Hi, welcome to another episode of Unlocked, where we talk about unlocking the potential of people in order to unlock the potential of generations. And that's what we're going to talk about today. I have Simon Barrington on the call and he is from Forge Leadership Consultancy. Simon is deeply involved in helping shape organizations, leadership inside organizations, churches, nonprofit, and what we can do to understand in particular, the millennial generation, which was what his first book was about and diving into over 500 pieces of data, meaning people and gathering millennial research and understanding what's causing them to tick, what do they want? What are they driven by and debunking this whole notion of they're entitled and they're spoiled, and they just want what they want and lazy and all these other things.
But he says some really, really smart things in this interview that will create another thought process for you that will be empowering, helpful, and encouraging as you learn to work with millennials, as you learn to work with just other generations as a whole. Seeking to understand before being understood, seeking to understand what helps them thrive, which is also going to help you thrive, right? And your journey through leadership and mentorship as you are bringing these millennials on board. So, I'm grateful for Simon. I'm grateful for his insight. This is going to be really good. Check it out. Let's go. Simon, it is so good to have you. How are things on the other side of the pond?
Simon Barrington:
Very good Skot. Yeah, really good. So, we're just kind of coming out of COVID and getting back to doing meetings in person and things. So yeah, I'm relieved to be doing that. So much of my work is about relationships and seeing people. So, it's good to be face to face again.
Skot Waldron:
It is. There's an energy, right? There's an energy in person.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
There is, totally.
SKOT WALDRON:
I mean, I like your energy Simon just on Zoom, but I believe that if we were in person, it would be a whole other level.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah, totally. I mean, I went to a event last night with about 500 people at it and it was like, whoa, it is like a party.
SKOT WALDRON:
500. Wow. That's amazing.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
We get to connect with people and this was back like two years ago.
SKOT WALDRON:
Goodness. That's awesome. Good for you. Also good for you, your book launched in September.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah.
SKOT WALDRON:
Just Leadership, this your second book and your first one was Leading the Millennial Way, which was almost like a precursor, I mean, would you say to this one. I mean, the information you got out of that first one kind of informed the second one. Tell us about that journey.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. Well, as you can see, I'm not a millennial, right? So, but I was a CEO when I was 35. I was running an international development business, global business at that point. And I was really questioning as I left that in my early fifties, where are the next generational leaders? Everybody's labeling them as lazy, narcissistic, entitled, all the bad words you can possibly load onto a generation were being put onto the millennials. But actually my sense was that the bad words that we were putting onto them was because we've created environments that weren't enabling them to thrive. So, I really wanted to research, how are they developed as leaders? What's their leadership thinking, how are they going to create the workplaces of the future? How are they thinking about issues that we wrestle with as boomers and Gen X? So, we did research with 500 leaders, millennial leaders.
So, not just people who are in the workplace, but actually people who are leaders in their early thirties and published that book three years ago and some fascinating findings in that. And two of those findings were actually that integrity was top of the list in terms of characteristics that millennials were looking for in leaders. So, a real desire for authenticity, a desire for humility and a sense that come close to me as a millennial, I want to learn to trust you. And the default position of millennials coming into a business is they do not trust the leaders. That's their default position. Trust has to be earned, it has to be won. And it's won through integrity, it's won through leaders who actually do what they say that they're going to do, who walk the walk.
And then secondly, that millennials own this issue of justice in a way that's never been true for me. Now, I grew up kind of with Live Aid, 1986 and Live Aid and Wembley Stadium and Bono and U2 and massive concerts and famine in Ethiopia and responding to poverty and wanting to get involved in that. And the whole of my career has been responding to disasters around the world and Ebola in Liberia and the war in Northern Iraq, et cetera, but actually millennials own this cause of justice in a way that we never have. It's not just something they bolt onto what they're doing is right at the core and at the heart of who they are and who they believe they are. So, these ideas of integrity and justice, and then how they shape the leaders of the future is what the book unpacks for us.
SKOT WALDRON:
This idea of not trusting leadership as their default is fascinating to me. Are you saying, and I'm just throwing this out there and I'd like to hear what your thoughts are, are you saying that maybe the industrial age leadership and people coming into roles, they did trust leaders directly? I mean, that was a default was they did trust their leadership and now they're not?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Sure. Yeah. So, the default position for me was I trust this organization to do good and to do well and to develop me and to invest in me, but the larger the organization, the bigger the problem now, because millennials will come in and go, "You need to earn my trust." I've seen too many failures, I've seen too many leaders fail. I've seen too many organizations fail. I've heard too many stories of corruption. I'm suspicious to start off with and obviously some of that is unpacked in the interview process, et cetera, et cetera. But actually when I land, I'm looking for that trust to be earned. And I need it to be earned through interaction and through closeness and through awareness and through transparency in the way that you lead and in you bringing me close into a shared purpose.
