Latest / Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast / Chief in Tech S1E13 - Anneliese Olson, Marah Edelen : Fostering learning, career development and belonging in a multigenerational workforce

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Chief in Tech S1E13 - Anneliese Olson, Marah Edelen : Fostering learning, career development and belonging in a multigenerational workforce · Chief in Tech Deep Dive Shortcast

• 0:00
  Okay, so I want you to start by picturing a very
• 0:03
  specific and I think very common kind of tension.
• 0:06
  You're sitting in a totally standard corporate
• 0:08
  conference room. You know, the fluorescent lights
• 0:11
  are humming. And on one side of the table, you've
• 0:15
  got a 21 -year -old intern. They grew up swiping
• 0:19
  on iPads before they could really talk. their
• 0:21
  primary language is memes. Exactly. And they
• 0:24
  see a strict nine to five as like a loose suggestion
• 0:28
  from a bygone era. And then sitting right across
• 0:30
  from them is a 65 year old executive. This is
• 0:34
  someone who, you know, started their career dictating
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  memos to a secretary. They remember when email
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  was this risky new experiment that probably wasn't
• 0:41
  going to catch on. Yeah. So they're looking at
• 0:43
  the same project, but they're seeing completely
• 0:45
  different worlds. And the conventional wisdom,
• 0:47
  I mean, especially online, since this is a recipe
• 0:49
  for disaster. Total gridlock. Yeah. Misunderstanding.
• 0:52
  Yeah. Culture wars. We're looking at a stack
• 0:54
  of research today that suggests this friction.
• 0:57
  It isn't a bug. It's actually a feature. If,
• 1:00
  and this is a big if, you know how to use it.
• 1:01
  And that's really the defining challenge of the
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  modern workplace, isn't it? Right. We are in
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  this historically unique moment. It's not the
• 1:09
  standard generation gap. No. It's a time where
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  we have, what, up to five generations working
• 1:14
  at the same time? And soon, I mean, with Gen
• 1:17
  Alpha starting internships, we are staring down
• 1:20
  the barrel of a sixth -generation workforce.
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  We're sharing the same Slack channels. All on
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  the same Zoom calls, using the same broken coffee
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  machine. It's a lot. Five generations. I mean,
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  you've got the silent generation, boomers, Gen
• 1:33
  X, millennials and Gen Z all trying to move the
• 1:36
  same ship. It is. And usually the conversation
• 1:38
  just devolves into memes. You know, OK, boomer
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  versus the whole lazy Gen Z thing. It's good
• 1:44
  for TikTok, but it's terrible for management.
• 1:46
  Exactly. So today we're going to push all that
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  noise aside. We have a source that gives a real
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  tactical playbook for this. We're looking at
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  insights from Annalise Olson. who's a VP at HP.
• 1:57
  And we should be clear about why we're listening
• 1:58
  to her. I mean, this isn't some academic theory.
• 2:00
  Olsen is what you'd call a lifer, right? Absolutely.
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  She has real street cred. She started out as
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  an intern 25 years ago and just climbed her way
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  all the way up to VP. Wow. And she's managed
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  teams everywhere, Europe, Asia, the US. So this
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  isn't just a snapshot. It's a longitudinal view.
• 2:17
  Yeah. She's watched the culture morph from these
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  rigid hierarchies to the hybrid world we see
• 2:24
  today. So she hasn't just studied the shift.
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  She's actually lived it. She survived it. That
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  context is so important because she points to
• 2:32
  these shifts that aren't just HR policies. They're
• 2:33
  about... operational survival. She says there
• 2:37
  were two huge tectonic shifts in her 25 years.
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  The first one is, well, it's obvious on the surface,
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  but the details are really complex. The role
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  of women in tech and business. It's massive.
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  And what's interesting here is we're not just
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  talking in vague terms like empowerment. The
• 2:52
  source material has some hard data from HP that
• 2:55
  shows what real operational progress looks like.
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  Because saying you value diversity is one thing.
