I’ve recently written a couple pieces on Gen Z. The responses have been… well, interesting. Here’s what I wrote:

Gen Z makes up 27% of the workforce in 2025. 38% want to be CEO. They want 'inside-out leadership’ and don’t care for authoritative leaders. Rather, they want leaders to look inward, before empowering others.

They look for:

And they want actual authenticity with psychological safety and respect, too.

They’re also not interested in being middle managers. In a study of 800 respondents, half didn't want to be middle management. 70% said it's "high stress, low reward.” They want to rewrite workplace rules and redefine ambition while fulfilling their purpose.

They're not alone. Other generations agreed when entering the workforce. Gen Z is just more vocal about it. And now, they report to 'accidental' managers, people who fell into leadership. The lack of mentorship and inspiration is missing and so they're deciding to forgo the transition. Instead, they prefer contributing individually where they can better their craft and help the organization grow without the management requirement.

Procurement is divided, make no mistake. On the one hand you’ve got excitement, curiosity, and interest. On the other are people outright calling Gen Z lazy. What was equally interesting were the people bullying me for having written about what I read and sharing it. The division is very telling.

Change is hard for anyone. Especially when a function is in hyper-growth. But we can make an effort to reduce that division, be open minded, create a space for the future and help drive the function forward.

‘Next-gen’ is not only a generational shift in people, it’s the technology, frameworks, and approaches that are evovling, too.

What we’re choosing is procurement’s success and the people that make this place so special.

Better, together.

See you next week,

Mat

ps. Here’s a 56 second Steve Jobs video giving his thoughts on the topic.