What millennials look for in a leader

When you think of leadership, what comes to mind? A general leading troops to victory in a heated battle? A CEO who comes into a struggling organization and turns it around? A manager who excels at motivating his or her team to deliver superior results?

I want to share a different example of what leadership looks like.

Jordyn Simmons was an African- American girl who decided to take a computer coding course in high school. Despite being the only female and only person of color, she stuck with the class. After studying her heart out, she received an A Plus on her coding exam. She was very excited about her score, but her instructor was not. He pulled her aside and told her to admit to the fact that she cheated, that there was no way she could have received that score.

What was Jordyn’s response? “Rather than be discouraged about this, I decided to turn it around and flip it into something positive. I decided to continue with the course and study computer science at whatever college I attended.”

Fast forward a couple of years and Jordyn is thriving in computer science at Barnard College. You can watch her two-minute TEDx video here.

This is the new face of leadership.

Millennials aren’t looking for leaders, they’re looking for leadership

In The Hartford’s 2015 Millennial Leadership Survey, 60 percent of millennials surveyed cited leadership training as the top training type they desired, followed by technical skills at 57 percent and financial skills at 47 percent.

What’s the difference between “leader” and “leadership”? If someone is looking for a leader, it implies they are a “follower” looking for someone to tell them what to do. Someone looking for leadership is looking for an example of how to be a leader.

With every choice we make we have the opportunity to demonstrate leadership.  

Here’s an example: The president of a regional bank is out in his community all the time. Any time he is asked what he does, he replies, “I have the privilege of being the president of (bank).” Every time he gives that response is demonstrating the leadership quality of humility. His answer is also in perfect alignment with the culture of this relationship-focused community bank.

Here’s another example:  The head of wealth management firm, when walking the halls, heard about a situation where a client needed money right away.  A check had been prepared, but had been misplaced.  It was determined that it must be in the paper recycling dumpster outside.  So the head of the firm went out with the team to the dumpster, took off her heels, told her CFO to give her a boost, and into the dumpster she went.  She did indeed find the check which was promptly delivered to the client.

You don’t have to be a leader to demonstrate leadership

You don’t necessarily need followers to be a leader. Jordyn Simmons didn’t have any followers, and yet she demonstrated key leadership qualities.

So did a millennial employee new to his credit union mortgage department. When he started working with clients, he noticed that many of the members were anxious about the mortgage process. So he tells every person he works with, “I’m going to be a member of your family for the next 30 days. I’m going to communicate exactly what’s going on at all times.” He took the initiative to demonstrate leadership with his clients.

How are you demonstrating leadership? And what kind of leadership training are your providing to your employees? The best way to be an effective leader is to help Millennials develop their leadership skills.