So, the other thing that millennials say is we want to know what the purpose of what we're doing is. We want to know the why. We will trust you when we know the why. And that why needs to be big enough for them. So, millennials will say to boomers like me, they'll say, "The problem with you Simon is you grow up with a worldview that's so narrow." And it's true. I mean, we hear BBC One, BBC Two. We had two television channels when I was growing up. And then in my teens, a third one was added BBC ITV and then fourth one in my twenties. And if I wanted to find out anything, it was the local newspaper was the South Wales Echo. It was like the local rag, that's where it was no internet. And my whole life journey has been my worldview expanding, but for them, their worldview has started off this big.
It started off with a massive view of everything that's going on in the world, of all the causes and the justice issues. And they're saying we want to join in with those. And we don't trust you unless you are actually committed to solving those big problems. So, even if you're a retailer or you're a pharmacy or you are a garage, whatever, we want to know where you stand on the climate justice issues, we want to know where you stand on the racial justice issues. We want to know where you stand on the abuse issues. We need to know that because we're growing up in this world, which where we understand the big story and we don't trust you. You need to earn our trust because we want to be involved in solving those big issues. We're very cause driven. We're very purpose driven and we want to join in, and we want to shape that sense of purpose for this business as well. So, a massive tectonic plate shift in thought processes and understanding that the new generation of leaders are bringing to businesses and how they're structured and how they work.
SKOT WALDRON:
So, why do you think that is? Why is there such a deep desire for the why and the purpose and those justice issues? Why is that so central in your opinion? I mean, this is just opinion. I mean, based on your research as well, I would assume you asked some of these questions, but you've got that idea of why is this so core to them? So one theory, right? And what you've said, and this is very common knowledge is that their exposure to media, their exposure to information is huge. So, they're going to hear a lot of the things, right? And if it bleeds, it leads. So, they're going to get the negative side of a lot of stories and that's going to impact them. But what other, maybe current events or things have happened to in their lives to maybe shift the thinking of this generation versus the older generations that went into this more trusting?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
I think the ability to influence and shape has been something which they've experienced from a young age. So, everyone who comes into your business who joins your business already has a personal brand. They've already stated where they stand on climate justice, they've already, and it's on their Instagram account. And they've already stated where they stand on LGBT issues and abuse and it's all over their social media, okay? And they've already started to influence, they've become a micro influencer or a macro influencer within their space. They've been paid to wear nice clothes on their YouTube channel from the age of 15. But even if they haven't, they have a personal brand and they've made statements about that personal brand. And in shaping that personal brand, they've had to ask the why questions for themselves already.
So, we've raised a generation of brand marketers who want your business Skot. I mean, they want to be in the business of shaping thought and shaping future and shaping expression and shaping brand and it's all because they've got used to it through the use of social media. So, this is why actually, when they join your business, they on to know where you stand on these issues, because they've already made statements about them and they already have the Simon Barrington brand or the Skot Waldron brand or the, whoever, yeah. They've made their statements and it's much harder for them to shift their brand position. And so, they're looking at businesses and saying, where do you stand on these issues? What's your ethical stance? What's your purpose? What's your why? And actually driving financial profit for shareholders isn't good enough as a why, is not big enough for them as a why.
And so, that's driving a more compassionate capitalism. That's saying we want wholehearted life giving organizations where we can thrive. So, the other thing that shaped them is actually they've seen their parents burn out. They've seen their parents on the hamster wheel running flat out to earn enough money to buy a car and buy a house. And they've said, actually for us, that's not achievable. Houses are too expensive. Cars are too expensive, we're going to get an Uber and we're going to rent an apartment. That's what we're going to do. So, we don't need to be on that hamster wheel. So, let's have a better quality of life all around. Let's make all, we're going to the gym. Let's make sure we're spending time with our aunties and uncles and nephews and nieces. Let's make sure that we've got time for hikes in the woods. And we're not going to be driven only by that sense of financial gain.
And that's not good enough for us and we don't think it's good enough for you as a business as well. So, we want to see relationships flourishing and we want to see financial flourishing, but we want to see wellbeing flourishing in the workplace as well. So, it's a much bigger, richer picture for them.
