What's The Difference?

• Why Generation Z as a cohort is the most broadly diverse generation in history, and why DEI expectations from Generation Z in the workplace are important to understand
• Why Generation Z often defines Diversity as "who we are", and why Cultural Competence is a crucial skill to help navigate their workplace expectations
• Why greater inclusivity in Generation Z's upbringing has played a big role in defining their expectations for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace
• Why Generation Z is adept at creating systemic and social change through collective advocacy
• Why generations engage differently with DEI workplace issues, and what differences are found in DEI expectations between Millennials and Generation Z in the workplace
• Why members of older generations often assume that Generation Z is inherently more culturally competent even though it isn't necessarily true
• How Generation Z finds strong motivation from making a difference for the people who matter to them
• Why it isn't possible to make blanket statements about Generation Z, and why their views on DEI work can vary broadly
• What steps you can take to better engage with Generation Z in the workplace around DEI issues

In episode 91 of the What's The Difference podcast, my guests were Dr. Corey Seemiller and Dr. Meghan Grace, researchers who study Generation Z, the generational cohort of people born between 1997 and 2012.

We had a remarkable discussion about things employers should be aware of that can help the transition as more and more of these people join the workforce. In this encore episode, Dr. Seemiller and Dr. Grace join me for an even deeper discussion about Generation Z in the workplace, their DEI expectations, and how this Generation differs from their older peers.

Not only is Generation Z incredibly diverse racially and ethnically, they've also grown up in an environment in which we openly discuss Diversity in a way that our society hasn't done before. This means that members of Generation Z hold a greater expectation for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and they're adept at recognizing and challenging inequities while working within the existing framework and systems that exist in their work environments.

How Gen Z pushes back against these inequities also differs from previous generations. Whereas sit-ins were popular in the 1960s to protest racial injustice, Gen Z today uses viral social media content to spread awareness and amplify their voices. They often focus on collective effort and recognize the strength of numbers.

It's important to remember that with greater Diversity comes more perspectives and points of view. We must avoid making the mistake of blanket assumptions about Generation Z in the workplace, such as believing that they are inherently more Culturally Competent than previous generations.

As Dr. Seemiller and Dr. Grace pointed out in our conversation, it's also important to engage with members of the majority when it comes to DEI issues. While members of Generation Z from marginalized groups are often adept at advocating for themselves, it is the majority that holds the power to enact real change. By engaging their extraordinary ability to work collectively, Generation Z can truly become a catalyst for greater Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace.

If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Corey Seemiller and Dr. Meghan Grace and their extraordinary work, please visit their websites at www.coreyseemiller.com and www.meghanmgrace.com. I also encourage you to read their book Generation Z: A Century in the Making.

Dr. Corey Seemiller is a faculty member in the Department of Leadership Studies in Education and Organizations at Wright State University, teaching undergraduate courses in organizational leadership as well as graduate courses in leadership development and student affairs and higher education. She is the author of The Student Leadership Competencies Guidebook and associated tools and assessments to help educators develop intentional curriculum that enhances leadership competency development. She has served as an issue editor for New Directions for Student Leadership, the co-chair for the National Leadership Symposium and the Leadership Education Academy, and an associate editor of the Journal of Leadership Studies.

Dr. Seemiller also has a deep understanding of today's young adults. She is the co-author of several articles as well as four books on Generation Z (born 1995-2010) including Generation Z: A Century in the Making, Generation Z Goes to College, Generation Z Leads, and Generation Z Learns. She also co-authored the Gen Z Voices on Voting research report. Her highly popular TED Talk on Generation Z at TEDxDayton showcased how Generation Z is making a difference in the world. Her work has been featured on NPR and in The New York Times as well as in several other news publications and academic journals. She has also been interviewed for podcasts as well as TV and radio shows worldwide.

Meghan Grace is a generational researcher, author, speaker, consultant, and podcast host. She began her journey as a generational researcher in 2014, when she and her research partner, Dr. Corey Seemiller started to notice differences in the college students they worked with on campus and wanted to better understand their perspectives, values, and behaviors. In 2014, they launched their first independent study on Generation Z, which has since led to two more independent studies, two books, and two guidebooks about Generation Z. Meghan also serves as a consultant with Plaid, LLC., an organizational development firm, where she specializes in research and assessment, curriculum and program development, and strategic projects.

