Why Traditional Leadership Is Failing Younger Generations

If you’ve caught yourself thinking, “I can’t motivate younger employees or athletes like I used to,” this episode is for you. The tension isn’t proof that Gen Z is lazy or that leadership is broken, it’s a sign the old model is incomplete.

We unpack what actually drives motivation and buy-in today: connection, psychological safety, autonomy, role clarity, growth, and meaning. Ryan shares how his coaching style evolved from fear and pressure toward neuroscience-backed leadership and culture development, while Heidi connects the same challenges to both business teams and sports environments.

We explore why culture is becoming the new compensation, how leaders and coaches can create real buy-in, and why identity, mission, standards, accountability, and feedback are the foundation of high-performing teams.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a leader or coach, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome And Listener Question

Ryan 0:16

I'm gonna say good morning. So it might be morning when you listen to this. So if it is, good morning. If it's not, then good day, afternoon, evening, whatever it is. But good morning to you. How are you doing?

Heidi 0:26

Good morning. Doing great.

Ryan 0:27

Yeah, all's good. Excited to uh kick off uh this episode. We already had a request, a question from our audience. Uh and so we're gonna dive into it. You ready?

Heidi 0:41

I know that's so exciting. We put that out there. Hey, text us, send us a message, and and we got one.

Why Money Stops Working

Ryan 0:45

Yeah, so here we go. So here's the question, which I think is is right on cue of where we wanted to uh to take the conversation anyway. So I I love this. The question was noticing that there's a difference in younger generation from a management style perspective, how do you lead the younger generation in the workplace? What I've always done doesn't seem to be working, and asking for some sort of clarity or direction to better lead the younger workforce in the role that they um are in. They're mainly hiring younger uh employees, and notice that there's harder to to harder to motivate them, um struggling with retention. And they one of the pieces that this question kind of posed was it doesn't seem that they're motivated by money. So that's where we're starting. That we're recognizing there's something different and there's something incomplete. Before I go into a little bit of a story that kind of illustrates this, because this really, really resonates with me. Is there anything that comes to mind for you before I go down a bit of a rabbit hole?

Heidi 2:11

I just think it's a fantastic question because not only does this apply to business and the person asking the question about their business and and employees there, but also people coaching teams. You know, I'm thinking of sports teams and wanting to motivate and retain players because now with portal and different things, retention is a big factor when it comes to teams.

Ryan 2:34

Yeah. So I did a talk a few years ago, and it was a 25-minute talk that probably should have been a 90-minute talk. And so in this talk, I did probably a little bit too much like information. It's on YouTube, by the way. It's called uh Mindset to Meaning. And so some of the stuff that we're gonna talk about either probably in this podcast and a few more will will be threads from that uh presentation talk that I did to uh a group of coaches. And here's where I want to start this conversation, and then I'm gonna see where my story fits into this because this is this is me to a T. Um kids these days I hear that. What I'm and I've always and I've hear people say, coaches in particular, but in this case it's a corporate or a leader, a manager of sorts, saying, What I've always done isn't working. So here's what I would say first. Out of the gate, as a primer to the conversation that we're going to have, is nothing is wrong, first of all. What you have done in the past isn't necessarily wrong, it's incomplete. It's incomplete. And we only know what we know, and we operate from our current level of knowledge, and so it's time for there's things are evolving, people are evolving, things are changing at a very rapid pace, and we it's forcing us to really look in the mirror as leaders and to get better in a lot of ways.

Heidi 4:14

Level up. Yeah, to level up.

