Readying millennials for the C-suite: A key to future organizational performance

Demographic realities and the passage of time leave no doubt that in roughly 10 years, the millennial generation will begin its takeover of the C-suite across industries and around the world. This eventuality is troubling to those who accept the popular view of the generation as narcissistic and impatient. In this installment of Organizational Performance, I report on a study involving detailed conversations with members of the baby boomer, Gen X, and millennial generations. From these conversations, I offer two contributions to a healthier understanding of the millennial generation and, in doing so, provide a way to better frame efforts to prepare millennials for their ascent to the C-suite. First, I distinguish between generational characteristics due to time-varying age effects and those associated with immutable period and cohort effects. This distinction makes clear the generational attributes that will pass with time and those that will continue to influence attitudes and behaviors. Then I discuss how period and cohort effects affect leader emergence. These efforts will help those charged with preparing talented millennial executives for the C-suite and ensuring they focus on the right things. After all, understanding today how to address the relevant gaps in millennial leaders' preparation is critical to future organizational performance.

• Age and generational issues
• Social media
• Leadership
• Executives