The Gen Z Leadership Paradox
How do you develop leaders that don’t want to lead?
According to Deloitte's 2025 survey of 23,000+ workers, only 6% of Generation Z say their primary career goal is to reach a leadership position.
DDI's Global Leadership Forecast 2025 reveals that 80% of HR professionals lack confidence in their leadership pipelines, and CEOs rank developing the next generation of leaders among their top four concerns.
For many organisations I have spoken to and worked with, succession planning is often at least as big a concern as recruitment and retention.
Surveys show that the large majority of Gen Z has the same view on middle management - it’s too high stress, low reward.
Gen Z is not anti-leadership; they're anti-burnout, anti-toxic hierarchy and anti a ‘work now, live later’ mentality. There’s plenty of Gen Z leaders around, not least the hundreds of thousands running their own businesses already.
Given this, how do you build your leaders for the future?
Here’s four aspects to consider.
TL;DR
A lower proportion of Gen Z want leadership roles compared to previous generations. This creates a succession planning crisis. This isn't entitlement for a generation who have watched previous generations burn out. The solution isn't forcing compliance but reimagining leadership: reduce the administrative burden managers face, offer micro-leadership experiences and create sustainable models which every generation can benefit from.
1. The skills gap nobody's talking about
The starting point is the disconnect between what organisations offer and what Generation Z actually wants at the start of their career.
Gen Zs know that AI skills are required for career advancement, but also say soft skills like communication, empathy, and leadership are even more important.
They may not expect to get the former from their managers, but they do expect to get the latter. My experience is that Gen Z young professionals also want more of their manager’s time, and that they could get it if a lot of the administrative tasks were automated and outsourced.
Gen Z professionals have a stronger desire for development than their leaders often imagine, but just not always via the traditional leadership ladder. Learning and development ranks in their top three reasons for choosing an employer but conventional leadership programmes miss the mark entirely.
They want mentorship, guidance, practical experience and to develop their voice. They also know that with great support they can deliver the goods. Their expectations of what that support looks like may be much higher than their manager.
For the multigenerational workplace to function effectively, this gap must close. Gen Z wants development opportunities that build genuine capability, not programmes designed to produce carbon copies of previous leadership generations.
In short, they may not think their leaders are very efficient or effective. They don’t want to be you. They do want to be the best version of themselves, and to be met where they are as a starting point.
2. The mental health crisis driving leadership rejection
An individual’s first management role has always been a little scary, particularly if it involves taking over a team which includes older colleagues.
In today’s ‘five star’ culture, where any review less than that can risk reputational damage, the idea of managing others can be a little scarier. Despite the plethora of books and courses on the topic, there is nothing quite like the first time you have to give unwelcome feedback or worse.
We are already at the point where a quarter of those in their early to mid twenties have a ‘probable mental health disorder’ according to NHS figures. I have heard some evidence recently that we are ‘inevitably’ heading to half.
These aren't abstract statistics; they're lived experiences shaping career decisions. Gen Z is, on average, far more willing to discuss mental health at work although may be less willing to do so with those further up the organisation. There is a clear implication that taking on leadership roles associated with longer hours, increased stress and managing people without adequate support feels like a risk not worth taking.
The extra money which could be earned by managing a team can be found by building up the side hustle and without the stress and headaches. I’m not saying it’s necessarily that easy, but attempting to do so that way may be the more attractive option.
The ‘conscious unbossing’ trend, already well-established, could be around for a while yet.
The audiobook version of The Snowflake Myth will be out at some point over the next week on all streaming platforms! I will send a separate email out about it when released. For updates please go to the book page on my website.
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3. Fill the leadership vacuum before it starts
The Gen Z leadership paradox creates immediate and long-term business costs that many organisations haven't fully calculated.
The gaps can become very visible and quickly, a prolonged leadership vacancy being just one example. The knock on effects are amplified when organisations promote people who aren't ready, leading to wasted time and resources and inevitable burnout. This only reinforces the vicious cycle that made leadership unappealing in the first place.
Traditional succession planning, built on assumptions of steady leadership pipeline development (you’ve done your years now, you must be ready!), collapses when the pipeline runs dry.
For the multigenerational workplace, this creates a dangerous dynamic. As Gen Z comprises an increasing workforce percentage, their absence from leadership positions means decision-making concentrates in older generations increasingly disconnected from evolving customer expectations and workplace norms. The potential offered by age diversity becomes impossible to fulfil.
When Gen Z employees see no appealing leadership path, or a poor management culture, they leave for organisations with better models. This talent exodus doesn't just affect Gen Z. High-performing employees from other generations also leave organisations with obvious succession problems and dysfunctional leadership cultures.
And so on.
Organisations do not need everyone to want to lead. But they do need those who might be interested to feel ready when the time comes because learning opportunities came early, and were not loaded with the idea they would have to put it into practice immediately.
Making these opportunities visible, both internally and externally, also helps when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best Gen Z.
4. Make leadership and management roles appealing
Here’s a highly generalised statement - not enough managers enjoy their jobs, including those in the ‘middle of an organisation’.
Expectations from the public have rocketed since Covid, and large language AI models have made it much easier for complaints, grievances and so on to be instigated. On a very general average, these roles have become harder and less appealing.
On top of that a high proportion of managers often have no training or management related qualifications. You might think that the former is necessary and the latter does not particularly matter. The reason I raise it is because it is increasingly common for Gen Z to expect that their leaders have a qualification for the work that they do. A company culture which does not value this may also be one that is making promotion less appealing.
I also see more examples of senior teams expecting that AI can take a lot of the burden, without working out what this requires, whether the technology is currently available or evaluating how much time it takes to monitor these systems and correct them when they go wrong.
Unless Gen Z are inspired to follow in the footsteps of their managers, and have a genuine sense that this brings more opportunity to shape the organisation, they are unlikely to do so.
Remember that
A small proportion of Gen Z aspire to leadership positions, whilst a high proportion of HR professionals lack confidence in their talent pipelines. To what extent is succession planning on your organisation’s agenda?
This is not about Gen Z rejecting leadership per se, but unsustainable models for doing so. More sustainable models are available if organisations choose to look.
Companies that get the training offer right, offer micro-leadership experiences along the way, and make manager roles more attractive will be in a far stronger position.
FAQ
Isn't this just another example of Gen Z being difficult or entitled? No. When the numbers battling medically diagnosed depression and anxiety are so high. Their reluctance represents rational risk assessment rather than entitlement. The question organisations should ask isn't ‘why won't Gen Z accept leadership as it is?" but rather "why are we defending leadership models that damage wellbeing?"
Can organisations really afford to redesign leadership structures just for one generation? This misses the point. With Gen Z comprising nearly one-third of the workforce by 2030, organisations cannot afford not to evolve. Moreover, creating sustainable, well-supported leadership roles benefits all generations. The current models don't serve anyone well, Gen Z is more willing to say so openly as well as politely decline the opportunity for advancement.
What if we invest in new leadership models and Gen Z still chooses not to lead? The investment creates value regardless. Organisations with sustainable leadership roles, reduced administrative burden, genuine development support and multiple pathways to influence will attract better talent from all generations. The alternative, maintaining broken models because changing them feels risky, only guarantees failure.
Alex Atherton is a Gen Z speaker and generations speaker who helps organisations navigate intergenerational workplace challenges.
How can I help you?
Talks, workshops and seminars - I am an award-winning speaker. My talks include recruiting and retaining Gen Z, understanding Gen Z, overcoming the challenges of the multigenerational workplace plus those relevant to the topics below. Speaker showreel here.
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