Why CEOs Must Adapt: Gen Z’s Workforce Challenge

The purpose of writing this article for CEOWORLD magazine is to explore the global collective trauma that we experienced as societies, starting at the beginning of the 21st century on September 11, 2001, and to examine how we, as a workforce, can heal from it and improve our economic forecasts and lives for the future from what we learn.

Reflecting Back Through a Historical Lens

To accomplish this goal of looking back to the future as a published historian, I commenced the writing of this article on 9/11/25 — the twenty-fourth anniversary of the World Trade Center (WTC) attack — and I am reimagining what I saw from New Jersey across the Hudson River. In my mind’s eye, I see the headlines in the Bergen Record and the horrifying images on the front page with workers jumping out of windows from the upper floors.

At that time, I was a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University, and was enrolled in the Leadership Program for Nurse Executives and Educators. In the aftermath of the attack, every Friday I traversed the George Washington Bridge to class, while viewing the smoke billowing out from the tomb that was once a bustling world business metropolis.

We now know that nearly 3,000 people died that day in New York City alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’ WTC Health Program’s quarterly report in June 2025, the number of confirmed cases of cancers was 44,900, and many thousands have died. One of them was Phil Nowich, wrestling coach and junior investment banker at Merrill Lynch who inspired me with his courage, his analytical abilities, and his penchant for telling the truth at work and in his biography “Wrestling with Life.” The attack not only had a negative impact on US stocks, but global markets saw significant declines, too.

As the years mount, we tend to put aside the attack until 9/11 comes around again, but I cannot. As I reflect back, I realize that from the opening of my business at The Summit Center for Ideal Performance in 1996, I’ve had the privilege of working as a peak performance coach and RN to promote mental health of children, teens, and young adults who are Gen Zers (born 1997-2012), to empower them in reaching their best performances in areas of health, academics, athletics, business, and performing arts. During this timeframe, I’ve worked with extraordinary teens and young adults to assist them in healing sports injuries to win and in acquiring summer jobs and internships. I’ve shown them how to interview and how to stand out amongst their peers with confidence both on and off playing fields and later on in life in boardrooms.

In fact, in 2023, I published my award-winning book: Wrestling Through Adversity: Empowering Children, Teens, & Young Adults to Win in Life, for the purpose of telling their stories. This was to show how they grew resilient through adversity after I taught them what they needed to know, that is, life skills and how to use the power of their minds and brains. I call them Mindful Toughness ® skill sets such as Self-Hypnosis, Breathing Easy, Mental Rehearsal, Mental Recall, Positive Self-Talk, and Feedback Loop Analysis.

I find that the young people who worked with me and excelled have great potential to become leaders and champions in life because they are purpose-driven, goal-oriented, and socially conscious. This is because they grew up in a world of flux shaped by chaotic social movements, tumultuous global crises, gun violence, terrorist attacks, and rapid technological and cultural transformations. This most diverse population tends to be forthright in supporting social justice and preserving our planet. As a result, they motivated me to speak about who they are and who they will become as business leaders, if future-oriented CEOs set the stage for it today.

Why Include Gen Zers in Our Business Plans?

When I first began writing my book in 2022, I intuitively included young adults, but people asked why because they did not understand that Gen Zers need guidance after their 18th birthday on how to become grown ups. The reasoning behind my inclusion years earlier did not surface until recently when on three different podcast interviews as a guest I was again asked: Why? However, this time I had a logical answer for the podcast host of HEALit, Ken D. Foster. Curious about my answer? Click HERE.

Now that I answered the question of why intuitively and logically with Ken I thought I fully comprehended its significance until the following week when I felt it viscerally after I learned that DNA remains of three victims of the WTC, out of over 1,000 still missing, were found. The son of one victim said how this news gave him closure but talked about the intense pain and heavy weight his family continues to feel, and I believe this is true for many Gen Zers, even those unaware of it.

How do I know this? Studies from the National Institute of Mental Health reveal that young adults (18-25) have the highest rates of major depression, and suicide is the second leading cause of death of US college students, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. By adding burnout and loneliness to the mix, we have a Molotov cocktail ready to explode, which are sequalae of terrorist attacks, like what we experienced on 9/11. This impact was later exacerbated by wars, the Great Recession, and global pandemic quarantines. As a result of this collective trauma, Gen Zs never learned communication or critical thinking skills in high school or college classes and missed out on social connections because of isolation in a digital age.

With current job uncertainties, media overload, academic pressure with US national test scores declining for 12th graders in math and reading, Gen Zers feel overburdened. It’s no wonder why the Walton Family Foundation reported in 2022 that 42 percent of Gen Zers struggle with persistent sadness and hopelessness and have a fear of not being good enough.

What adds to the plight of Gen Zers is being reinforced adversely by those who think they are not prepared for today’s work environment. According to Adam Hardy’s article “Hiring Managers Say Gen Z Workers ‘Lack Work Ethic’” in Money on January15, 2025, Gen Zers are looked upon as lazy. They have been accused of being the most difficult to work with and of lacking interpersonal communication skills. To support their antiquated managerial style, supervisors say they prefer to work with AI and not with Gen Zers and that they fire them within months of hiring them. What compounds the challenge for businesses is that young people today are bent on quitting if their values are not aligned with the company’s.

From my perspective as a peak performance coach who works with executives and Gen Zers, I contend that this negative maligning of them shows a lack of empathy in leadership, according to Daniel Goleman‘s 1998 book, Working with Emotional Intelligence. In addition, it demonstrates how leaders are unaware of human brain development through connective neural linkages starting at the age of 12 and continuing until the age of 25 into adulthood. This growth allows for higher level functioning through the use of images and metaphors and opens their minds to the formation of social skills and emotional maturity.

Future Pacing with Optimism

To optimize this educational opportunity of neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability to adapt, Prof. Justin Kenndy, PhD, in his blog post in Psychology Today on February 17, 2025, reminds us that we can cultivate optimism through habit, rather than through negative thoughts. This makes the period of neuroplastic development a prime time for Gen Z and earlier generations to share knowledge about how they can learn from each other in harmony and with purpose.

Since 30 percent of the total workforce will be composed of Gen Zers by 2030, it’s imperative for companies to align at the forefront of attracting new talent, or they may lose out. So, what can businesses do to plan ahead?

Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity, offers suggestions for companies in her January 2025 article on “How to Attract Gen Z Workers with Purpose-Driven Workplaces” by emphasizing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and by prioritizing purpose-driven initiatives in their workplace culture. Khosla lists the four best practices:

• Connect social impact with inclusion fit for Generation Z
• Tap into causes that inspire Gen Zers so they can make a tangible impact
• Drive engagement with digital-first technologies that leverage digital tools
• Adopt a day-one mindset by offering new hires a day to volunteer together

My hope lies in the fact that we can re-energize our efforts to make our mark in history as leaders, to heal our wounds that bind us, and to prosper in our global economies to build a better future. In this way, we, as well-informed executives with diverse backgrounds, can pass the baton to Generation Z with confidence.

Written by Dr. Christine M. Silverstein. Have you read?
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