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  But showing the receipts is another. Right. So
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  lay those numbers on us. What does it actually
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  look like? like in practice. Okay, so 31 % of
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  tech and business roles at her company are female,
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  which is a solid number. Then you look at leadership,
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  their board of directors is 58 % women and ethnically
• 3:18
  diverse. But here's the stat that really really
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  set out to me. What's that? Out of their eight
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  biggest global markets. Four of them are run
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  by women. So a straight 50 -50 split in their
• 3:30
  major markets exactly and the takeaway for you
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  listening isn't just OHP is doing a good job.
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  It's that diversity has moved from being a compliance
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  thing, something you do to avoid a lawsuit, to
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  being a core business strategy. It changes how
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  decisions are made, how risk is assessed. It
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  stops being an initiative and it starts being
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  the actual operating system. Which flows right
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  into the second big shift she identifies, which
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  I think is maybe even more radical because it
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  affects absolutely everyone. She says the corporate
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  ladder, that image we all have in our heads,
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  it's dead. It's dead. Or at least it's been deprecated.
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  The old model was so linear. You get in at 22,
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  you climb, you get your titles. Corner office,
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  gold watch. Gone. She argues that the modern
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  career path is a zigzag. The zigzag. I feel like
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  that describes my entire life, but you know,
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  in a corporate context, that can sound chaotic.
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  Yeah, if I'm a hiring manager and I see a resume
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  that zigs and zags all over the place, I might
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  just think, unfocused. How does she frame this
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  as a good thing? She rebrands it as agility.
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  In this hybrid world, the real currency isn't
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  just climbing up, it's the breadth of your skills.
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  The zigzag lets you rotate laterally, learn a
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  new skill set, maybe you pause for a life event.
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  And then step back in, but in a totally different
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  department. Right. And she really hammers this
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  idea of flexibility. And not just work -from
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  -home flexibility, career flexibility. So why
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  does this zigzag model matter so much? Because
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  it completely transforms work -life balance,
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  which always sounds like a trade -off into work
• 5:00
  -life integration. I see. So if you're a caregiver
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  or parent, the zigzag lets you stay in the game.
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  You don't have to quit. You just adjust the slope
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  of your climb for a while. That is the key right
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  there. In the old ladder model, if you had a
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  baby or a sick parent, you had to jump off the
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  ladder. You were out. Completely out. And getting
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  back on was incredibly difficult. The zigzag
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  keeps that talent and all that institutional
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  knowledge inside the building. which is so critical
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  when you're trying to keep five different generations
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  happy and productive. Okay, so let's get tactical.
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  You've kept the talent, great. Now you've got
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  a 22 -year -old and a 60 -year -old on the same
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  team. How do you actually get them to collaborate?
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  Olsen lays out three specific buckets of strategy.
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  The first one is something we've all heard of,
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  mentoring and sponsorship. with a twist. There's
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  always a twist. So it's not just the old person
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  teaches the young person how stuff works. Right,
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  that's the default. But she talks about this
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  catalyst program they started way back in 2017.
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  Paired early career women with senior leaders.
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  The goal was sponsorship, you know, giving them
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  a leg up. But the unintended consequence was
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  reverse mentoring. Ah, so the execs started learning
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  just as much from the juniors. The learning flowed
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  both ways. The seniors were getting insights
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  into digital tools, cultural shifts, stuff they
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  were totally blind to. And the demand is coming
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  from the bottom up. It is. In 2023, they launched
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  these mentoring circles just because Gen Z and
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  millennials were clamoring for growth. They had
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  200 people raise their hands instantly. That's
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  a huge signal. The younger generations aren't
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  checking out. They're not quiet quitting. They
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  are loudly asking for guidance. They're starving
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  for it. Which brings us to the second bucket,
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  training for empathy. Okay, I have to play devil's
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  advocate here for a second. I know some people
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  hear empathy training and their eyes just glaze
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  over. They think it's all fluffy HR stuff. And
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  that is such a dangerous assumption to make now.
