Marcie Merriman, EY Cultural Anthropologist, joins Cheddar News from the Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss why businesses should be paying close attention to Gen Z, ways that this generation differs from millennials, and why younger generations are putting mental health at the forefront.

Closing Bell

Why Business Leaders Should Pay Close Attention to Gen Z

Welcome back to closing bell on cheddar news. This segment is brought to you by E. Y. Empowering today's leaders to realize tomorrow's opportunities, the aspen ideas festival is underway in colorado. Business leaders, artists, writers, and so many more provocative thinkers are gathering to break down issues that shape our lives and challenge our times. And our next guest is speaking at this festival on the topic of gen Z, how this generation is defined labels and challenging perspectives of the world as we know it. So, joining me now is Marcie Merriman. Ey, cultural anthropologist Marcy, thanks so much for joining. Who exactly is gen Z and why should businesses of today be paying close attention to them? Hi, great to be with you first. Well before jumping into gen Z and talking about who they are, I think it's really important to lay the foundation for what a generation is and why that matters how understanding that can be beneficial to companies. So rather than a label, simple label that we arbitrarily put two entire group of people, we should be thinking about a generation as a group of people that are really form a kinship through shared events that changed the society that grew up in. So usually these are political, economic, new technologies. These types of things create a shift in our society, a shift in our environment and for those that are growing up that are in their formative years, these create a common basis, understanding for how the world should work. So rather than just looking at gen Z as this group of people, we can use them as a lens to help us understand broader societal change that's going to impact everyone. So for businesses, this is important to understand because if they can tap into gen Z understand what's happening in society, where consumers are going through the lens of what they're experiencing today, gives them the ability to anticipate what's coming next to get ahead of the curve, to prepare for what's coming down the pike. So fascinating. Such great insight there, Marcy millennials though often still viewed as the youth of America. And so how do millennials compared to gen Z? What are some of the similarities and differences? Yeah. Well, if you think about millennials with generations being formed by the society that grew up in millennials which were born 81 to, you know, roughly 96. They grew up with the Children of the 80s, the 90s, it was a very different world at that time. It was before the mobile phone, as we know it today. It was before social media. You know, it was when we were breaking down walls rather than building them and what we're seeing today with this generation who the youngest of them were born before mobile phones really took dominance. They've never known a world without access to all these things without though also the trust factors that were diminishing over the last decade. You know, we all feel it, we're seeing diminished trust in all generations, but nowhere stronger than gen Z Who this is the only world they've ever known, I mean 57% of them tell us that people cannot be trusted and with this we're seeing whole shifts in our society and gen-Z taking us in very different directions, prioritizing things that were different than generations past, interesting. Well, Marcie, you're speaking at several sessions this week at aspen ideas about gen z. So what core themes are you sharing about the generation to help leaders prepare to face this new generation? Yeah, I mentioned the trust factor and so much about what's happening here at the festival is focused on trust and what's happening with trust in our society today. People, citizens, consumers, employees and with gen z, they're really battling against this distrust that we're feeling with a sense of authenticity, that's their most important factor. I mean, this is a very diverse generation. We don't want to put them all in one bucket, But one thing we did find is through our research, 92% of them said, being authentic, being true to yourself is the most important attribute and with this we're seeing them take bold, courageous steps, you know, they're leading with once taboo topics, the way of conveying who they are and challenging the status quo, living out loud. We're seeing them demand the same of companies, so companies need to live their true authentic self, they need to do things for the right reasons because it's true to their brand. So whether it's around social or sustainability, you need to think about doing what's true to who they are, rather than just going for, you know, something that can increase their stock price, interesting, Marcie, we gotta leave it there. Great to get your insight. That's Marcie Merriman ey, cultural anthropologist. And this segment brought to you by you, i helping you realize your transformation through the power of people, Technology and innovation visit ui dot com to learn more.