Youth today have never known life without computers and much of their world seems to revolve around their own hi-tech gadgets. They seem permanently plugged in – taking photos of friends with their cell phones, text messaging during class, blogging about last weekend’s party and playing online video games. They are connected at any given moment. They are in control and they use their wide range of skills to make the world work for them – gaining material goods, being savvy consumers and seeing through mass marketing to get what they want.

Are the youth today spoiled selfish children who are going to lead our country and businesses down a deep dark spiral of self-indulgence?

Or

Are they smart sophisticated consumers who understand how the game of business is played and know how to capitalize on it to make it work for the betterment of themselves, their friends and their families?

To try to answer these questions, Chuck Bean and Janet Wright – partners in the strategic direction and training company of Baxter Bean – evaluated the future leaders of tomorrow.

Explain how you think leaders of the future are different from today?

Chuck: They are techno-savvy. Downtime to them is playing a video game or a team activity, and when they engage they want to have control. They were brought up in a world where they have much more control at their fingertips. They are not reliant on other people.

They value time more than we did in the past. They have much more of a relationship with time and a desire to value time. I think that they are going to be much more focused on time invested, rather than just money invested.

For example Volunteerism: There is a movement with volunteerism with youth today but it is not volunteering for cupcake duty. If they volunteer, they want to go off to foreign lands and be really engaged in the volunteering practice. It’s much deeper.

Do you think that young people today are being trained to become leaders?

Janet: I think in some ways that they are, but I think that people may not recognize that they are being trained to be leaders because they have a different attitude and a different approach to it. Even young kids are pretty good at asserting themselves, they are good at voicing their opinions and they are good at dealing with authority figures.

How does technology play a role in training leaders?

Chuck: I think we need to be very careful with technology when it comes to training. I think that technology is required in a learning environment – it is an enabler – but it can’t take the place of the learning content.

You have said “Loyalty plus youth equal leadership.” Can you explain what you mean by that?

Chuck: We have a tendency to think that people sitting on the street corners and the squeegee kids are the disengaged youth but the disengagement is happening with all kinds of young people. It is happening in the homes of all classes – from the underprivileged to affluent.

So the formula of loyalty plus youth equals leadership is built around the idea that we need teach our young people loyalty skills so they grasp a deeper level of appreciation and then find a greater level of personal leadership. That is what it’s all about. And it needs to be at their pace and in their words and on their terms.

Do you believe that youth are capable of loyalty in this age of commercialism, materialism and consumer-centered marketing?

Janet: Yes I do, and I think that loyalty looks different than what we might be expecting it to look like. We grew up with an idea that loyalty was going to look like – you work your butt off for the same company year after year after year. You do what they ask you. If they want you to come in on the weekend, you come in on the weekend. If they want you to be accessible while you are on your holiday, you are accessible while you are on your holiday. That’s a way a lot of people worked. I think the baby boomer generation is still working like that – to some degree.

And to some degree the senior management in a lot of companies today – that is what they are expecting. And it ticks them off when they look over and say to some of the younger staff “I need you to come in on the weekend.” And the younger staff says “Well, I can’t.” That looks like it’s not loyalty. I think that if you asked some of those people – they might say that they were loyal or they might say that they were committed to their job and to doing a good job. But it just doesn’t look the same way. By the older generations they are labeled as not being loyal and by the young generations – they would say “I’m committed.”

How do you break through the noise to make an impact on today’s workers and today’s youth to recruit potential new leaders?

Chuck: There are two ways: organically and synthetically. Let’s face it the future tomorrow is today’s kids. We can just let it happen or we can guide and shape them.

Having said that – how do we break through the noise? Well we just have to push it – push that envelop. We have to get to the kids. Let them have a voice. Let them express their ideas. And don’t just take them superficially.

What does an employer need to do to recruit and retain leaders of tomorrow?

Janet: These are the things that employers can do:

Making sure that they have a good match – spending a lot more time on the interview process. And make sure that they’re getting that person who has the right set of values and the right attitudes – more than the right skills. You can train for skill but hire for attitude.

Employers need to respect diversity – the cookie cutter approach isn’t as effective anymore – because we’ve got a much more diverse population in the workforce. So you’ve got people with all kinds of different family backgrounds, different cultures, and different religions. So respecting that and being able to work with that I think is important.

Understanding what the employees’ goals and motivators are – what is it that gets them out of bed in the morning and into work. The more the employer can understand that, the better able they are going to be to meet those needs and find ways to motivate the staff.

Helping employees grow – helping them learn new skills and gain expertise. If they are growing and if they are challenged – the chances of them looking elsewhere are less.

Rewarding and recognizing success – when people are doing well, they need to hear it. And if things are going wrong, they need to hear that right away as well. And the expectations need to be clearly explained.

Allowing for balance - Recognizing that people do have a life outside of work and allowing for that and not expecting that people are going to sacrifice everything in order to be at work.

Taking the right steps to recruit and retain youth today is a big step toward developing the leaders of tomorrow, but as both Chuck Bean and Janet Wright have indicated, that isn’t enough. Employers need to understand where youth have come from and where they are going. Employers who continue to develop and nurture skills and loyalty in their employees will be the best positioned to have a strong succession plan on the path to leadership.