The power of caring...

I recently read the following article published by Forbes about what millennials in leadership roles expect from their leaders.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/11/16/five-things-your-millennial-leader-needs-from-you/#4bc72cce1cec

Their “shocking” insight is that millennial leaders react best to leaders that care about them and nurture them as individuals.   Specifically, Forbes stated that millennial leaders expect:

1. Great company leadership
2. A clear understanding of what success looks like
3. To be treated as an individual, not a number
4. Regular feedback
5. Mentorship

I must be a millennial because that’s pretty much what I expect from a leader as well.

Yikes.  When did these leadership fundamentals of caring for and nurturing the growth of an individual become generational?  I’d argue that these leadership basics have been wired into our brains since the dawn of modern humans. In fact, these social skills may define a modern human. (Although recent discoveries may indicate our Neanderthal cousins may have exhibited similar behaviors.)

The last two days were my first at Campus Management and they happened to coincide with a Quarterly Field Operations Meeting that brought most of the Sales, Professional Services, Customer Enablement, Customer Success, Product Management, Cloud Operations and Marketing teams together.  The timing was perfect for me from an on-boarding perspective.  It gave me the opportunity to meet key leaders and learn much more about the products, processes, people, and culture.

Since I was the “new guy” I was able to be a participant vs. an organizer/key content provider.  Mind you, I haven’t been the “new guy” in 40 years so this was quite a unique opportunity to sit back and observe.  It was fascinating and highly educational.

Almost every presenter took the opportunity to highlight an accomplishment of their team.  Many brought the individual(s) to the front of the room and proudly explained the details of their accomplishment. They highlighted how they overcame challenges, how they worked with others across the entire Campus Management organization, and described the accomplishment’s impact/result for the company and/or customer.

This was not a show. It was obvious how deeply each of these leaders cared for the members of their team.  The reaction of those who's accomplishments were highlighted was priceless.  Most were a bit awkward to be in the spotlight but their pride, gratitude, and loyalty beamed brilliantly from their faces.  I couldn’t stop thinking “Wow, I’d love working on/with that team!” until it hit me that I am on that team :)

I wish I could have left it at that, but the knuckle-headed science guy in me jumped to assessing the advantage an ancient leader that exhibited these behaviors thousands of years ago would have had against a less robustly lead adversarial tribe that was trying to encroach on their territory. (I know, it's sad that I went there...)

Caring is not new…. Nurturing is not new… Treating someone as an individual is not new…. Praising is not new….

These fundamentals go back hundreds of generations to when modern humans started organizing ourselves into social groups and will remain key leadership qualities until evolution re-wires our pre-frontal cortex to be more Vulcan-like….

On a side note:  It's exciting to mix anthropology, neuroscience, and leadership themes (and a bit of science fiction) into a single blog post. This stuff is truly fascinating!