatively to their own entrepreneurial activities.

This article is sponsored by EU Business School