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  The data Anna -Lee shares is rock solid. Diverse
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  teams are 12 % more productive. 12 %? And inclusion
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  drives 30 % better performance. This isn't just
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  about feelings, it's about output. If your team
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  doesn't feel safe enough to speak up, you miss
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  out on real innovation. So empathy is actually
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  a risk management tool. It absolutely is. And
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  HP has been doing this for a long time. They've
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  had business resource groups since 1978. This
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  isn't some new fad for them. Which takes us to
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  the third bucket. And this is the one I feel
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  gets ignored a lot. We talk about child care,
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  sure. But Olson highlights life stages support.
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  That goes way beyond that. Yeah, this goes beyond
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  the fun perks. This is about biology, family.
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  She mentioned some pretty rare examples like
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  specific programs for menopause and perimenopause.
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  And support for employees dealing with aging
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  parents. That's the one that's going to become
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  huge. We talk about the sandwich generation,
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  caring for kids and parents. Elder care is this
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  silent crisis for so many people. So why is this
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  a priority? Well, look at the number she's working
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  with. 21 % of their workforce is over 50. But
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  60 % of their executives are over 50. Ah. So
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  if you don't support those later chapters, you're
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  going to lose your entire leadership tier. You
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  lose the people with the most knowledge right
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  when you need the most. So it's really a retention
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  strategy for your most valuable player. It's
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  asset protection. Simple as that. OK. I want
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  to shift gears a little. We promised some myth
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  busting. We all have these generational stereotypes
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  in our heads. So I'm going to throw one at you.
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  And you use the source material to just destroy
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  it. Ready? I'm ready. Let's do it. All right.
• 8:32
  Let's start with the youngest. Stereotype one.
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  Gen Z. The myth is they lack discipline, no work
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  ethic. They just want to be on TikTok. False.
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  But with a nuance. The research she cites says
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  Gen Z has a massive desire to learn. The friction
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  isn't about laziness. It's about cadence. Cadence?
• 8:52
  What do you mean? They want timely feedback.
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  They want constant iteration. They don't want
• 8:57
  to wait six months for an annual review. They
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  want collaboration now. Exactly. So it's not
• 9:01
  a lack of work ethic. It's a demand for immediacy.
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  To a boomer manager, that can look like impatience.
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  To a Gen Z employee, waiting a year for feedback
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  looks like pure negligence. That's a great distinction.
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  Okay, next up. Millennials. The myth. They're
• 9:15
  all job hoppers. No loyalty. Can't commit. Also
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  false, basically. The research shows the Millennials
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  are just as likely to stick with the company
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  as older generations were at that same age. So
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  we're just confusing being young with being a
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  Millennial. Exactly. The job hopping is more
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  a function of age, not generation. As they've
• 9:33
  gotten older, their retention stats look pretty
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  normal. Okay, what about the forgotten generation?
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  Gen X. The myth is they're the middle child,
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  no X factor, not really changing anything. She
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  pushes back hard on this. She's like, look at
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  the New York Times, the Washington Post, major
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  institutions. The visionary leaders driving change
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  right now. They're largely Gen X. They're the
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  bridge generation. They're the translators. They're
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  fluent in the analog past and the digital future.
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  They are driving the bus right now. I like that.
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  All right, last one. Baby boomers. The myth is
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  they can't handle new tech. You know, the, I
• 10:07
  can't convert this PDF trope. OK, this was my
• 10:10
  favorite data point in the entire source. A microsize
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  survey showed that 50 % of boomers felt they
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  had the skills to meet the demands of AI. 50%.
• 10:19
  That sounds OK, I guess. But what's the baseline?
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  Well, you compare it to Gen Z. The digital natives
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  deal only at 65%. Wait, wait. So the gap between
• 10:30
  the kid who grew up with an iPhone and the executive
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  who started with a typewriter is only 15 points.
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  It's not a canyon. It's a crack. 15 points is
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  nothing. It proves boomers are lifelong learners.
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  They've had to relearn how to work every single
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  decade. Typewriters to desktops to laptops to
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  the cloud. They're actually the most experienced
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  adapters in the room. That is a profound reframing.
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  They've survived more tech shifts than anyone.
