The Great and Powerful Cause Has Spoken

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 9, 2016, Donald J. Trump took to the podium to accept his position as the incoming 45th president of the United States, saying, in part, that it was ‘time for us to come together as a united people.’ The next night citizens in 25 cities across our country, many of whom were millennials, took to the streets in a show of dissatisfaction with the country’s choice of the person who would lead them.

The message here is not about Mr. Trump, however, it is about what this emerging group of leaders who are poised to run our businesses and impact our world will and will not accept. The great and powerful cause for this newest generation of leaders will be to change organizations that have been traditionally governed through control to ones that will be powered by influence. So, what does that mean for HR practitioners? How will we describe this outspokenness – this zeal for candor and impatience with pretense? Will we encourage them to be mindful of where they are, or will we both guide them and cheer them on as they take us to where we just might need to be?