It's not the millennials. It's the leaders!

"There has never been a millennial problem. There has always been a leadership problem." ~ Mack Story

Today, nearly everyone wants to play the blame game when it comes to the "job hopping" millennials. By the way, most millennials are not "job hopping." They're "leader hopping." They are searching for a leader to follow, not a job to do. They know the right leader will provide the right job.

Nearly everyone, other than millennials, wants to blame millennials. But, there is one small group of exceptional people who see it differently because they know better. They know the truth. Who are these among us who refuse to jump on the blame train? They are high impact leaders.

"Millennials want what every generation that has come before them wants — to feel that they matter, that their work matters and that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. The only difference is that Millennials are the first generation with the guts to ask for it and to expect it." ~ Simon Sinek

As long as low impact "leaders" (managers of people) look out the window and transfer responsibility to millennials, they are transferring responsibility for addressing the issue. This is what low impact, insecure managers of people do, have always done (long before there were "millennials"), and will always do regardless of the name they give to those they are blaming....those who refuse to be managed and seek to be led. These low impact "leaders" don't feel they have to do anything because they don't believe they are the problem.

Note: Millennial is simply a label. Millennials are people. People are still people. People will always be people. Likewise, excuses for ineffective, poor leadership are still excuses. And, excuses will always be excuses.

When high impact leaders look in the mirror and accept responsibility for leading millennials, they are accepting responsibility for addressing the issue. These leaders know they must now do everything to fix it. They see themselves as the problem and the solution.

The low impact leaders (managers of people) repel millennials and others who are willing to lead themselves to where they want to be. High impact leaders attract millennials and others who refuse to be managed and prefer to be led.

"There is no millennial problem. There is only a leader problem." ~ Mack Story

High impact leaders understand exactly where the problem with "job hopping" millennials is rooted. It's rooted in poor, ineffective, low impact leadership. Poor leadership is nothing new. But, blaming millennials for it is fairly new. Low impact leaders have always looked out the window and blamed others instead of looking in the mirror and blaming themselves. They always have, and they always will. That's one of the character traits of a low impact leader (manager of people). They blame others instead of accepting responsibility.

Millennials (and everyone else) are drawn to the best led companies? Why? Because the best led companies are led by high impact leaders. What's interesting is these well led companies don't have the problems and issues with millennials that poorly led companies have. Why? Because there isn't a millennial problem. There is only a leadership problem.

Unfortunately, those who don't truly understand leadership are buying into all the millennial talk. It's simply a lot of mumbo jumbo wrapped around management practices, not leadership principles. The same leadership principles related to character-based influence that applied 50, 100, 1000, even 2000 years ago still apply today. They will always apply. This is why you should invest in learning leadership principles instead of wasting your time learning management practices.

"Leadership principles apply in all situations and with all people. Management practices apply only in certain situations and only with certain people." ~ Mack Story

Low impact "leaders" (managers of people) buy into the false belief that millennials require "new things" and "new ways" of being led. What they are really saying without knowing what they are saying is, "I don't know how to lead, so teach me a practice that will get me by because I don't want to do the work that is required to become a high impact leader."

Since 2005, I've led hundreds of highly effective teams and hundreds of millennials through 11,000+ hours of process improvement, organizational change, and cultural transformation. I've never had and never will receive any "millennial" training. Because I lead with leadership principles and not management practices, I lead each team the same regardless of the mission, regardless of the location, regardless of the age of those on the team (it's always mixed from 18-70), and regardless of the team member's, race, gender, etc. Each team always achieved amazing results. Not because I'm anything special, but because applying leadership principles motivate and inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Everything I write about is related to leadership principles, not management practices. I'll provide one example here to validate what I'm trying to communicate in this short lesson.

Here is a leadership principle I learned years ago from Dr. Stephen R. Covey, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."

This principle can be used by anyone with anyone at any time whether you or they are 20, 40, 60, or 80 years old. Seeking first to understand will always increase your influence. Not sometime, every time. When you choose to first fully understand another person before trying to get them to understand you, they will then be more open and willing to accept your influence. Why? Because if others truly feel understood, that means they believe we truly understand. If we do understand, we will be speaking to them with full knowledge of their viewpoint, feelings, and concerns in mind. They will listen us, because they want to know what we have to say about what they had to say.

But, if they don't feel understood, all of their energy will be focused not on listening, but on trying to get us to understand. Instead of listening with the intent to understand us, they will be listening with the intent to reply to us in an effort to continue to get us to understand them. Until they feel understood, they are not seeking to understand us.

There are seemingly endless leadership principles just like the one I just described. My books are filled with them. When you learn leadership principles, you will become equipped to deal with anyone at any age in any place. When you truly understand leadership principles, there's no need or desire to learn management practices.

Are you a millennial (or a person) who is tired of following low impact, ineffective managers of people? If so, I've created a resource to help you deal more effectively with them while preparing and equipping yourself to fire them and hire a better leader. Start preparing yourself for a better leader now.

Do you desire to lead, attract, and retain high impact millennials (or other people) who want to be a part of a high impact team that works together, that completes each other and doesn't compete with each other, that makes a difference with people who want to make difference, that achieves amazing results, that trusts and values each other? If you want to lead, attract, and retain these types of team players, I've created a resource to help you become a high impact leader of high impact team players. Start becoming a better leader now.

FREE leadership principle filled downloads available:

Click here now for a FREE download of the entire leadership principle-packed Chapter 11, "Get Out of the Way and Lead" from the first book in my Demystifying Leadership Series: Defining Influence. In this nearly 20 page chapter, I share about:

·      Managing vs Leading

·      Scarcity vs Abundance

·      Formal Authority vs Moral Authority

·      The 5 Types of Leaders

·      Compare/Contrast 17 Manager vs Leader Perspectives

Click here to access the first 5 chapters of “Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines.”

·      Ch. 1: I’m one of you.

·      Ch.2: I believe in you.

·      Ch.3: You’re in the perfect place.

·      Ch. 4: Common sense is never enough.

·      Ch.5: There is an “I” in Team.

Note: I encourage you to be a river, not a reservoir. Please share my blogs with others if you find value in them. I believe in abundance and write them to help others become more effective, successful, and significant.

Make an impact!

Mack Story

My passion is to help you live with abundance, achieve success, choose significance, and leave a legacy. In other words, I want to help you make a High Impact !