SKOT WALDRON:
Do you think that this is contributing to over in the states, we have what we're calling the great resignation, right? And I'm not sure and I haven't looked at the data. Is that happening in the UK as well?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
It is. Yeah, absolutely.
SKOT WALDRON:
Is it really?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Totally, yeah.
SKOT WALDRON:
So, this is a global phenomenon. It's not because our unemployment numbers came out and whatever and our job numbers came out and they were skyrocketed back in August. And so, do you think that this mentality is feeding a bit of that? I mean, there's a lot of theories out there, a lot of articles and I've read a lot of them and I see that out there, but based on your research and what we're talking about right now, what is the mindset of the millennial? Is that contributing to this great resignation?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
I think it is. They basically going life is short, we've had two, if you are a younger person and you've had two years of your life carved out of your life, the fact that that's 10% of your life so far rather than 4% of my life actually makes a massive difference to their worldview. So, I've sat with young people who said, "My major college years have being decimated. This major formation piece of my life has been decimated." Where for me, it's like, "Well, a couple of years of my 50 have been slower and slightly different. And actually it calls me to slow down and maybe that was a good thing." For them, it's transformed their thinking about what they want to get out of their lives and what they want to achieve and they want to seize the moment.
So, there's a definite, I want to seize the moment and I want to take the opportunity and now I've got more liberty, I'm going to seize that moment. And I want to do it in a way that makes sense for me and is actually joining in with a bigger story and joining in with a meta narrative and joining in with a change process that's calling for justice as well. So, I see a lot in the great resignation of people wanting to move to more purpose driven jobs and also to an environment where they can shape and where they can contribute to what the future is as well. So, lots of organizations that I'm working with have shadow boards now where they mirror the board that exist with a group of young people and they give that shadow board exactly the same problems as the main board and that they find that the shadow board is coming up with different, more creative, more life giving solutions to the problems that the existing board is wrestling with.
And millennials are crying out for that and they won't put up with anything less as well. They want voice to be heard, and they're very insistent on that. And they think they have a contribution to make, and I believe that they do to shaping the future of business as well.
SKOT WALDRON:
And I have something to add on top of what you said, because it goes back to that passion and purpose statement, right? And the idea of they want do something that's more purpose driven, not on the hamster wheel, right? Like they've seen their parents in certain situations. And I would almost go into say that even if I am an employee on a manufacturing line, right? And I am doing something that is more monotonous, something that's more mundane, I am more willing to do that job if it's aligned with a bigger purpose and a bigger goal, right? So, it's not that my specific thing has to be so purpose driven in saving whale, it's more about what are we as an organization doing and what is my contribution enabling us as an organization to do? Would you agree with that?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. So, we actually found the millennials fall into the three camps. So, there are those for whom that is true. There's another camp though that would say, "Actually, I don't care what I'm doing because work is such a small part of my life. Actually, I will just do it for whatever it takes, but I want the flexibility to mold the rest of my life around that work. So, what's important to me would be flexible work hours or flexible work location, or the ability to come in late because I'm going to the gym three days a week." So, it's flexibility to actually understand that I have a life outside of that work. And therefore, my work needs to fit around that rather than my life fit... The work needs to fit around my life rather than my life fitting around the works.
So, there's a real flip. So, that's the second camp. And then there's the third camp who are like, well, it's all about the purpose and I want to be contributing absolutely to that bigger purpose and to that bigger cause and I'm writing and therefore I don't care what hours I work on that cause because it's so important. My whole life's in for it and I'm totally dedicated to it and I need to see that change coming through. The other interesting thing is that millennials are passionate about future generations. So, one of the big themes out of the research was that they feel they've been given a run deal by their parents and their grandparents, okay? So, you've left us with a planet that's dying. You've left us with a lack of inclusion and lack of diversity. You've left us with racial inequality.
You've left us with abusive leaders. We don't want that to happen for the next generation. So, we want to invest in that next generation now. So, they are the biggest mentoring generation ever. 85% of them have had a mentor by the age of 33 and 79% of them were already in mentoring relationships with younger people, absolutely phenomenal. And they would describe the workplace in terms of when you ask them as leaders, what are the best places to work? They would say the best places to work are where the best relationships exist and the worst places to work are where the worst relationships. That was the only phrase that I was right tip of the tongue straight out on every single qualitative interview that we did was, is all about the relationships, is all about the health of the relationships. And actually, if those relationships are toxic, we will walk away.