• Generation Z: A Century in the Making by Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace: https://amzn.to/2SUtPYx
• Revisit What's The Difference episode 91 "Generation Z in the Workplace" with Dr. Corey Seemiller & Dr. Meghan Grace: https://whatsthedifferencepodcast.com/podcasts/generation-z-in-the-workplace/

• Website: www.thegenzhub.com
• Website: www.coreyseemiller.com/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/seemiller/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/coreyseemiller/
• Twitter: @CoreySeemiller
• Twitter: @thegenzhub

• Website: www.meghanmgrace.com
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/meghanmgrace/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/meghanmgrace
• Twitter: @MeghanMGrace

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Sara defines Cultural Competence as understanding how our unconscious minds make decisions for us and taking conscious control of our behaviors
• Why the first step in defining the benefits of Cultural Competence involves recognizing the "differences that make a difference"
• Why our level of Cultural Competence is involved in virtually every interaction we have in the workplace
• How research by Joseph DiStefano and Martha Maznevski found that diverse teams make up both the worst and best performing, with Cultural Competence being the deciding factor
• Why less than 17% of our population falls within the two most effective stages of Cultural Competence, and how we can develop those skills
• Why major organizations like Google and Target even struggle to recognize and respond to the differences that make a difference
• Why tying Cultural Competence to your strategic priorities like breaking into new markets or mergers/acquisitions can help you make the case
• Why the "do nothing" strategy of maintaining the status quo is the only alternative to working on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Creating Value with Diverse Teams in Global Management by Joseph J. DiStefano and Martha L. Maznevski

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why there are many business benefits of Inclusion in the workplace, and why Inclusion allows you to create an environment that takes advantage of the benefits of Diversity
• How the cost of talent turnover is anywhere from 40% to 150% of an employee's annual salary, and how an inclusive environment increases engagement and retention
• How Gallup found that 13% of the global workforce are actively engaged at work, and why management's strong commitment to Diversity is the #1 factor in increasing this number
• Why Diversity without Inclusion can result in high talent turnover, and why an inclusive environment is crucial for avoiding that turnover
• Why the level of engagement is lowest for workforce members born after 1980, and why Inclusion is necessary for helping them feel engaged
• What to look for to identify issues with Inclusion in your organization, and how to analyze your data to get a better picture of Inclusion at your workplace

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why it is important to examine why Diversity is good for business, just as we examine the benefits of all the other business decisions we make
• Why the first component of why diversity is good for business is the moral implications of increased Diversity
• How studies have shown that the top 25% racially and ethnically diverse companies are 36% more likely to outperform less diverse companies in financial performance
• Why greater gender Diversity gives companies a 25% increased likelihood of outperforming the average and increase the value of these organizations
• How Diversity can help fuel innovation, new and fresh ideas, and more perspectives in decision-making
• Why tokenism isn't enough, and why diverse team members and business leaders need to be brought in as full members of the team
• Why our workforce is increasingly diverse and why organizations that value Diversity have greater access to talented team members
• How immigration is helping push back against the declining numbers in the workforce and helping fill the increased demand for workers
• Why Diversity is crucial as BIPOC people are becoming an ever-growing segment of our society

We all know that most business decisions are made on the basis of the impact they have on the bottom line. Luckily, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work does have a positive impact on the success of our organizations. The challenge is making the case for why we need to do this work in a way that illustrates this impact.

In this first episode in a special three-part What's The Difference podcast series, I want to talk to you first about why Diversity is good for business and what effect increased Diversity can have on your organization's success.

At deepSEE Consulting, we've designed a template to help you make the case for DEI work in your organization, which you can find on our website at www.deepseeconsulting.com. This template serves as the basis of our three-part series, so I urge you to check it out.

First, let's talk about why Diversity is good for business. Just as we carefully consider the pros and cons before we make other key business decisions, we should consider these same factors when making the case for DEI work in our organizations. Of course, there's the moral imperative, but there are also tangible benefits of increased Diversity. McKinsey & Company periodically releases a report on the business impact of greater Diversity. First, they rank organizations based on their racial diversity and then they examine these companies' financial performance.

