Building the New Leadership Model That Millennials and Gen Z Actually Want

The companies winning the competition for talent aren’t the ones with the biggest salaries. They’re the ones who figured out what these generations actually want. 

In parts one and two of our series, we explored why Millennials and Gen Z reject traditional leadership and how current management failures push them away. Now, let’s examine the opportunity hidden in this crisis and how innovative organizations are already capitalizing on it. 

The Advantage of Thinking Differently

The values driving younger workers away from traditional leadership roles actually position them to build better organizations. In our executive search practice at Stanton Chase, we’ve observed that these generations reject corner offices, but they bring exactly what companies need: the ability to collaborate across cultural, generational, and departmental boundaries, move quickly, and question outdated assumptions. 

These generations watched companies fail because leadership teams all thought the same way. They saw organizations miss obvious market changes because everyone in charge had the same background and never questioned each other. Their rejection of traditional hierarchies comes from practical observation. They know competitive advantage comes from different perspectives challenging conventional thinking. 

When we sit down with our clients to discuss succession planning, we’ve observed how younger workers demonstrate the practices management consultants have long advocated: continuous learning, seeking diverse perspectives, and questioning traditional approaches. They want environments where different ways of thinking drive innovation. They value leaders who took unconventional paths because those leaders bring fresh perspectives. They want teams that look like their customer base because they’ve seen products fail when companies don’t understand their users. This comes from avoiding the groupthink that killed Blockbuster, Kodak, and countless other companies that couldn’t see change coming. 

Opening the Pipeline to All Talent

This change opens doors to previously locked-out talent. The traditional leadership pipeline was narrow: you had to relocate constantly, work extreme hours, and fit a specific mold. But it left talented people behind. Parents who needed flexibility. Technical experts who didn’t want to abandon their expertise for management. Career changers from different industries. People who learned through experience rather than elite MBA programs. All found themselves shut out of leadership tracks. 

Our consultants have helped organizations tap into this overlooked talent pool with remarkable results. When younger generations demand flexibility and multiple pathways to leadership, they solve a problem companies have struggled with for years: accessing all available talent. Remove the 70-hour week requirement, and parents can lead. Create technical leadership tracks, and you keep your best experts. Value different types of experience, and you get leaders who understand your full range of customers. 

Leading companies are already making these changes, though quietly. We’re helping them build leadership programs that recognize different strengths and backgrounds. They’re creating advancement paths that don’t require sacrificing everything else. When you focus on performance rather than presence, on results rather than face time, you build more effective leadership teams. These companies aren’t changing to appease younger workers. They’re doing it because it works better. 

The Five Essential Changes

When we encounter organizations struggling with their leadership pipeline, we recommend these five changes: 

1. Redesign roles for flexibility and autonomy: Build C-suite positions that include remote options, flexible schedules, and clear boundaries between work and personal time. Consider job-sharing arrangements for executive roles or four-day workweeks for senior leadership. 
2. Create multiple pathways to leadership: Recognize lateral moves, technical expertise, and non-traditional experiences as valid preparation for executive roles. Promote people who’ve taken career breaks, changed industries, or built expertise through unconventional paths. 
3. Invest in continuous, personalized development: Replace one-size-fits-all training with personalized learning paths. Let employees choose their development opportunities, whether that’s online courses, mentorship programs, or hands-on projects. 
4. Demonstrate genuine commitment to purpose: Connect every leadership role to meaningful outcomes. Show candidates exactly how their work will impact customers, communities, or causes they care about. Make this concrete, not abstract. 
5. Build support systems that prevent burnout: Provide executive coaching, mental health resources, and peer support networks. Normalize taking time off and seeking help. Make well-being metrics part of leadership performance reviews. 

The Succession Planning Revolution

Companies face a choice: update their leadership development to match these changing expectations, or risk facing a talent drought during a period of intense competition. This transformation starts with succession planning that actually matches how careers work now. 

Traditional succession planning fails because it assumes linear progression and singular ambition. But when your best talent is building portfolio careers, taking lateral moves for learning, and prioritizing purpose over position, you need succession strategies that account for these realities. At Stanton Chase, we help organizations map succession for all roles that matter to the business, because the capabilities that define tomorrow’s success might be sitting three levels down in your organization today. 

The companies getting this right recognize that succession planning now means identifying talent potential wherever it exists and creating multiple pathways to leadership roles. They understand their next CEO might come from an unexpected division, might have taken a career break, or might have built their credibility through lateral moves rather than vertical climbs. We use frameworks like Stanton Chase’s 3As (Ability, Aspiration, Agility) to assess readiness based on potential and adaptability, not just current performance in a hierarchical structure. 

The First-Mover Advantage

The companies that solve this leadership crisis first will have a massive competitive advantage. While their competitors struggle to fill executive roles or settle for leaders who don’t understand how to manage millennial and Gen Z workforces, early adopters will have built leadership teams that actually match how business works now. 

In our work with innovative organizations, we’re seeing these future leaders emerge. They know how to guide organizations through technological disruption because they lived through it. They understand stakeholder capitalism because they demanded it as employees. They create sustainable business models because they won’t sacrifice long-term thinking for quarterly results. Most importantly, they know how to attract and retain top talent because they represent what top talent actually wants from leadership. 

The executive teams that succeed in the coming decade won’t be managing a different generation; they’ll be showing a different kind of leadership entirely. The companies that figure this out first will have access to a talent pool their competitors are actively alienating. 

Your Next Step

The future C-suite is being shaped today, one mentoring conversation and purpose-driven opportunity at a time. The question becomes whether organizations will transform their definition of leadership fast enough to attract the talent that will define the next era of business success. 

If you’re experiencing any of these leadership pipeline challenges (declining promotions, disengaged high-potentials, or difficulty filling executive roles) reach out to your closest Stanton Chase office. Our consultants can assess your current succession planning, identify gaps in your leadership development, and help you build the new leadership model that actually attracts top millennial and Gen Z talent. 

This is the final installment of our three-part series on Millennials and Gen Z transforming executive leadership. Read part one here on why they reject the C-suite. Read part two here on management failures pushing them away. 

About the Author

Valeria Cox is a Managing Partner at Stanton Chase Santiago and serves as the Regional Leader for the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging practice group in the LATAM region. She is also a marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in various industries, consistently delivering value in strategic planning, marketing research, consumer behavior, CX, and loyalty planning.