And I think in one of your questions before the interview, you said, how's culture defined? And I define it like this. And I found this somewhere, I can't remember where it was. Some genius spoke about it and I wrote it down in my notebook and I can't remember who it was, but they would say culture is the best thing you celebrate and the worst thing you are allowed to happen. So, culture is defined by the best thing you celebrate and the worst thing you are allowed to happen. And millennials will say, we will walk away from situations where you don't deal with poor performance and you don't deal with toxic relationships because actually that's what it's all about. It's all about relationships for them. And if the culture is defined by toxic relationships, then they will walk away and you will get the great resignation and they'll go, "No, I can't put up with this anymore. Sorry, we'll go and find something else to do." So, there's that at play as well within their psyche and their thinking.
SKOT WALDRON:
You stole my thunder that, of course it was you that wrote it down. And that definition of culture was one of the best because I asked that to all my people, right? And I get some fantastic ideas about what culture is. But this was so simple, right?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah.
SKOT WALDRON:
That best thing you celebrate and that worst thing you let allow to happen is really interesting to think about. It's like, oh wow, that's a really good point of reflection for those leaders, right? Just to think about.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. No, absolutely. So, what are you celebrating in your business? Are you celebrating birthdays? Well, that says something about your culture. It says you're invested in people. Are you only celebrating your quarterly results? That says something about your business. It says something about your purpose. Are you celebrating the impact you're having on your local community? That says something about your business. So, actually reflecting on what are we celebrating? What are those moments where we're getting and the party poppers out and the cake out and we're putting on a big display is a massive indicator of what you value in your business and what you are putting value on and what you are rewarding as well. And then the worst thing we allow to happen is if we allow people to remain in toxic relationships with toxic managers, then that says something about how we value people or don't value people as well.
If we allow a contract to go down the pan because it was poorly commercially structured, then that says something about our culture as well. If we allow the carpet on the office floor to get [inaudible 00:24:03] and dirty and never get cleaned, then that says something about our culture. If we allow the kitchen in the office to stack with dishes that only the women get go and wash, that says something about our culture and our diversity and our inclusion as well. So yeah, I think it's a really rich statement and I wish I knew where I got it from. It wasn't me, but it's a really rich statement which I think can help you get under the skin of what's shaping your culture. And if you ask that across all your employees, then I think you'll get a rich cultural survey of what's really happening in your organization and business.
SKOT WALDRON:
This is so timely and I think that's really, I was talking to another leader about a few weeks ago as an event. And I sat with him and he was just, "I got to meet with you Skot." And so, we talked, we were having lunch together in between sessions. And he was just like, and this guy is the biggest heart, right? He's a very people oriented leader. He's all about giving, pouring into them and very compassionate. But he says, "I've had these two people in my organization and one of them, he's 68 years old. His wife just passed away but he is completely toxic in our organization. But he's been around forever but nobody likes to work with him, but he's been a mentor of mine for years.
And I don't necessarily always like the guy, but I really respect him. I respected him in the past and I have this bond with him and our families have done stuff together." And it's like he's in this conundrum, right? And he has this other person that's really toxic too. And he's letting it exist and he knows he is. And we had this talk and he's just like, "You're right. I got to do something." He's trying to drum up the courage to do something. But when you talk about the culture he's creating, he is so afraid of people looking at him as not sticking up for them, right? As, "Hey, this person's walking all over you, but so what are you going to do to stand up for me next time somebody's walking all over me?"
And so, he is allowing this thing to happen. So, when you look at that culture definition, what's the worst thing we're allowing to happen? Well, it could be that. And that's defining the culture in the workplace, despite what he wants it to be and the great compassionate leader he is, he's allowing this to happen and that's defining the culture.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. I mean, I remember in my telecoms days, we existed in an office building, office suite that employed 4,000 people. And the directors would say, "We're all on an equal here. Our doors are open, always come in. We're for you guys. Whatever we can do to support you, da, da, da." But actually the stories in the canteen were the directors all had car parking spaces directly outside the office building. And for the majority of employees, it was a 30 minute walk from the car parking lot to the office because there just wasn't the parking space that existed. And they could say forever in a day that we were all on a level and totally supportive of you as a team. But actually that symbol, that one symbol, which they'd never dealt with over a decade, was the single definer of what's the culture in this place.
The culture is one of privilege. The culture is one of unfairness. The culture is one of power over rather than empowering. And they could say whatever they liked about it. But that one symbol was kind of shaping the culture of who we were as an organization.