According to their findings, organizations in the top 25 percentile of racially and ethnically diverse organizations were 36% more likely to outperform the median. Additionally, companies in the top ¼ of companies with Diversity in their leadership roles had a 20% higher probability of above-average performance. Greater gender Diversity also offers a 25% greater likelihood of outperforming the financial returns of less diverse organizations.

Allow me to be clear, just hiring a female or BIPOC employee isn't enough to enjoy these benefits. Your organization must be truly committed to greater Diversity, and diverse team members need to be truly welcomed at the table. For example, gender Diversity doesn't have a major impact on performance until Diversity reaches a critical mass and at least 22% of the executive leadership team are women. It takes work and honest dedication. But the benefits go beyond just the financial boost.

Princeton researcher Scott Page wrote an article in which he shared these findings: greater Diversity in an organization's leadership team enhances problem-solving because "organizations can improve their performance by tapping the power of differences in how people think. Likewise, Harvard Business Review found that homogeneity in business actually stifles innovation, and a Forbes study found that Diversity is a crucial driver of innovation in the workplace.

Diversity is important, not just because it's "the right thing to do," but because it helps our teams operate more effectively, it sparks innovation, and these are proven to have tangible financial benefits. If you'd like to learn more about the template we've created containing hard data highlighting these benefits, please visit us at www.deepseeconsulting.com. And please join me for next week's episode of What's The Difference, when we take a close look at the benefits of Inclusion.

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• What possible reasons may be contributing to so many people asking Sara and her team at deepSEE Consulting for help defining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Why it is especially important to have a shared clear, defined meaning around the important concepts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• How the team at deepSEE Consulting define Diversity as "the differences that may make a difference"
• How any business with more than one person inherently has Diversity, and what kinds of differences make a difference in interactions with others
• Why our "frames" and "filters" are so important in our interactions, including within the workplace
• How Inclusion represents acts and actions that create an environment where everyone feels they matter and are "a part of" rather than "apart from"
• How Equity differs from Equality, wherein Equity takes into account individual and systemic bias, and why Equity is about parity rather than fairness

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Why the increased conversation around unconscious and implicit bias is significant, and why "affinity bias" (positive bias) is often overlooked but just as influential
• Sara shares a personal story from her daughter that illustrates the impact of positive and negative bias and responding to microaggression
• Why positive bias can create negative reactions, and why it is important to understand positive bias in our workplaces
• Why recognizing and responding to positive bias is an important component of bringing equity to a workplace
• Sara shares examples of highly visible affinity bias that her family experienced while visiting the Dominican Republic
• Why passing through Customs and Immigration was made easier by having Sara take the bags and go through before her husband
• Why it is vital that we begin addressing affinity bias in the same ways that we address implicit and unconscious bias

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• Namita shares how others' filters lead to comments from them on her lack of a "foreign" accent, which belies the occasional language differences that she sometimes encounters even today
• How people often have the expectation that Namita, an Asian woman, will be passive or quiet, and how they are surprised when she steps outside their expectations
• How Namita has experienced expectations around her ability with technology and computer programming entirely because she is Asian
• How the stereotypes Namita has experienced over her career have impacted her, even (and especially) when she doesn't fit the stereotype
• How Namita also experiences these expectations from others in the Asian community, and how people often assume Namita is her kids' nanny rather than their mom
• Namita offers her perspective on the increase in incidents of violence against Asain women, and why that race-based hate is frightening to Namita
• Why negative news headlines often reference the race of an individual when they are non-white but not when they are white, and how this impacts marginalized communities
• Why it is vital to consider the possibility that someone else's experiences aren't the same as your own and recognize your own cultural filters
• What advice Namita offers for anyone who is being forced to confront microaggressions and bias situations in the workplace

We all have specific cultural filters, unconscious lenses through which we see the world. These follow us from interaction to interaction, from our home lives to our workplaces. Recognizing these filters is crucial for engaging with others more effectively, especially across the "differences that make a difference".

In the previous episode of the What's The Difference podcast, I was joined by Namita Eveloy, an expert and senior consultant here at deepSEE Consulting. Namita has a fascinating and unique perspective to share as a first-generation Asian immigrant to the United States who moved here when she was just eight years old.

Namita has experienced many different situations of bias, microaggressions and other situations that spawned from the filters through which others viewed her and set expectations of her. In this week's follow-up episode, Namita shared how these experiences often run both ways, when people are surprised when she doesn't fit their expectations.

