The Kids are Alright

Gen Z marches to the voting booth

Nov 14, 2022

The midterm elections have been held and while the counting continues, we know that Generation Z has made an impact that surpasses the generations before them. They showed up, they pulled ballots and they turned out. Preliminary data shows that this is the generation that was energized by their lived experiences. For anyone who knows about generational tendencies and factors, this should not be a surprise. But, to the pundits they appear to be shocked. “Young people don’t vote!” is a trope that this generation is going to push to the side.

Let’s get some things straight about Gen Z. Born between 1997 and 2012 the elder end of the Z generation had a front row seat to the election of Barack Obama, legalization of Gay Marriage, the destruction of the climate, the election and trauma of Donald Trump and nearly 1,700 school shootings. They were on the streets during the summer of George Floyd. They have seen Dobbs fall. They are done. Seriously. They are done. And they are not playing.

They have turned to TikTok to persuade their generational peers to engage and vote. They are marching and they are demanding to be at the table. Representatives from the activist group, Voters of Tomorrow have met with the White House and other Democratic Leaders outlining what they are demanding. There is not a group of GenZ activists who embody the generation more than the students who emerged as leaders after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. As I explain to participants in workshops that I lead on managing a multi-generational workplace:

Boomers are the authority, and continue to maintain authority and make the rules. Gen X hated authority and their rules, we (my generation) turned their backs on their parents as soon as they could, they were the generation of the Breakfast Club, not the Big Chill, and have been squeezed out of authority by the rules made by Boomers and Millennials. Millennials found kinship or conflict with authority and their rules - choosing to work with, disagree, or depart and make their own rules. And now Gen Z, they are authority and rules adjacent - they are going to learn what awards authority and partner with those in authority and demand to be in the room to change the rules.

The response to this authority/rules analysis is typically a strong one. Attendees find this to be thought provoking and while generational generalizations are not laws of nature, they are valuable as we consider our environmental human resources and realities.

For anyone working on a college campus, we should not be surprised by this, but perhaps we are. With the disruptions of the Covid pandemic, our exposure to campus activism has been inconsistent. I have argued that the summer of George Floyd didn’t become the year of George Floyd because campuses were in a state of low or now occupancy. Student gatherings were regulated at a heightened level out of a deep concern about public health. Indeed, there were pockets of protest and activism on campus that year, but not to the level that would have been seen if we weren’t in a state of pandemic preparedness.

The result of midterm turnout from Gen Z should energize campuses seeking to heighten civic engagement, dialogue and opportunities for student centered change management. Acknowledging that this is a generation who see possibility and are more demanding of change can be an opportunity - especially for Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials seeking to challenge the norm and lay the foundation for generations to come.

The Kids are Alright

Gen Z marches to the voting booth

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