SKOT WALDRON:
Well, and it's just like the individuals that, and this happened earlier in my career too, where I heard stories of people having reviews and then raises and annual raises were coming up and not giving the raises to individuals, but then going and purchasing a bunch of nice things for your office or a new car or whatever it is. And maybe from a business standpoint that was to get rid of some expense and whatever, right? But to the employee, that doesn't look like that and in that perception.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
And this comes back to the integrity bit again as well. For millennials, there's a heightened sense about that. There's a heightened sense about fairness. There's a heightened sense about inclusion. So, we say in the book that actually millennials have moved away from inclusion, so don't look too shocked at that statement. They weigh away from co-inclusion to co-creation. So, there's a Ghanaian proverb, which basically says, "It's good to invite me to your table, but much better to invite me into your kitchen." Which is basically saying the inclusion agenda has been, let's get better representation of gender and ethnicity and sexuality, et cetera around the table. Okay. But it's been to our table on our agenda with our ingredients and our recipes. And the millennial generation are saying, "No. We need to go into the kitchen and we need to create something new with all of these spices available and with all of these flavors available because what's been created previously through white privilege, through just listening to one gender, not including everybody, is substandard.
And actually there are better things that can be created and there are better things that can be co-created here." So, we talk in the book about a move from inclusion to co-creation. Not that inclusion is bad, but rather that it's only the start of the story is not the end of the road. And for those people who are currently using inclusion as a tick box exercise, actually that isn't going to be good enough for the next generation. They're going to want the organizations that we're part of to change as we bring those different voices to the table as well and as we allow people to be fully themselves.
SKOT WALDRON:
That's brilliant. I love that. I'm going to take that phrase with me. That is so good about the kitchen and the table. I think that that's really, really smart and a good way to picture that and think about it. Let's talk about the so, and just leadership, you talk about the idea of justice. You talk about integrity and I can imagine you're passionate about infusing the term justice into leadership and the coaching that you do, right? And so, if you're saying that and you're saying this book came from the idea of the millennial research that was put into it, but you've been doing this for a while. Is this kind of a new thing you're infusing into your leadership training or is it always kind of been there? This has just given you context for it. What is this idea of injustice and why it's so important in leadership now?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
So, I think it's a new lens to which to look at the character development of a leader. So, the premise of the book basically is justice is really important, that just causes that we fight for are really important, but actually we need to embody those in our leadership practices and behaviors. So, actually we need to create just environments, not just fight just causes. And those just environments are about inclusion, co-creation. They're about generosity, they're about fairness, they're about use of power. They're about willingness to listen to the victimized and the marginalized. They're about tackling injustices within our society. They're about creating good relational environments in which everybody can thrive and flourish. They're about creating businesses that are wholehearted life giving organic, growing developing, where people are treated as individuals and where they can thrive, but also where the impact of that business is not only for a narrow set of stakeholders, but for the good of community and the good of society and the good of the employees.
And there's a greater emphasis on purpose and a greater emphasis on relationship and a greater emphasis on social capital and relational capital within a business. So, we kind of look at why justice needs to go into the environment and not just be something that's out there. We look at the postures of a leader who wants to be just and created just environment. And then we look at the impact of that on businesses, on charities, on religious organizations and on the wider society as well at the end of the book.
SKOT WALDRON:
So good. I love this topic. This is the first generation or the first time in history that we know of and are aware of that we have five generations working in the workforce, right?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah.
SKOT WALDRON:
All the way from that silent generation, pre-1945, all the way until this Gen Z generation and there's a lot of dynamics going on. I mean, you've got depression era people working with people that just us went through COVID, right? As some of their first work experiences ever in their lives. And the mentality and the shift in thinking is just so broad and you are doing yourself a disservice right now, leaders, older generation leaders, and even the younger generation leaders by not seeking to understand the other.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah, that's right.
SKOT WALDRON:
And I would almost say it's not about millennials saying, "Hey, this is our game now. We're taking over, you need to come to our camp, but it's seeking to understand the baby boomers, the Gen Xers that are also still in some of those leadership roles of how to build something together, right? Co-create like you're saying, as opposed to just either one saying, "You come to my house for dinner." And the other one say, "No, you come to my house for dinner." And it's like, why don't we just come together and do something?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. I think that's so true. And I think in a lot of our work, we're encouraging bi-directional mentoring. So, basically saying to leaders, "Get into a mentoring relationship with a younger leader, but don't expect it to be one way traffic, it's going to be two way traffic." Yeah. And that sense of, I love the word confront. So, the word confront, we often think of that in sense of conflict. But actually if you think of it, the basics of is confront. So, to stand in front of a problem together, okay? So, you confront the problem rather than confronting one another. So, the old coaching thing of actually sit alongside one another rather than across the table from one another, sit alongside and confront the problem together and say, "How are you looking at this?