These two special episodes of the podcast are all about cultural filters and how they inform our interactions, often unconsciously. What happens when filters clash, when two parties are viewing the exact same situation through different lenses? And what happens when you defy someone's expectations set by their filters? Understanding filters can lead to engaging in a much more effective way, in the workplace and in any other situation in which we find ourselves needing to interact across differences.

Here in the United States, our dominant culture typically places a greater focus on individuality, on determining one's own destiny. This isn't universal, of course, but at the wider cultural level we do lean towards greater individualism. However, in other cultures around the world, the emphasis seems to lean more towards a collectivistic culture in which there is greater pressure to conform to a unifying standard.

So, what happens when these filters clash? Frequently, misunderstandings, miscommunications or friction result. Whether it is in how we communicate, what actions we consider to be "polite" or socially expected, or even in how we engage with figures of authority, we must remember that our filters aren't universal. What we consider to be "casual office banter", someone with different filters might see as disrespectful or inappropriate.

As Namita explained in our conversation, she is often greeted with surprise by other moms when they realize she isn't her own children's nanny but rather their mother. Her children are mixed race and lighter skinned than she is, and so she is often presumed to be their nanny. These kinds of microaggressions often come from situations in which we step outside the expectations of others.

Likewise, throughout her career people have assumed certain details about Namita's personality based on their cultural filters and expectations. As an Asian woman, she is often expected to be demure, quiet, great with technology, and other stereotypes, even if the truth is wildly different from people's expectations.

However, this isn't always a two-way street. As Namita mentioned, when incidents of violence occur, the news headlines often mention the person's race if they are non-white but seldom or never mention their race if they are white. When the September 11 terror attacks took place, there was a swift and violent backlash against many members of the Middle Eastern-American community, and the news media made a constant point of mentioning the race of the terrorists. However, when a white gunman shot and killed 23 people in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas in 2019, the fact that he was a white man wasn't mentioned in the headlines nearly as often, even though he was specifically targeting the Latinx community.

This is why we must work to be aware of our own filters and to ask the very important question "can we consider the possibility…?" Can we consider the possibility that someone else's experiences don't match our own? What changes if that possibility were true? How would that inform our interactions? Recognizing our filters is crucial for more effective communication, and the first step is to ask ourselves, "can we consider the possibility?"

To reach out to Namita Eveloy, you can email her at [email protected] or visit our website at www.deepseeconsulting.com. I also invite you to visit our podcast archive found at https://whatsthedifferencepodcast.com/ for more informative episodes like these.

Namita Eveloy is an experienced professional with a broad background in Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Organizational Development. With extensive experience facilitating learning for multinational companies, Namita knows how to navigate large, matrixed corporations. With professional experience in five countries, in both public and private sectors, Namita offers an unmatched international perspective.

Namita holds an MBA from the prestigious Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Master's in Education from the University of Minnesota.

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.deepseeconsulting.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaeveloy/

• How Namita's unique experiences as an immigrant to the United States informs her work in the DEI space
• What Namita's experiences were like after immigrating to Minnesota at the young age of eight years old, and how she first recognized differing cultural filters in others
• How Namita began making friends, and how she started to recognize differences in formalities in family life from what she was used to
• How Namita's experiences with difference carried over to her transition into the workplace, and how she had to consciously work to acquire the skill of using her voice
• How differences in individual and collective cultural filters can sometimes cause misunderstandings or miscommunications in the workplace
• Why it is important to recognize that our own filters may differ from those of others, and why misaligned expectations can cause workplace tension
• Namita shares the story of a colleague who considered resigning from a new job because he hadn't been approached by his boss and made to feel welcome to the company
• Why the differences in cultural filters between "collectivistic" and "individualistic" societies can cause friction in the workplace

Namita Eveloy is an experienced professional with a broad background in Leadership Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Organizational Development. With extensive experience facilitating learning for multinational companies, Namita knows how to navigate large, matrixed corporations. With professional experience in five countries, in both public and private sectors, Namita offers an unmatched international perspective.

Namita holds an MBA from the prestigious Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Master's in Education from the University of Minnesota.

