Five myths about digital natives
Myth 1: Nothing works without social media
/// NOT TRUEAn important insight up front: the leaders of tomorrow do not conform to any stereotype. Much of what is said about the "digital natives" does not really apply to the leaders of tomorrow. For example, that they need to be constantly online and active on social networks: After all, almost half of those surveyed would refrain from using social media during working hours at the request of their employer. On the other hand, 30 percent of top talents are not prepared to do without it. "As companies certainly cannot and do not want to do without three out of ten talents, they should rethink their approach to social media and set clear guidelines," concludes Dr. Andreas Neus, Deputy Managing Director of the GfK Verein and author of the study.
Myth 2: Hierarchy is an obsolete model
/// NOT TRUEIt is often said that "digital natives" consider hierarchical structures in companies to be an outdated concept. However, the study shows that a clearer distinction needs to be made here: two thirds of young top talents consider clear management and responsibility structures to be important, at least for projects. This includes a responsible project manager who must also be able to make decisions for the team. However, the Leaders of Tomorrow have very high expectations of their managers: the most important task of a manager is to inspire the team and to convey a vision to them that orients and motivates the team towards a common goal. While a manager is expected to take the team's opinion into account, they are also expected to make quick decisions with clear communication.
Myth 3: Values are more important than company cars & co.
/// VOTEThe Leaders of Tomorrow measure a "successful career" by different standards than their predecessors. When asked which three criteria they would use in ten years' time to judge whether their career had been successful, just under half said that a job with a positive impact on society would be a key criterion for measuring the success of their career. Fascinating projects are decisive for a third of young managers. Achieving a high salary, on the other hand, is a distant second at just 14 percent. And classic power-oriented factors are even less important: only 5 percent consider it important to lead a large team, while ethical aspects are important when choosing an employer: six out of ten respondents would not work for a company whose values they do not share.
Myth 4: The classic top executive career is out
/// TALENTThe young talents want to shape things, make a positive difference and apply their knowledge. For most of them, however, formal leadership no longer seems to be the right way to achieve this. For the majority of Leaders of Tomorrow, the career goal of "top level executive" is taking a back seat. 44 percent prefer to become recognized experts in their field. Only a quarter aspire to a classic top management career. For another quarter, a career means becoming a successful project manager. Companies need to give their junior staff more creative freedom and open up careers beyond the traditional management career path. Otherwise, there is a risk that the young talents will prefer to continue in their own companies without the "old ones": "The Leaders of Tomorrow no longer all want to be in top management, but they all certainly want to make a difference. This is shown above all by the fact that two thirds want to start their own business in the next five years. Possibly because they see better opportunities there to realize their ideas and innovations," says Dr. Johannes Berchtold, COO of the St. Gallen Symposium.
Myth 5: A passion for a topic is more important than experience
/// Young managers bring enthusiasm, fresh ideas and knowledge to companies. This is also what would be most important to the Leaders of Tomorrow if they had to put together a project team themselves: nine out of ten of those surveyed would select their team members for projects based on the fact that they share the vision of the project and are passionate about the topic. Experience with project work is an important reason for recruitment for almost half of those surveyed. The Leaders of Tomorrow are much less interested in experience gained in the industry or a summa cum laude degree from a top university. "These results are in line with the open answers of tomorrow's managers: they demand a clearer differentiation between "high expertise" and "seniority" from today's top managers. According to the Leaders of Tomorrow, today's managers clearly overestimate the value of their "analog" experience in a digital world that increasingly operates according to new rules," explains Andreas Neus from the GfK Verein.Dear Leaders of Today: dialog at eye level, pleaseThe desire for exchange, openness and change is also reflected in the Leaders of Tomorrow's comments on today's management team: among other things, they accuse current managers of narrow-mindedness (28%) and egotism (24%). The young top talents also consider many current business models to be outdated. Decision-making processes are too unstructured and not rational enough. Their urgent advice to today's top managers is to take a serious look at modern technology in order to understand the new digital world. "The Leaders of Tomorrow would bring this knowledge to companies and organizations - but they want to be taken seriously in return," says Andreas Neus. "That's why companies are well advised to seek a dialog at eye level instead of resting on past experience."
