Coping With Cultural Catalysts

We recently taught and listened to more than 100 future leaders from around the world. Based upon our interactions, we believe two major social trends are creating challenges for both them, as young professionals, and for you, as their leader.

· The Success Culture. There has been an exponential shift in the amount of acknowledgement and recognition given to extremely successful people in many fields when compared to “average” or even “very successful” performers. For example: elite athletes, entertainers, influencers, founders, investors and CEOs make many multiples of what they made in the past, sometimes at a very young age.

· The Comparison Culture. The rise of instant global communication has created an environment where millions of people know who these megastars are and how much money they make. Future leaders can compare their lots in life not only with these glamorous stars but also with their own more successful classmates, who they see gleefully smiling on social media.

While the combination of success culture and comparison culture may have a positive impact for some, it has had a negative impact on millions of young lives. There have been striking increases in depression, anxiety and even suicide in many of the world’s most developed countries, such as South Korea. Once a very poor, uneducated country, it is now one of the richest, most highly educated countries in the world. It has been called a “miracle” of economic development. Yet, anxiety, depression, loneliness and suicide are now described as being at epidemic levels, especially among the young and educated. The birth rate is now the lowest in the developed world.

As an example of the comparison culture, South Korea leads the world in cosmetic surgery. Young people, in spite of exemplifying what was once considered to be successful and attractive, feel like “losers” compared with the more successful and more attractive stars they see on social media.

When listening to future leaders, we saw how these two trends can have a negative impact on their lives. We were surprised to learn that many felt undercompensated relative to what they believed they should be making at this stage in their careers. At one level, it can be hard to comprehend that a 32-year-old MBA making over $300,000 a year feels “undercompensated” and that their pay is “unfair,” but this is exactly what we heard. Even worse from a human perspective, brilliant young people who are in the top 1 percent of their peer group in any measure of socioeconomic success feel “disappointed,” “frustrated” and “let down” by their careers.

Combating Comparisons

As a current leader who cares about developing future leaders, what are the implications for you? We wish we had a quick fix. We don’t. We are still working on this. Our immediate suggestions are:

· Focus on contributions. Recognize efforts young leaders have made in the past and can make in the future for your organization. The young professionals we met impressed us as caring people who truly wanted to make a positive difference in the world. Show them how they can do this.

· Try to help, not judge. Older people bashing younger people for being “ungrateful” and “having no perspective” has been going on for centuries. It has never worked. Don’t do it yourself, and discourage it in others.

· Combat negativity. Limit the destructive elements of the success culture and comparison culture. Try to eliminate the fixation with megastars that can trivialize achievement in the real world.

· Keep learning. The world is evolving in many ways that are positive and some, as we have mentioned, that are negative. Do your best to keep up with change.

The best way to develop your future leaders is to start by understanding who they are.