Ryan’s Shift From Old School

Ryan 4:17

So they're so here's what here's again. I'm gonna like throw a little bit of rocks to just a certain degree at some of the narratives that we do here that kids are unmotivated, they're the younger generation is unmotivated, they're lazy. Um none of these are true. They're looking for something, they're looking for deeper meaning, they're looking for psychological safety, growth, progress, opportunity, they're looking for flexibility and well-being, right? And all those pieces are superseding financial stability. Financial stability still has to be there, but if it's only driven by just money, retention is going to struggle. So if it's all if it's if you relate this back to sports for a moment, if it's only driven by playing time or by just the performance on the field, and it's not driven by all the other factors of psychological safety, of culture, of vision, of meaning, purpose, belonging, belonging, clarity, uh, growth, well-being, flexibility, autonomy, choice, exploration, all of these things that we can talk about, and we probably will, maybe not all of them in detail, but we'll probably hit on them in a certain realm, then the money is not gonna be enough of a motivator. And this is this is legitimately the way I look at it. And if you guys don't know this as listeners, like one of the things I love to do is I love to study the unfolding, the growth, the unhiding is another word I like to use for it, of consciousness. Like, how are we growing as an individual consciousness and within ourselves? How are we growing as a collective, within our family, our team, or organization, how are we growing as a community? And you can see themes and threads happening where if we if we look at it without knowledge, without understanding of how that growth is actually unfolding, we can look at it like something is wrong because it's changing and it's different, and that kind of poses a little bit of uh uncertainty, right? That causes it feels like a little bit of a threat. Um so let me tell a story real fast that I think is gonna help to launch out of this conversation. When I left coaching back in 2015, I left my collegiate coaching profession and I went on this mission of understanding the heart, understanding the mind, studying with everything from Navy SEALs to neuroscience specialists to perception and memory specialist, and 10 different certifications later. What I came back with was like, oh my goodness, I didn't know what I didn't know. If I would have, if I, this version of me today, would have walked into that office all those years ago, you know, let's say 10, 12 years ago, let's say, I would have been like, what is he talking about? We just gotta figure out how to get you know tougher. We gotta be whatever, right? And I coached personally from a level of fear, a level of lack. Uh, I coached with a ton of intensity, had a ton of passion, I loved my players. It didn't always come across that way. I wanted them to the old model, let's just talk about the old model for a moment. That was my model. I was old school, tough, rigid, right? Uh, demanding, direct, just do it because I said so. Wanting them to perform, wanting them to be successful. I did want that for them, but I but it also was coming from just wanting it to be done my way. And I I ended up coaching a lot from fear, a lot from anger, right? And we'll do a podcast around that whole topic at some point. That's on my list. When I went on this journey and I came back to those environments, I realized, oh my gosh, everything I was doing, I can coach with the same level. Like I could, if I went back to it, I would coach with the same level of intensity and passion, but with so much more intentionality and clarity and direction and purpose and meaning and and and and creating autonomy for the individuals. So I tell that very quick story because I think it's in alignment with the question of what I've always done in the past isn't working anymore. And and we could go into conversation of why it's not working, and we could discuss like what do we need to do differently. But first, I just want to give you the opportunity to reflect upon just that initial conversation.

Heidi 9:18

I'm sure a lot of people listening can relate to that story, especially those that have led from that same place, that have led that with that same style and are noticing that things are changing. And I think it is exactly what you said. People are looking for a sense of belonging, they're looking for meaning, purpose. Um we're evolving as human beings, and the amount of information that's available online to us as far as the opportunity that we see for employment and ways to make money, lifestyle, all of those pieces, there's so much more there and such a bigger picture that uh I think it makes complete sense that people wouldn't wouldn't be motivated by the same things that they were 10, 20, 30 years ago.

