Defining Leadership
Women and men defined great leadership similarly, but generations had distinct differences.
Younger generations expected leaders to be humble. Millennials rated humility higher than any other generation (48%), and above the global average (43%). Male millennials were more likely to say humility was important (55%), compared to male boomers (32%). Boomers were more likely to prize resilience as a key leadership quality (35%), compared to millennials (21%).
Download ReportWhile millennials valued humble leaders, boomers placed more significance on resilience.
We asked respondents to select the top 3 traits a great leader should model.
Download ReportWhat are the most important characteristics that a great leader must role model?
Millennials were significantly more likely than other generations to say their leaders always exhibit these key qualities (38%), while only 22% of Boomers and 26% of Gen Xers agreed.
Download ReportDoes the leadership team in your organization exhibit qualities you deem important?
76 percent of respondents agreed their leadership teams demonstrated these behaviors always or frequently.
Defining Career Success
While there were some differences between men and women in how they defined their career aspirations and motivations, there were far greater differences between generations, geographies, and job titles.
C-suite aspirations have nearly evened out between men and women, with 27 percent of women aspiring to reach the C-suite compared to 31 percent of men.
Download ReportPercentage of respondents who aspired to reach the C-suite
Millennials were the most aspirational group, with 33 percent hoping to reach the C-suite compared to 13 percent of Boomers (the global average was 29 percent).
Which, if any, of the following have been barriers to your own career success?
- Conscious or unconscious bias from peers and/or senior colleagues
- Lack of mentors or sponsors
- Lack of role models
- Competing personal and professional priorities
- Self-doubt
- Limited opportunities for promotion
- Limited opportunities for learning and skills development
- Lack of flexible working options
- Lack of diversity in the workplace
- I haven’t experienced any barriers
Barriers at work
The majority of respondents (86%) experienced some type of barrier during their career journeys. The top three overall barriers to career success were conscious or unconscious bias (33%), limited opportunities for promotion (33%), and lack of mentors or sponsors (30%).
Boomers were the most concerned with providing for themselves and their families—45 percent rated this their chief motivation. It was significantly less important to Millennials (24%) and somewhat less important to Gen X (32%). Power and influence and public recognition and status ranked low across genders, generations, geographies, and job titles.
Download ReportWhich of the following motivates you the most at work? (Respondents ranked their choices from most to least motivating.)
Defining Diversity at Work
A diverse workplace is more important to younger generations.
Geographically, a diverse workplace was more important in China--78 percent said it was very important--compared to 44 percent in Germany.
Download ReportWe asked respondents to rank the significance of a diverse workplace on a four-point scale, from very important to unimportant. Below are the percentages who believed diversity was very important.
%
Overall
%
Gen X
%
Millennial
%
Boomer
Nearly a quarter of male boomers said diversity in the workplace was not important to them.
A majority (61%) believed there were equal opportunities for all within their organizations.
Download ReportWe asked respondents how much they agreed that opportunities in their organizations were equal for all. (strongly agree to strongly disagree).
Female Gen Xers were the least likely to believe that they had equal access to equal opportunities (57% said they did) compared to female Millennials (63% said they did).
There was little difference between genders and generations in responses.
Download ReportMy organization genuinely values different ways of thinking and approaches to problem solving. The below is those who agreed or strongly agreed.
%
Overall
%
Gen X
%
Millennial
%
Boomer
Agreement increased with seniority: 60 percent of junior leaders, 69 percent of mid-level leaders, 71 percent of senior leaders, and 79 percent of the C-suite.
Download the report
See below to download the reports
Download the 2019 Report Download the 2018 Report