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  Precisely. They're resilient. Wow. OK, so we've
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  busted the myth. We've looked at the strategies,
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  but I want to talk about the future. Annalise
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  says by 2032, Gen Z will be a third of the entire
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  workforce. That is a huge demographic wave coming
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  right at us. It is. And what they want fundamentally
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  is to feel connected and understood. But Annalise
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  flags a massive disconnect here. She calls it
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  the EQ gap. This is the danger zone. The stats
• 11:20
  are really stark. You've got 70 % of senior leaders
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  who agree that emotional intelligence or EQ is
• 11:25
  vital. So they know it's important. They say
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  it's important. In theory. But only 45 % of Gen
• 11:31
  Z employees say they actually see their managers
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  displaying it. Oof. That is a massive gap between
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  what leaders think they're doing and what their
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  youngest employees are actually feeling. Correct.
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  Leaders think an open door policy is empathy.
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  Gen Z is saying no. You're not anticipating my
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  burnout. You're not connecting with me as a human.
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  And that gap creates total disengagement. So
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  how do we close it? Annalise lists four qualities
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  of a great leader for this new world. Let's run
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  through them. OK. Number one is empathy. And
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  she's specific. It's the ability to listen and
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  just... have a pulse on the room, sensing the
• 12:08
  emotional temperature. Okay. Number two. Transparency,
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  which is huge for younger generations, giving
• 12:13
  the why behind the what. They want context. If
• 12:17
  you hide the logic, you lose their trust. Makes
• 12:19
  sense. Number three is collaboration. Right.
• 12:22
  And number four, this is the one she really emphasizes,
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  adaptability. Why that one so much? Because of
• 12:27
  this idea of the 100 -year life. We're living
• 12:28
  longer than ever before, so our careers could
• 12:30
  span. 60, maybe 70 years. A 70 -year career.
• 12:35
  That's exhausting to even think about. That is
• 12:37
  a lot of Zoom calls. It is if you try to sprint
• 12:39
  it. But it means you're going to have so many
• 12:41
  different chapters. You might lose a job, change
• 12:43
  industries, pivot completely at age 55. So the
• 12:46
  ability to remain curious and coachable, that's
• 12:50
  the only real survival skill. You have to treat
• 12:52
  your career like a series of startups, not one
• 12:54
  long corporate gig. So wrapping this all up.
• 12:59
  What's the big takeaway for you, for the listener?
• 13:01
  We've gone from boardroom stats all the way to
• 13:03
  the empathy gap. I think the main lesson is that
• 13:06
  this multi -generational workplace, it's not
• 13:09
  a cage match. It's a huge asset. But only if
• 13:12
  you shift from that latter mindset to the zigzag.
• 13:16
  And you have to realize that the soft skills,
• 13:19
  empathy, EQ, collaboration, those are actually
• 13:22
  the hardest currency now. They're the things
• 13:24
  the machines can't replicate. Exactly. And realizing
• 13:27
  your 60 -year -old coworker and your 20 -year
• 13:29
  -old intern actually want the same basic things
• 13:31
  that they want to learn, they want feedback,
• 13:33
  they want to do meaningful work. It's true. And
• 13:35
  I want to leave you with one final thought from
• 13:37
  that 100 -year life idea. It's something to really
• 13:40
  chew on. Let's hear it. If we are going to live
• 13:42
  to 100 and work into our 70s or 80s, does the
• 13:47
  whole concept of seniority based on age even
• 13:50
  make sense anymore? If you can learn AI at 65,
• 13:54
  reinvent yourself at 50. then maybe we should
• 13:57
  stop thinking about aging out of the workforce
• 13:59
  and start thinking about spiraling up. Maybe
• 14:01
  the peak of your career isn't 50. Maybe it's
• 14:04
  80. And if your peach is at 80, then no matter
• 14:07
  how old you are right now, you are just getting
• 14:10
  started. Peaking at 80. I kind of love that.
• 14:11
  It takes all the pressure off. It changes the
• 14:13
  timeline completely. It really does. Well, thank
• 14:16
  you for zigzagging with us today. We hope this
• 14:17
  gave you some tools to navigate your own team
• 14:19
  a little better. Keep learning. And we'll see
• 14:21
  you on the next deep dive.