7A - Testing Hypothesis, Part 1

Global Leadership Initiative

• Opportunity: 
• A recent trend, in the labor market, is showing an increasing amount of millennial workers demanding more leisure time, taking punctuality less seriously, and lacking leadership enthusiasm in the U.S. corporate environment. 
• The who: U.S. Companies in need for leadership qualities in a worker
• The what: A growing unenthusiastic consensus in the work place 
• The why: Intense technical competition in the labor marketplace
• Testing the who: 
• Are complaints about new generational workers for not honing leadership initiatives reoccurring throughout large firms and businesses?
• Testing the what: 
• Is there a large majority of millennial interns or workers holding an entry-level position showing repulsive behavior towards the company agenda? When assigning a group assignment does it take long for the leader role to emerge?
• Testing the why: 
• Has the recognition of the intimidating growth in demand of technical skill values belittle natural incentives for individual to apply leadership qualities?
• Interview #1: 
• According to an owner and CEO of a meat packing company he claims that many firms are at a deficit for reliable workers. Some companies are using an alternative approach by sustaining and elongating senior positions that are already fulfilling the appropriate compensation from young interns or entry-level officers. He claims that mediocracy is being unnecessarily awarded within the newer generation so this is what's causing this modern trend. "Graveyard" shifts have become completely unattractive to where millennials do not even think of stepping up to prove that they are flexible to accepting these shifts. Also, he adds that young adults are following unrealistic Hollywood celebrity lifestyles that mislead them. He reinstated my belief that a lot of young workers hesitate to take responsibility for the task at hand.
• Interview #2: 
• In this interview, I noticed a duality between two extreme attitudes that are found in the modern workplace. At times there will be a significant presence of leadership in a workplace but there can also be instances of an abundance of no incentivized qualities to lead among millennial interns or entry-level officers. According to my interviewee, which is a self-employed entrepreneur, "newer generational false entitlements is a driving factor to the deficit in in leadership qualities in the workplace." Arrogance seems to be a common mood to today's application pool. He emphasized on the importance for an employee at any firm or company to understand the differentiation between leadership roles and the roles of the group members. Leading a team of people does not solely entail delegating information to the substituents, it is also about setting a responsibility for the leader to actually take part in whichever objective and integrate himself or herself to the task at hand. In asking the interviewee about the consensus for hesitation in the emergence of leadership initiatives among millennial individuals compared to older individuals, he claimed that the major difference is the ability for older working individuals to accept constructive criticism better than the arrogant younger workers. When expressing his opinion on the dilemma that I hypothesized about higher technical skillset standards set by corporate giants can intimidate workers that do not acquire the demanded skill level, he quickly debunked the narrative. He approached the idea by explaining that the intimidation element in achieving technical skills can be combatted by individual discipline.    
• Interview #3: 
• I interviewed a MBA student at Nova Southeastern University, that held an internship at Lockheed Martin. As I asked about the existence of the deficit in leadership in the overall U.S. workforce, he surprisingly responded by not experiencing any management negligence. The only signs of delay in expressing a leadership edge was induced by a overall standstill in getting promoted to a higher position. He noticed that a majority of longtime individuals that worked have not been given the opportunity of promotion. This challenge makes it hard to place enthusiasm to express constant leader-like qualities in everyday objectives. He added that foreseeing rapid individual professional growth in the company would be unrealistic. His interesting touch to the dormant leadership incentive is that people have different personal interests which plays with amount grit placed in each job position. On the topics of what cause this dilemma and what determines hesitation of an emergent leader in a group, he elaborates with an indifferent response. He poses that when somebody is stepping down to become a leader it takes a longer process to set awareness to the next possible promoted individual. In having opposing views to millennial demands in the workplace, he felt that their value exists in the notion that they can implement their new modern day languages to create insight for companies that want to push that extra marketable edge.When expressing his opinion on the dilemma that I hypothesized about higher technical skillset standards set by corporate giants can intimidate workers that do not acquire the demanded skill level, he also quickly debunked it in reference to provisions of modern sources of information. Google, Youtube, and many other internet search engines can induce independent learning that in turn can match exceeding skillsets learned at an educational institution. More situational individuality is a big determinant of incentivizing honing leader-like expressions. 
• Interview #4: 
• This interview involves an aspiring nurse in her last year of nursing school that gives her interesting approach to the opportunity that I am trying to convey. When asking about her point-of-view if the lack of leadership trend exists. Her rebuttal was no because hospital employees such as medical practitioners hone leadership ideals through the educational discipline. By the nursing educational community's efforts to placing a grading scale the nurses overall performance the individual are conscious for their futures. This incentivizes them to perform at their full potential, which is the reason for not witnessing my hypothesized trend in the labor market. She was a proponent on individual growth and that when working in team the person with most interest on the topic at hand will persevere as the leader persona.
• Interview #5:
• In this interview I had interviewed a retired 74 year old entrepreneur. He spoke about a time when being a leader in the work environment was the only choice. In the Fifties and Sixties, the post-war era, individuals practiced direct unfiltered focus in excelling only in that particular company. Sacrifice was the overall zeitgeist and leisure was rewarded. He pridefully stated that his generation's achievements are being studied in today's business courses. He complemented my hypothesis for exceeding demands for technical skills, my insisting the true nature that people will always be confronted with vast adversity which can stunt the incentive to develop professionally. He finished with is iteration about international companies are already reacting to this trend by relocating their markets.
• What I know now about this opportunity that I did not know before the interview. 
• A range of diverse responses provided me insight to all perspectives towards this unmet need that is facing the U.S. I found that younger people responded towards a more optimistic approach in regards to the lack of leadership in the labor market. Most younger adults sensed that its mostly about self-education having to be a reliable key component  to fixing this problem. The issue has definitely become a underlying concern for most of my interviewees.