The Future of Work: A Millennial's Perspective on Leading in a Disruptive World

The air is buzzing with talk of exponential change, disruption, new technologies, and the opportunities and threats they present. Leaders across the country are grappling with strategies to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape, not for tomorrow, but for right now.

At the Virke conference last November, I had the opportunity to offer some insights to a group of business leaders about what I believe is crucial for organizations hoping to thrive in the future.

It's no secret that tomorrow's workplace will be powered by technology. But amidst the excitement and anxieties about the latest innovations, there's something far more important that we can actively shape and influence today.

My hope is that the future holds a better work environment, inspired employees, and, ultimately, the continued success of Norwegian businesses.

In this age of disruption, ideas, creativity, and execution are the most valuable assets any company can possess. But these elements are just marketing buzzwords without the people who can, want to, and are given the opportunity to execute them.

Now, more than ever, businesses need to be entirely focused on their current and future workforce. I hear from leaders that identifying and empowering young, new employees, pushing them to succeed within the company, is paramount. But I also hear echoes from my own millennial generation – leaders are good at talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

While leaders discuss technology, innovation, and strategies to prepare for this "new era," I fear they often forget that strategy is only as good as the people who implement it. It's the employees who drive the company towards its goals, not just the executives sitting in boardrooms.

Therefore, attracting, developing, and retaining talent is more essential than ever. This includes the curious employees who have worked for a few years and want to try something new within the same company, the restless individuals who wonder if they should start their own businesses, and the newly graduated, brimming with ambition, whose passion hasn't yet withered away after years of endless bureaucratic processes and invisible hierarchies.

By 2020, half of all employees will belong to the millennial generation, born between 1980 and 2000. This generation is strikingly different from the previous one. For our parents, the goal was to land a job early on at a well-established company, climbing the pre-defined career ladder driven by incentives like corner offices, bonuses, and promotions promised years down the line. But for us, passion isn't sparked by titles and salaries.

While salaries are essential, they don't define our identities or fuel our willingness to go the extra mile. What truly motivates us is the opportunity to solve real problems, contribute to something larger than ourselves, and feel like our work makes a difference beyond the company's bottom line.

Today, organizations are lucky if they can retain their young employees for more than three years. We crave learning, challenge, and have grown up hearing our parents say we can "achieve anything" – the entrepreneurial gene. A whopping 72% of us aspire to become our own bosses. If leaders don't recognize and capitalize on this drive, we'll move on as quickly as we arrived.

We're inherently agile, and the rapid pace of market evolution demands this type of thinking: quick development, continuous testing, and affordable failure. These work methods require energetic and curious employees with the confidence to take risks.

We can't stand centralized institutions where every decision needs to be approved by every level of management, resulting in products reaching the market already outdated. We seek responsibility, autonomy, and challenge: open culture, flat hierarchies, and authentic leadership.

Established companies often create strategies designed to last for years. But in today's world, where tiny startups pose the greatest threat to established businesses, few strategies extend beyond six months. They evolve organically, adapting to the market because no one can predict the future. I spent the summer at Singularity University in Silicon Valley, where the strategic mantra was, "I know exactly where I want to be in ten years, I know exactly what I need to do in the next six months, but everything in between is anyone's guess."

To the Leaders:

Company culture plays a significant role in turning new ideas into reality and commercializing them. As leaders, you are perceived as mentors to us. We want you to be inclusive, provide us with regular feedback, ensure that we are respected and heard on the same level as senior employees. We crave opportunities for quick growth – freedom with responsibility empowers us to deliver. We want you to recognize our passion, listen to our ideas, and help us refine them. Often, our confidence exceeds our actual abilities, so we need to learn from your experience and provide you with input in return.

We are curious and eager to learn from your wisdom, not your methods. If you limit us by dictating how to do things, you'll simply recreate the old and stifle the new. Instead, present us with problems and see what happens. We might surprise you.

Yes, we need deadlines, structure, and people to report to. But we're demanding, and we want to achieve our goals on our own terms, in our own time, and in our own way – with your guidance, not your recipes.

And if we succeed, make sure we're acknowledged. It will motivate us to work smarter and deliver even better results next time. If we fail, consider it a learning experience that makes us more resilient for the next challenge. Don't be disappointed or lose faith in us. We want what's best, but we don't have all the answers either.

Hire based on passion, not solely on academic credentials from "prestigious schools" or experience. If we're passionate about something, we'll go the extra mile to find a solution. Remember that experience and expertise can sometimes have the opposite effect – individuals can become so convinced of what "won't work" that their creativity is stifled before it even begins. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

An innovative company of the future will be a place where employees have the time and space to figure things out themselves, equipped with the necessary resources to execute their ideas. This is essential for generating new initiatives, rather than planting seeds that cultivate the old and reinforce strategies that yesterday's leaders have already established. Tomorrow's leaders will grant freedom with responsibility and trust, recognizing potential rather than criticizing lack of experience. If you loosen the reins, you'll almost always receive hardworking and loyal employees in return.

Successful leaders of tomorrow will foster a culture with minimal hierarchy where ideas can blossom, where the penalty for failure is replaced with a reward for taking risks. They hire people smarter than themselves, keep an eye on the future while attending to day-to-day business, which allows them to invest in the new and uncertain, enabling them to ride the wave of the next S-curve.

In Silicon Valley, it's become a cliché to say how "fantastic it is to fail." It might sound like a joke, but when something becomes a cliché, it's often because there's a universal truth behind it.

So, my challenge to leaders, beyond encouraging their employees to fail, is to dare to fail yourselves. No one has experience leading in the future, in a market that is so globally competitive and rapidly changing. There are no absolute solutions. Good luck, I'm rooting for you.