The Human Needs Ladder At Work

Ryan 10:07

Yeah. And we'll talk a little bit too about that, about of the amount of information, actually some of the uh problems that that can pose as well. But uh the thing I want to talk about, just want to start with, is it's not a motivation problem, it's a system problem. And let's just take a moment to take create a picture in our mind of how we can like orchestrate that system or how I have built a lot of our content and systems and the the behind the scenes knowledge that drives it. I'm gonna just very rare very surface level to have this conversation. If we were to simplify the basic human needs slash desires, okay, fundamentally the only actual need we have for survival is warmth, touch at a young age, uh, warmth, food, water, like shelter of some sort, like those basic physiological needs. The next tier up is connection. So people want to feel connected, they want to feel a part of something. Third tier up is autonomy, choice, this ability for an individual to know where do I fit? What is my role? What makes me unique? Right? So that we could talk about role clarity and things like that, right? Within the, I'm gonna go back for a moment. In the connection piece, if you know who you are, your identity as a corporation, as a sports team, as a family, people then can figure out oh, that's the identity, that's the mission, that's the vision, that are those, that's the standards that one lives by. That's how we hold each other accountable to those standards. That is going to help them to see where they fit, which creates the next the third phase, which is role clarity. This is where I fit for now. This is the role that I'm in. If I master this role, it's going to potentially turn into more opportunity later. The highest vantage point for any corporation, for any sports team, for any environment at all is meaning. Meaning slash purpose to make it to where our lives have something of more intrinsic value than just the production, than just the performance, than just the winning and the losing or the money. So when we look at all of that, I think that looking at what is no longer working or what's incomplete is we need to look at the entire human being and the experience of being human. And what are the needs? Sure, that's a foundation. That's like a no-brainer, right? Of course, you're gonna make X amount of money for doing X job, right? Cool, yeah, great. But then beyond that, how are we creating the connection, the culture? How are we creating the role clarity and the accountability around that role clarity? How are we creating that and tying that back to some form of meaning and purpose, even if it's just intrinsic growth? When I'm talking to, we just did a team call this morning with one of our companies. We have a residential painting company. Uh, we are four to five crews, depending on the day and the week and the job structure. Um, and I'm adamant about them understanding that they're here to grow as people first. And we do a we're very intentional about sharing the vision, sharing the mission, sharing who we are, the standards that we live by, how we hold ourselves accountable to them, how we hold each other accountable to them, how we communicate, how we get feedback, how we're growing. All of those things have nothing to do with how much money somebody makes. So that's the first place I think we need to start is to just look at that from 10,000 feet and say, how versed are we as leaders at understanding the human experience, understanding what is actually behind, and we can talk later about motivation and different things like that. But I don't believe that our generation is lazy. I don't believe that they're weak. I believe that they are trying to survive in the world that we've created. I feel like they, whether because of the amount of information that they're digesting or social media, that they're semi-disconnected. And so then it becomes our job to cast that environment, to create that environment that fundamentally everything that we talk about is about creating an environment of psychological safety, where they feel safe to grow, to take risks, and they also see that there's this opportunity for them to fulfill these greater where it kind of goes from needs to desires, these need this desire for connection, the desire for choice and autonomy to what makes them irreplaceable or makes them unique, what is their specialty role, and then their desire to pursue meaning in life. Thoughts about that, please. Anything that come to mind.

Heidi 15:19

Yeah, I'm just thinking about the the model of getting through the day in whatever you know career path somebody chooses or or business or otherwise, just not feeling fulfilled or connected to the work or the environment that you're in, but just kind of going through that, growing going through the motions. I think that's what people are younger people are not wanting to experience. They want to feel like they're a part of something and that what they're doing is meaningful.

Ryan 16:14

So we just had an employee just this morning quit, actually, in the the other company I was speaking about, and it instantly made me think we didn't do a good enough job of casting the vision. We didn't do a good enough job of helping them see that this profession, in this case, painting homes, has a ton of opportunity for growth. So I immediately when I heard that somebody only spent two weeks with us, I thought to myself, we failed. Easily to go project onto them, oh well, they mustn't be lazy. They don't really actually want so no, I just I didn't we didn't lay down the proper roadmap for them to see, like, oh, this place is different. I'm gonna be supported here, I'm gonna be pushed to grow here, I'm a part of something bigger, which then brings me back to culture is the new compensation. Culture equals retention.

Heidi 17:21

Yeah. People look at compensation packages for employees, or maybe it's even uh in recruiting for uh college athletics. Here's here's the package, you're getting, you know, your tuition, your books, your meal plan.

Ryan 17:37

Plus an extra sometimes, depending on the level. Yeah, right.

Heidi 17:39

Here's all these things, these tangible things, but it's it is the intangibles, it's the experiential piece of it, the culture, the meaning, the the vibration, the energy.

Ryan 17:55

Yeah. You hear it all the time. I was just talking to one of my clients who's going through a transition, and uh the company was bought by a bigger like corporation deal, and and they're trying to retain this smaller company, and everybody's like, uh, your values, how you operate, doesn't resonate with me. They're trying to offer all these packages for retention that are all based upon money, right? Oh, here's another 20 grand, here's another 30 grand, here's another 40 grand, and everybody's saying, no, I'm good. Thanks for watching.

Heidi 18:28

I was in that position once when when a property that I was managing got sold. Yeah. And I stayed with the company that sold the property and I moved to the process.

