The Meeting
On October 4, another meeting of the Procurement Club took place in São Paulo. The event featured prominent market figures such as Marcos Calliari, Viviane Barreto, Adriana Chaves, Patrícia Viotto, and Andréa Naccache, who participated in the Panel Discussion on New Technologies and Generations: The Profile of the New Leadership.
The Profile of the New Leadership
The debate centered on the multiple generations working concurrently in the labor market. Initially, the key differences between Generation X and Generation Y were conceptualized.
Generation Y
Generation Y, represented by individuals born between the 1980s and 1990s, began quite differently from Generation X, represented by those born between the 1960s and 1970s. Several factors highlight this difference, primarily demographic ones, as Millennials grew up as only children or, in the vast majority of cases, having only one sibling. Consequently, they benefited from greater parental attention across various aspects. Among these was household income itself, which, as it increased, offered better opportunities to the youth of that generation.
We are in a phase where Generation Y is reaching leadership positions in major organizations. Only from this point forward will it be possible to witness an effective shift in companies. This change will certainly have a substantial impact on society as a whole.
The fierce pursuit of achievements seen in Gen Y youth was attributed by scholars of the topic to a few factors. The highlight was the influence of the video games they used to play as children. The drive to clear levels and experience new things turned them into adults with great ambitions and a strong desire to succeed.
It is a very agile generation, and at times short-term oriented. They like to stand out for their traits, whether physical or intellectual. Furthermore, they are much more flexible in various respects compared to the previous generation.
Generation Y in the Labor Market
Another point is that the job market calls for a reset in organizational culture, and diversity becomes essential. This enables companies to innovate and anticipate changes through team engagement. Current organizational values are gradually being replaced by massive transformative purposes.
For an engaged team, it is essential that leaders foster trust within the organizational environment through actions that release oxytocin—the hormone responsible for feelings of trust—among their team members.
Experts also noted that most people do not have a dream company model in mind. However, a significant portion is already "flirting" with their dream career. It features collaborative leadership and a work environment where one does not need to hide who they truly are to achieve genuine acceptance.
What changes in the market?
As they reinvent themselves, companies are beginning to feel the need to rethink even employee compensation models, recognizing that the language of today's youth is algorithms. Following this trend and innovating in HR, ideas of recruiting talent through algorithms are emerging based on searching for publicly available information about candidates online.
Technology is deeply ingrained in this generation. With easy access to everything and all types of information, greater interest is sparked in young people—a generation that no longer thinks about retiring around age 50, as previous generations did. How, then, can such expectations be met? To summarize the experts' answer to this question: through innovation in labor relations.
To innovate, “it is necessary to unlearn the old and learn the new.” There is no one better suited than a young Gen Y leader—possessing visionary thinking and the key traits mentioned earlier—to foster such innovation in labor relations. This means that unlearning and starting from scratch is the path to complete understanding.
Leaders who excel in this context understand that to educate is to learn how to learn. In this way, continuous learning will be the foundation for success.
Check out photos from the Meeting below:
