Managing me: A letter to my future leadership team
Insight into how Gen Z likes to work and lead.
UP NEXT spotlights the perspectives of IPR NEXT members as they drive the future of communications with purpose and impact. Learn more about IPR NEXT, the Institute for Public Relations’ membership community for emerging leaders.
Haley Self is a senior manager of strategy at Integral. Follow her on LinkedIn.
Dear leaders I haven’t met yet,
I’m writing the next chapter of my career. You’ve already written many, but I’d like to co-author one together — one that, if successful, will positively impact me, my Gen Z counterparts, you as a leader, and your organization.
That story is about the future of work and adapting your organization to meet us in the current moment. Because let’s be honest: we need jobs, and you need to future-proof your business.
Let’s start with a simple framework: People, purpose, and place. If we get this right, our story will turn potential into momentum, and momentum into results… for both of us.
People
Place me near people who accelerate my growth. I’m eager to innovate, but don’t yet know what you know. When managers explain the why behind the how, I can see context, constraints, patterns of success — and move from doing to leading. We’re prioritizing learning, development, and want managers who “provide guidance, inspiration, and mentorship,” according to Deloitte. Lastly, feedback is critical to calibrate my instincts early, and recognition is paramount. Among Gen Zs whose job contributes to stress, “a lack of recognition or reward” is one of the top factors.
Purpose
Purpose isn’t a poster; it’s a practice. Values are lived, not just repeated. When employer values mirror ours, we’re inclined to do our best work. Gen Z and millennials are explicitly balancing “money, meaning, and well-being.” Nearly half of Gen Zs say they aren’t financially secure—making it harder to feel that work is meaningful. Data underscores these stakes: 45% of Gen Z workers say their employer’s values align with their own only “somewhat” or not at all, the highest rate of any generation, according to Integral.
Show me purpose in action: connect work to real outcomes, model behavior you expect, and celebrate impact — mine and others.
Place
Create the conditions where we can do our best work. First, security: financial and psychological. The top stress driver for us is money: both long-term and day-to-day. Be transparent about compensation paths, bonuses, and advancement. Clear ladders (and honest rungs!) reduce anxiety and enable smart risk-taking.
Second, intentional hybridity. I can’t learn the ropes if I never leave my house, and only about one-in-four remote-capable Gen Z employees say fully remote is ideal, and under-24s average about 3.1 in-office days a week, according to the Financial Times. We’re not coming for office ping-pong tables; it’s for relationships, observation, and osmosis. So, pair anchor days with shadowing, office hours, and serendipity (hallway chats where context, and maybe a laugh, is traded).
Lastly, AI is changing everything, so invest in us as early adopters. Because frankly, we’re scared. Twenty-five percent of Gen Z professionals told Integral they worry new digital tools could put their jobs at risk, making early, inclusive training essential.
If you provide mentorship, connect to purpose, and build the right environment, I’ll do the rest: find problems worth solving, raise my ideas, and put in work to realize them. Will you be ready to write alongside me?
With warm regards and high expectations,
– Your Soon-To-Be Secret Weapon
This is such a smart, persuasive, thoughtful and instructive piece. For many readers, the epistolary format is just a conceit. I’m happy to be in the position to take it literally 🙂 Bravo, Haley!