Baby Boomer Struggles to Embrace Diversity but Gen Z Includes Diversity

Baby Boomer Leadership Style has to change, if they want to earn respect from Gen Z, the most receptive to Diversity and Inclusion.

Amongst all generations from Baby Boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z in the workplace, I perceive Baby Boomers struggle most to embrace Diversity and Inclusion.

Baby Boomer (1946–1964)

The baby boomer generation was born before the economic globalisation that started in 1989. They grew up in an environment that mostly was Anglo-Saxon and did not experience much diversity.

The migrants that came during that period, were blue-collar workers who mostly worked in hard manual labour in a variety of sectors. Most of the leaders, executives, and top management were Anglo-Saxons.

Baby boomers perceive that most migrants are uneducated (do not have tertiary qualifications) and have a low standard of English communication skill.

For that reason, baby boomers tend to look down on migrants. They perceive migrants as people with low social status, low academic intelligence, and low civilization. They hold the concept of white supremacy.

1989 Economic Globalisation

The economic globalisation started in 1989 during the era of Generation X (1965–1980), millennia (1980–1994) and continues until today. Since then, there are more and more people come to the country. They are businesspeople, tourists, international students, and migrants.

Generation X and millennia are more exposed to melting pot culture because of economic globalisation. Most of the migrants that came during that period (1965–1994), speak intermediate to advanced English skill level (below proficient level), and they have tertiary qualifications.

Due to economic globalisation and the dynamic of a melting pot culture, workplace reforms include the agenda of diversity and inclusion. The aim is to embrace, understand, and value different cultures in the workplace so people from minority backgrounds feel a sense of belonging and are more connected.

However, unlike Generation X and millennia, baby boomer seems struggling to embrace diversity and inclusion due to their perceived bias. Baby boomers still have a perception that those migrants have a lower standard of English communication skills.

Baby Boomer leadership style has a preference to choose people from Anglo-Saxon backgrounds to be in top management and executive level. This is in contrast with Generation X and millennia leadership styles, they value more on people’s performance and merit instead of people’s backgrounds.

Baby boomer’s concept and understanding of ‘diversity and inclusion’, is more towards the statistic of including people with different cultures, instead of understanding and embracing people.

Generation Z (From 1995)

Generation Z is the only generation that grows together with people from different cultures from toddler until adulthood. They are ethnically diverse and open-minded towards different cultures.

Generation Z values and respects diverse cultures more than the older generations. Since young, they already applied the concept of diversity and inclusion. Also, people from different cultures speak proficient English.

In their view, diversity and inclusion are more towards the inclusion of LGBTI and neuro-divergence rather than different cultures.

Baby Boomer Leadership Style Versus Generation Z

To summarise, Baby boomer focuses on the number of people with different cultures in the workplace (the statistic only). They are hardly socialized with people from different cultures.

Generation X and millennia focus on the performance of people from different cultures. They are not hesitant to promote people from different cultures to top management and executive level.

Generation Z perceived people from different cultures as one community amongst them. They fully value, respect, embrace, and socialise with people from different cultures.

If baby boomers do not change their perceived bias in their leadership, this will create huge conflict with Generation Z. The Leadership style of baby boomers is still undermining people from different cultures. This leadership style is not acceptable according to Generation Z.

The Leadership style of baby boomers needs to evolve to accommodate the modern workplace culture. They need to value, respect, embrace, and socialise with people from different cultures, LGBTI, and neuro-divergence. They should focus more on people’s feelings instead of statistics.

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