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.deepseeconsulting.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaeveloy/

• How the Golden Rule of "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you" needs to give way to the Platinum Rule, "do unto others as they would want done unto them"
• How oftentimes people struggle to let go of the Golden Rule and embrace the Platinum Rule, especially in terms of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace
• Which myths and misperceptions around the Golden Rule reinforce its existence as the default way to interact and often lead people astray in DEI work
• Why the Golden Rule isn't necessarily "wrong", and why we need to reframe our thinking to realize that the Platinum Rule is more effective rather than "more right"
• How most of us are already using the Golden Rule daily, and how our unconscious minds often make an assumption about similarity despite our very real differences
• Why assuming that others want to be treated the way we want ourselves to be treated is based on fallacy and doesn't respect others' individual filters and experiences
• Why our own experiences aren't universal, and why seeing past the assumption of similarity is crucial to "doing unto others as they would want done unto them"
• Why it is important to consider how behaviors under the Golden Rule might be perceived as disrespectful by others, and how the Platinum Rule circumvents this problem

We've probably all heard the adage "do unto others as you would have done unto you." It's the Golden Rule, and most of us are taught to inform our interactions with others through this rule from a very early age.

However…is that really the most effective way in which we can interact with others? The Golden Rule doesn't take into account what happens if the person we're interacting with doesn't want to be treated the same way we'd want to be treated. The Golden Rule is focused on our perceptions, experiences, and expectations and is centered around ourselves rather than the people around us.

In this week's solocast episode of the What's The Difference podcast, I discuss the problems, myths, and misperceptions around the Golden Rule that prevent it from being the ideal north star of navigating our interactions with others, and I compare it to the Platinum Rule of "do unto others as they would have done unto them."

The wonderful thing about the Platinum Rule that makes it so effective is that it takes into account differences between the lenses and filters through which we view the world versus others and their own filters. It asks us to stop and consider how others might feel about a given interaction, rather than centering our behaviors on what we want. This difference is crucial!

Consider for a moment that our subconscious minds process orders of magnitude more information than our conscious minds do, from moment to moment. Our subconscious minds serve as the filters through which we see the world around us, and most of our behaviors come from the subconscious.

This means that when we're interacting with others, we are inherently practicing the Golden Rule. We're using our own filters to process our interactions and inform what we say and how we behave, on a natural and fundamental level. The problem is…what if the other person doesn't see the world in the same way? Could "doing unto others as we would have done unto us" be perceived as disrespectful? Absolutely. The other party is viewing our actions through their filters, not ours. Interacting with the assumption that they want the same things we do can absolutely lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication because we're rooting our behaviors in our expectations and our filters without considering theirs.

It is important to remember that the Golden Rule isn't "worse" than the Platinum Rule. Treating others as you would like to be treated is an admirable starting point, but it's not the most effective way to interact. The Platinum Rule helps us step outside our own filters and ask the right questions so that we better understand what others consider to be respectful and positive interactions, and it helps us make conscious decisions about the words to say and the actions to take.

In Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work especially, it is critically important to consider others and their filters and perspectives. This is precisely why the Platinum Rule can be such a powerful and effective resource to help us engage with others more effectively, especially across the differences that make a difference. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of the podcast, and I encourage you to visit our website at www.deepseeconsulting.com for more information and resources.

Sara Taylor earned a master's degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, "Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World," that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

• Read Emotional Acknowledgment: How Verbalizing Others' Emotions Fosters Interpersonal Trust by Alisa Yu, Justin M. Berg, and Julian Zlatev

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara

• How Meghan and Corey each found their way to generational research and began studying Generation Z in the workplace
• How Corey and Meghan each bring their own perspectives to the research due to belonging to different generational cohorts
• How the scope of Corey and Meghan's work has grown over time, and why they have focused on qualitative data
• What common misperceptions exist around Generation Z in the workplace, and what key formative experiences the generational cohort has collectively experienced
• What important points to be aware of about Generation Z as they begin to enter the workforce
• Why there are patterns within cultural groups in their experiences and perspectives, but why it is important to remember that these patterns aren't universal
• Corey and Meghan share some of the common patterns in how Generation Z sees hierarchy, individuality, leadership and transparency
• How Corey and Meghan's research shows that the perception that Generation Z is flighty or less likely to stay with one company is a misconception
• What steps Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioners can take to better engage with Generation z in the workplace

Generation Z includes anyone born between 1997 and 2012. This means that in 2021, the oldest members of this generational cohort are turning 22 years old. As members of Generation Z begin entering the workforce, it is important for employers to address some of the commonalities and misconceptions surrounding these young adults.