Ryan 18:36

You took a low, you took a lower compensation to be a part of a culture that was that was more in align with your values. The first piece is to understand that people need clarity of what the culture is going to be, right? What are they going to experience? What are they going, how are they going to grow? What am I actually getting into? Who are they? Who am I and who are they? Right, all those types of questions. That if culture used to, I used to believe that culture is just like, oh yeah, we have a good culture, of course we do. Like it just kind of happens by chance, right? Right. And and what I now understand is that I think then what this day and age is forcing us to do is to be like really, really intentional about developing culture.

unknown 19:25

Right.

Identity Integrity And The Culture Pyramid

Listener Outreach And Next Steps

Ryan 19:26

If I even think back to my own personal family growing up when I was a child, we had a wonderful culture, but could it have been better? Oh my goodness. Right? If it was being done intentionally, if you were develop if you were deciding before you sat down at dinner, before you went on a weekend vacation, before you went out to the lake for the day, before you mowed the lawn, whatever, like what do we want this experience to be like? Who are we? Right? And and then intently have the conversations and hold the type of structure, the type of systems that creates that culture. So culture has to be created intentionally. Where I think a lot of times in the past, especially in my own personal experience of either coaching college football and being a part of a national champion college football program, that did we intently build culture? Like, yeah, but we didn't, we just did it kind of spontaneously. It was just who we were, and it worked. And it worked. And so then you think, well, okay, well, it just works, right? You just you just build it, and then they just show up, you know, it's filled with dreams. You build it and they show up, right? Versus, no, we have to construct it, we have to reinvent it, we have to communicate it, we have to, we have to create clarity around it, and that clarity is actually a practice in and of itself. Like, who are we? Who are we? And you have to and you have to ask for feedback constantly, constantly getting feedback, constantly getting feedback. So that's the theme for like where we're going for the next couple of podcasts is that culture has to be developed intentionally. You can't leave it to chance. And I want to not only challenge you as a as a coach, as a business owner, but as a parent. Like, take all of these principles and start at home. Start at home figuring out like how can I how can I bring one of these principles, one of these things that we're talking about here, to our home. And this is something that even you and I, we probably are better doing it at doing it in our business. I know I'm way better at doing it with the teams I work with intently who hire me to do this, right? And sometimes I lose that thread a little bit in our own family, and that that's a lack of integrity, right? So that through line to build a culture starts with that word integrity. Like, who are you? Who are you becoming? How do you want to operate? How do you want to show up? And it needs to be consistent through every single environment in your life. And that's gonna start with that question. The most important question any of us can ask, who am I? Right? So that's a self reflection, an identity question, and then it's okay, if I know who I am as a leader, as a father, as a business owner, whatever that is, okay, then we can start to build the conversation like you and I did, and we created what we call a cultural pyramid. Okay, so we created a pyramid of Answering that first question, who are we? Who are we outside the fact that we're in a relationship and as a family and created identity? So that's uh us launching this kind of series of podcasts. I don't know how many episodes this is going to take us to kind of get through or where we're going to take this conversation or where it leads next. But I first want to thank John for reaching out and giving us the question to prompt this conversation because it's exactly where I want to take the conversation anyway. And I want to encourage anybody else out there who, if there's something that is kind of like, I'm curious about this, what they would say about what it means about human development or creating culture or mental strength or toughness and all those things, we're going to see where we go. We're going to talk about this idea of this cultural pyramid. We're going to talk about the importance of identity and mission and vision and standards and accountability and communication. We're going to talk about the importance of role clarity. We're going to talk about really how to build a winning culture, right? And how that's an active process. It's an alive reinvention, constant assess and adjust, constant iteration. How do we get people to feel safe, psychologically safe? So they want to stay, they want, they want to perform, they want to take risks, they want to grow in that environment. And we're also going to talk about some tools as well that help us understand, and maybe a little bit of brain science that help us understand what this generation might be navigating when it comes to the development of their brain and the amount of information that they are uh exposed to, which causes some flare-ups in more survival uh parts of the brain that causes them to be um more uh what's the right word? Hesitant in environments to grow because they're constantly trying to access their sense of safety and/or are they failing or not, if that makes sense.

Heidi 24:45

Yeah, we'll definitely get into that. I'm excited about that. So yeah, absolutely. Send us a text message. We have the link here in the show notes. You can send directly to us a text message, a voicemail. Uh let us know what your questions are. We want to make sure that the information and the conversations that we're having on this podcast are beneficial to you. And uh, we just love to hear from you and connect with you.

Ryan 25:09

That's awesome. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next week.