How are we looking at this?" And the idea of shadow boards is all about that as well is let's confront this problem together. Bring your lens to it, bring your creativity to it. You'll see it in a different way to the way that we see it and we can learn from that. So, I find leaders who are willing to go into that kind of relationship, where they're willing to learn. This generation has grown up with technology. It's grown up with personal brands. It's that with a greater understanding of justice, it's grown up with a desire and a passion to fix the big problems that have been presented to them in the world. They have a voice, they have a story to tell, and they have a perspective which is helpful and useful. I find that a lot of older leaders are threatened by that and they're threatened about the different worldview. And I would just say to them really get over yourself.
There's a richness here, stop stereotyping them as being different and start understanding the value and the importance of the voice that they bring and that's what we were trying to achieve with the book really was to give millennials a voice. So, I would sit with lots of millennials and they'd say to me, "You've read my journals. You really understood who I am and you've given us a voice and a voice which is powerful and is needed at this moment."
SKOT WALDRON:
Well, thank you for that research. Thank you for your insights. Thank you for using this now to shape leadership. And you're doing that every day and super grateful to be on this journey with you in doing that. So, where can people get in touch with you or get in touch with the hold of the book, but also get in touch with you if they want some further insights about that?
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Yeah. So, forge-leadership.com, F-O-R-G-E-leadership.com for all the things that we do as a business in terms of executive coaching and leadership development. Just-leadership.com for the book and the television series that goes with the book and the course that goes with the book all there, and the books available on things like Amazon and wherever you normally get your amazon.com or wherever you normally get your books from.
SKOT WALDRON:
Okay. Awesome. Very cool. Simon, you're the man. I really appreciate you being here. Enjoy your afternoon, evening over there and to continue to conquer.
SIMON BARRINGTON:
Skot, thanks so much. And I really enjoyed the conversation with you.
SKOT WALDRON:
Are you creating environments where people can thrive? That is what we need to do. And in order to do that, we have to understand who is working with us and for us. And to do that, we need to listen. We need to research. We need to, again, seek to understand and be curious. Simon said some really great things. That piece of information where the default for millennials is to go into and go in not trusting, right? You've got to earn that trust. And that's a big shift from that industrial way of thinking to what we call the digital age way of thinking is no longer are you just, is it just a place to, I trust you because you're my boss, it's hold on, I trust you because now you've built influence with me in a way that it is the way I see it.
It's the way that I want to build relationships through you being a good person, through that integrity piece, through this joint justice thing that we're all working for and this joint course. Those are the things that are going to help me want to work with you, for you, and to want to build something together. They want to be able to shape something. They want to be able to co-create. It's no longer, Hey, inviting a millennial to your table, but it's, Hey, shape this thing with me. Let's build this thing together and let's do something great and that's awesome.
This generation, this millennial generation is all about mentorship, is all about investing in the next generations after them. That is cool. I didn't necessarily see that or recognize that, but I think that's a really powerful piece of information. 85% have had a mentor, 79% are already involved in mentoring others. That's awesome. They value it. So, what are you doing to help them foster that need of either wanting a mentor or wanting to mentor someone else? Provide that opportunity and that will show them that you are for them, that you're trying to build that. Relationships are huge. Relationships are at the core of every organization and they are at the core of this generation and frankly, every generation when you come to think about it. So, Simon, rockstar, thank you so much. Good luck with the book. If you all want to find out more about me, go to skotwaldron.com.
You can find me on LinkedIn. I post a lot of good, free information there, tips, tricks, and that's just a good way to connect. So, I'm looking forward to building my network there. Instagram, you can find me there and YouTube, hopefully where you're watching this video, like, subscribe, comment, all those things. I've got a lot of free tools on my YouTube channel as well. So, you can go there and get some insights and help you on your own personal leadership journey. So, thank you everybody for joining me on another episode of Unlocked and we'll see you next time.
Want to make your culture and team invincible?
You can create a culture of empowerment and liberation through better communication and alignment. We call these invincible teams. Make your team invincible through a data-driven approach that is used by Google, the CDC, the Air Force, Pfizer, and Chick-fil-A. Click here or the image below to learn more.
