March 2025
Investing in the Next Generation of Leaders: What Works for Millennials and Gen Z
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"I don't want a boss—I want a coach."
That statement, shared by a high potential junior leader in her late 20s during a leadership development session, stopped the room. Her colleagues, Millennials and Gen Zers, nodded in agreement. It wasn’t a rebellion against hierarchy or authority, but it was a clear call for a different kind of leadership and a different kind of development.
For organizations committed to future-proofing their leadership pipelines, it’s time to rethink how we invest in emerging leaders. The next generation of leaders aren’t waiting around for legacy career ladders; they’re asking for meaningful development, purposeful work, and leaders who believe in them.
So, how do we invest wisely and effectively in high-potential junior leaders, especially those in the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts? Here are five proven approaches.
| | President & CEO, Turknett Leadership Group | |
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TLG CO-FOUNDER, Lyn Turknett
What advice would you give to organizations looking to invest in young leaders?
The biggest lesson is not to put young leaders in a box. Give them opportunities to try new things and gain experience. More often than not, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by their capabilities.
While there are occasional situations where things don’t work out, the vast majority of the young people we’ve hired have brought immense value. If you allow them to experiment, develop skills, and contribute, your organization will benefit as much as they do.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TLG ADVISOR, Susan Hitchcock
What skills and characteristics do you believe are most critical for the next generation of leaders?
For me, using the Leadership Character Model is one of the best ways to talk about what next generation or any generation of leaders need. They need integrity first and foremost as a foundation; then they need to balance respect (the people side of leadership) with responsibility (the results side of leadership.) Leaders need humility and confidence, empathy and accountability, emotional mastery and courage, among other characteristics. They also need to keep up with technical advances especially in the evolving impact of AI and how that can be used for help businesses, consumers, and humanity. I also think curiosity, compassion and collaboration are essential to the best leaders.
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How to Spot - and Develop - High Potential Talent in Your Organization
James Intagliata, Jennifer Sturman and Stephen Kincaid | HBR
Organizations struggle to identify their next-gen leaders, and for good reasons. When you don’t know what the future will bring, how do you figure out who has — or can acquire — the right strengths to meet those challenges? Which high potentials will give you the best return on your development efforts?
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We are thrilled to announce our next live virtual event!
This event promises a impactful discussion on the transformative power of affordable homeownership, impacting not only individuals, but generations. Rosalyn Merrick has filled a variety of roles at Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, giving her a front row seat to how to lead with action and make its mission come to life. She had this to say upon becoming CEO: “I grew up in this city and I’m honored to put my talents to work as we empower families to break poverty cycles by providing quality, affordable homes in safe, vibrant neighborhoods.”
Listen in as our speaker shares her unique experiences and insights.
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Facilitated by Anne Quiello, M.S., PCC
Senior Consultant & Host of Women in Leadership
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Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience
We’re thrilled to reflect on an inspiring and rewarding experience with the Agnes Scott College students who joined us for SCALE this past month! SCALE (Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience) provides students with a unique opportunity to explore career paths, gain hands-on experience, and engage in real-world learning within organizations like ours.
Throughout the program, these talented students demonstrated exceptional dedication, curiosity, and creativity. Over three days, they explored topics in leadership, HR, and industrial-organizational psychology, working together to create insightful infographics that showcased their ability to translate complex concepts into clear, compelling visuals. Their presentations were nothing short of impressive, reflecting both their growth and their passion for learning.
We are immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of their journey. A heartfelt thank you to all the students for their enthusiasm and hard work – you are truly the leaders of tomorrow!
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SOAHR 2025
We had an amazing time at SOAHR 2025! It was a pleasure connecting with so many passionate HR professionals and engaging in thoughtful conversations.
A special thank you to our fantastic panelists — Jasmine Adams, Shan Pesaru, Robin Mladinich, and Hope Harris — and to our moderator Tim Huff for leading an insightful discussion on Leadership Lessons from Taylor Swift. From the power of storytelling and resilience to embracing reinvention and empowering others, the panel explored how Swift’s career offers valuable takeaways for leaders at all levels.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to be part of this inspiring event and look forward to continuing the conversation.
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The Anxious Generation
After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.
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The Talent Code
What is the secret of talent? How do we unlock it? In this groundbreaking work, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle provides parents, teachers, coaches, businesspeople—and everyone else—with tools they can use to maximize potential in themselves and others.
Whether you’re coaching soccer or teaching a child to play the piano, writing a novel or trying to improve your golf swing, this revolutionary book shows you how to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism.
Drawing on cutting-edge neurology and firsthand research gathered on journeys to nine of the world’s talent hotbeds—from the baseball fields of the Caribbean to a classical-music academy in upstate New York—Coyle identifies the three key elements that will allow you to develop your gifts and optimize your performance in sports, art, music, math, or just about anything.
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100 Crescent Center Pkwy
Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30084
(770) 270-1723
Tim Huff
President & CEO, TLG
thuff@turknett.com
(770) 270-1723
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