Gentelligence

Megan W. Gerhardt, PhD is a Professor of Management, Director of Leadership Development, and the Robert C. Johnson Co-Director of the Isaac and Oxley Center for Business Leadership at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. She is also the creator of Gentelligence and the founder of The Gerhardt Group, LLC, a leadership consulting practice.Megan has published widely on individual differences, motivation, leadership, and generational differences in the workplace and her work on Gentelligence has been featured on Forbes.com, NBCNews.com, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Inc. Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, MarketWatch, Business Insider and The Houston Chronicle among others. In 2017, her TEDx talk “Why I Love Millennials...and You Should, Too” was released, kicking off the Gentelligence movement. As the creator of the Gentelligence movement, Megan’s work (www.profgerhardt.com) focuses on leveraging individual differences to achieve leadership impact and extraordinary levels of performance."Josephine Nachemson-Ekwall is an Associate Director of Financial Crime Prevention Policy and Procedures at UBS Financial Services, focusing on implementation and adherence to policies, local requirements, and global standards. Josephine’s work in leadership development focuses on strengths-based development, individual coaching, and the importance of personal mission and values in driving one’s life and career. She most recently gave a presentation at the Clifton Strengths Summit on “Why Strengths Work” and published an article on generational conflict and tension in December 2019. Brandon Fogel is a Staff Consultant at Ernst & Young LLC in the People Advisory Services practice, which specializes in organizational change and people management. Brandon’s work in leadership development focuses on strengths-based development, effective teaming strategies, and the value of goal setting.

Co-authors Gerhardt, Josephine Nachemson-Ekwall, and Brandon Fogel present strategies for managing a generationally diverse workforce. Their focus is on progressive, open approaches to balancing the different interests of different generations of workers. They replace an outdated us-vs.-them mentality by maximizing efforts to involve multiple generations throughout an organization. The authors explore the current state of generational conflict and tension, outline generational clichés and shared experiences, identify roadblocks to “Gentelligent” leadership, and explain how to champion diversity of thought to create stronger workplaces. The book details four key management practices: resist assumptions, adjust the lens, strengthen trust, and expand the metaphorical “pie.” This book expands nicely on Jason Dorsey and Denise Villa’s Zconomy. The extensive citations, supplemental reading sources, and bibliography firmly establish the credibility of this solid, impressive work. Vital for any organization with multigenerational staffs, and for marketers, public relations professionals, HRD managers, or executives. Highly recommended for all university libraries supporting business and psychology curricula.

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: Blame 60 Minutes: How Morley Safer Fueled the Generation WarsChapter 2: Our Generational IdentitiesChapter 3: Mind the Gap: Roadblocks to Closing the Generational DivideChapter 4: The Gentelligence Solution: 4 Key PracticesChapter 5: Filling the Pipeline: Leading Up (and Down)Chapter 6: The Secrets of Gentelligent TeamsChapter 7: A Gentelligent People StrategyChapter 8: Creating a Gentelligent Work CultureChapter 9: Gentelligence for the Future of WorkRecommended Resources ListBibliographyNotesIndexAbout the Authors