Alexander the Great was a man’s man who fought—and drank—alongside his troops. Julius Caesar was at the front lines of battle, inspiring his men to cross the Rubicon and face their foes with his own courage. Even Adolf Hitler made the Germans feel as if he cared personally about each one of them and their lives. Yet each of these highly notable leaders took a turn on the road of leadership that guaranteed their doom.
Each of these leaders stopped doing the very thing that brought them to power. Alexander the Great isolated himself with a few friends and ignored the hardships of his men. Julius Caesar became captivated with the riches of Cleopatra and Egypt and was no longer engaged with his troops in an intimate fashion. Hitler became a mad megalomaniac who exposed his lack of care for anyone but himself. The result was predictable: Their followers—except for a few sycophants—left in droves. The seemingly brilliant comet of their leadership crashed and burned.
What dooms a leader today is what doomed so many leaders throughout history. Great leaders have many traits in common. One such trait is that they started out by being genuinely involved and concerned with the people they were leading.
Old-school rhetoric about leadership is actually contradictory to what has worked for millennia when it comes to creating a fiercely loyal following. Old-school leadership is based on the beliefs that a leader must always be, or at least appear to be: distant, untouchable, revered, and an absolute authoritarian. As ingrained and destructive as that kind of thinking might have been in previous generations, today’s workforce no longer will tolerate it. Honestly, I don’t believe it ever worked; it was just tolerated by the generations that believed going along with it meant security.
Treat Employees as People, Not “Things”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, those who believed in the security of a 20- to 40-year career, the Baby Boomers, are exiting the workforce at a rate of 10,000 a year. This is bad news for those who lead with that old “command-and-control” mentality. Here’s why: As they leave the workforce, they’re taking the previously stated old beliefs about what leadership is, and what a workforce has to put up with. Meanwhile, the Millennial generation is on the march and will be the dominant workforce by 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the fact is, they have very different beliefs about both leadership and loyalty.
HR research shows that Millennials are turned off by the fact that large companies often have a disheartening interview process that makes them feel like a “thing’ rather than a person with something to offer. This makes small companies, and particularly start-ups, attractive to this generation.
Just as previous generations were shaped by issues of the day (WWII, the Vietnam War, The Fall of the Iron Curtain, etc.), after the 2008 financial meltdown, there was an uprising, and that uprising had its roots in the Millennial generation. Whatever you think of the Occupy Movement, its core issue was that of not trusting big banks, and/or big business. Even though it may appear that the Occupy Movement has pulled up the tents and faded into oblivion, the profound damage done with regard to trusting big business remains strong with Millennials.
This mistrust sleeps in the psyche of Millennials and awakens all too often in corporate interviews, where we hear intake staff complaining about the lack of respect they’re dealing with.
Like it or not, the fact is, you and I as leaders better grasp the fact that Millennials are not the previous generations. We cannot expect them to be loyal because we’ll pay them better than our competitor or offer them a bigger office or a parting spot. They don’t care about those things!
Get to Know Them
If we don’t come down off our high horses and get to know them, they will never be loyal. Here’s what’s key in developing a loyal Millennial workforce: Realize that they do not believe in the corporate dream of putting in their time and paying their dues to be secure for life. They know that’s gone, it isn’t coming back, and they are OK with that.
Millennials are not driven by money or success in quite the same way Generation X or the Boomer generation were. It’s far more important to this generation that they have certainty that what they’re doing is something they can see and feel is meaningful work.
This means they want to know what your organization stands for. Should they decide to join your company, they want to know if they will be part of what they see as damaging or improving society.
Nearly three-fourths want to make a direct social and environmental impact. Millennials want to know that, if they join your business/organization, they will be able to make a positive difference in the world. They want to know what your company really stands for in action, as opposed to some theoretical blowing of smoke up the rear end of a new recruit.
Furthermore, Millennials want to know you care about them! If you remain distant and unavailable, you can be sure of one thing: Your top Millennial talent already has one foot out the door. Truth be told, it becomes impossible to develop a fiercely loyal workforce if leadership fails to exhibit the characteristics that create lasting loyalty.
Know this: Loyalty is reciprocal. To get it, you and I as leaders must give it. Yes, the Millennial generation is different and wants different things than previous generations. However, what dooms a leader today is not new; it’s what has consistently doomed so many leaders throughout history: the lack of connection the leader has with his or her followers.
If you are truly committed to developing a fiercely loyal workforce, come down off that pedestal and get to know your people. Get to know their struggles, their dreams, and what matters most to them. Loyalty is a natural by-product of your people knowing that you genuinely care.
Dõv Baron was named by Inc Magazine as one of the “Top 100 Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference.” As a leading authority on Authentic Leadership and the founder of “Full Monty Leadership,” he works with leaders in creating teams that become fiercely loyal. A bestselling author, Baron’s latest book is “Fiercely Loyal: How High Performing Companies Develop and Retain Top Talent.” Learn more at FullMontyLeadership.com.