My guests for this week's episode of the What's The Difference podcast are Dr. Corey Seemiller and Dr. Meghan Grace, generational researchers and the co-authors of Generation Z: A Century in the Making. During our conversation, we discussed several of the major misconceptions that are often held about Generation Z that aren't supported by the facts.

It is important to note that, while common patterns do appear within members of any generation, those patterns are by no means universal. It is important to remember that every individual is unique and that generalizations don't always apply.

One of the most common misconceptions people tend to hold about Generation Z is that they're "glued to their phones", that they excel in technology but struggle to operate without it. As Corey and Meghan explained, members of every generation have adapted to smartphone technology. Generation Z is the first generation to have never seen life before the internet, it's true, but the evidence shows that they aren't significantly more attached to their phones than other age groups.

Generation Z can also be seen as flighty, ready to leave their employer for another job opportunity at any moment. However, Corey and Meghan's research shows that Generation Z will happily stay with an employer, provided their needs and expectations are being met. Many members of Generation Z value transparency and honesty from their employers, and they want to feel satisfaction in their work.

Many members of Generation Z value diversity, equity and inclusion, and they are adept at detecting inauthentic action. If a DEI practitioner truly wants to engage with Generation Z employees, it is important to be authentic about your work. If a business says they value diversity and inclusion but their senior staff is made up exclusively of straight, white, cisgender men, their DEI messaging might very well appear inauthentic.

As another example, if a business changes to a rainbow logo for LGBTQ+ Pride month in June but then does nothing to show support for the LGBTQ+ community and employees within the organization who identify in that community, Generation Z employees may call attention to this lack of alignment between stated DEI messaging and an organization's visible actions.

If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Corey Seemiller and Dr. Meghan Grace and their extraordinary work, please visit their websites at www.coreyseemiller.com and www.meghanmgrace.com. I also encourage you to check out their book Generation Z: A Century in the Making.

Dr. Corey Seemiller is a faculty member in the Department of Leadership Studies in Education and Organizations at Wright State University, teaching undergraduate courses in organizational leadership as well as graduate courses in leadership development and student affairs and higher education. She is the author of The Student Leadership Competencies Guidebook and associated tools and assessments to help educators develop intentional curriculum that enhances leadership competency development. She has served as an issue editor for New Directions for Student Leadership, the co-chair for the National Leadership Symposium and the Leadership Education Academy, and an associate editor of the Journal of Leadership Studies.

Dr. Seemiller also has a deep understanding of today's young adults. She is the co-author of several articles as well as four books on Generation Z (born 1995-2010) including Generation Z: A Century in the Making, Generation Z Goes to College, Generation Z Leads, and Generation Z Learns. She also co-authored the Gen Z Voices on Voting research report. Her highly popular TED Talk on Generation Z at TEDxDayton showcased how Generation Z is making a difference in the world. Her work has been featured on NPR and in The New York Times as well as in several other news publications and academic journals. She has also been interviewed for podcasts as well as TV and radio shows worldwide.

Meghan Grace is a generational researcher, author, speaker, consultant, and podcast host. She began her journey as a generational researcher in 2014, when she and her research partner, Dr. Corey Seemiller started to notice differences in the college students they worked with on campus and wanted to better understand their perspectives, values, and behaviors. In 2014, they launched their first independent study on Generation Z, which has since led to two more independent studies, two books, and two guidebooks about Generation Z. Meghan also serves as a consultant with Plaid, LLC., an organizational development firm, where she specializes in research and assessment, curriculum and program development, and strategic projects.

• Generation Z: A Century in the Making by Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace: https://amzn.to/2SUtPYx

• Website: www.thegenzhub.com
• Website: www.coreyseemiller.com/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/seemiller/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/coreyseemiller/
• Twitter: @CoreySeemiller
• Twitter: @thegenzhub

• Website: www.meghanmgrace.com
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/meghanmgrace/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/meghanmgrace
• Twitter: @MeghanMGrace

• Website: www.deepseeconsulting.com
• Twitter: @deepseesara