When the Wheel Stops Turning
What the hell is wrong with Gen Z?!
I want to say that’s the wrong question, but I suppose it’s valid to most. I don’t know the answer. Whatever it is, it’s probably the same thing wrong with me.
I’ll avoid the AI “tone of absolution” troll job that I usually do in these blogs. I’ll get serious. I’ll probably end up spamming a bunch of bullet points to avoid writing a book.
I don’t have a clean answer for Gen Z, but for me, the problem lives inside the workforce itself. I’m seeing companies (if I can still call them that) running on fumes of a narrative while not even being creative enough to make a new one.
They aren’t blaming competitors anymore. Not blaming the media. Not pointing at consumer “bad taste.” Nope, now entire industries are pointing at… what, exactly? An idea of a generation? At least millennials had the 90’s.
So if this is the case, then Gen Z must be the first whole-ass generation to enter this weakened corporate workforce with their eyes pried open.
I think it’s broken, and for the first time in my life, I’m seeing people start to agree with me.
And everyone feels it, including the generations already inside.
We can talk about pay compression, culture decay, loss of mentorship, burnout, and the arms race of what we used to call competition. But those are symptoms. I focus on the disease.
Modern companies no longer have a functional center of gravity.
Not for workers, managers (whatever that is, now), or leadership (whate…. nevermind).
The wheel is still spinning, but it’s no longer connected to anything that creates value.
This is why Gen Z looks directionless to “us.” They walked into an environment where direction doesn’t even exist. It’s just a story sold for free and expected to be told for profit.
You can’t onboard somebody into a void. And you’re probably starting to realize that you can’t onboard at all these days.
The Illusion of Agency Is Gone
I almost crossed that comfortable threshold into the unspoken hierarchy:
We know what we’re doing.
You’ll learn it along the way.
Follow the system.
Trust the process.
Work hard, move up.
Man, please.
Today’s environment looks more like:
Leaders (a lot of new ones, I see) are executing someone else’s playbook.
Middle management doesn’t manage (not really new territory there).
Training was cut during the recession.
Culture is now a cringe word because the lie of it is just too blatant to say out loud now.
Career ladders collapsed long before roles were automated.
Mentorship dried up when we had the “doers” do… everything.
Everyone is performing their appropriate competencies while quietly admitting they have no control.
Gen Z didn’t break this. They were last to arrive and first to notice.
The Death of Craft
I’ve caught myself romanticizing the “lost local businesses” without grasping the idea of loss itself.
We didn’t lose the local butcher, mechanic, shopkeeper, specialist, or handyman.
We absorbed them into chains and called them irrelevant.
Then chains into franchises.
Then national logistics.
Then private equity portfolios.
Then SaaS workflows that dictate how craft should be performed (hi).
Specialization got commoditized.
And commodities get enshittified.
That’s why new employees walk in untrained.
That’s why managers can’t mentor.
That’s why leaders can’t articulate a strategy that isn’t presented to them.
That’s why every company looks, sounds, and behaves like its supposed competition.
There’s no agency because there’s no business.
CEOs are doing more PR and marketing than strategy.
Consultants that have no stake in the business are making decisions. Expensive insurance policies to duck accountability.
Sounds like the modern idea of government. Without governance. But these days I suppose it’s the same thing.
The System Is Out of Slack
Let’s list off the cushions stages of decline growth:
efficiency
cost-cutting
outsourcing
automation
“doing more with less”
shared services
vendor layers
(soon) the return of company “culture”
You can only optimize the same workforce so many times before you stop having a workforce.
We’ve reached that point.
What I’m calling “Gen Z problems” are simply the first visible consequences of decades of extraction finally bottoming out.
They enter the building and immediately catch a whiff of the BS:
Nobody knows how things actually work
Everybody is over capacity
Culture is “being able to have a job”
Leadership is brand maintenance
Expertise is a retired (or fired) employee’s memory
Skill transfer is inefficient
Everyone is afraid to take responsibility
No one knows what the business actually does
Everything is built on hope that last quarter extends one more quarter
A proactive reactionary strategy.
The Leadership Crisis
A leader is supposed to:
Provide direction
Set standards
Clarify strategy
Build capability
Protect time
Develop people
But what I see are:
project escalators
deck editors
cost managers
risk deflectors
KPI performers
promise makers
approval intermediaries
brand protectors
culture spokespersons
You can’t claim to guide the ship when the wheel is decorative.
You can’t complain about Gen Z not stepping up when you’re waiting for someone to make your bed.
What’s happening isn’t some natural disaster. It’s a chosen outcome.
What Happens When the Last Trained People Leave
A lot of foundational employees are retiring, quitting, burning out, or being replaced by tools and vendors (hi again).
Even I’m incentivized to take advantage of this baby with a stroller full of candy. I’m sure whoever is reading this is wondering why I don’t. I am, too, honestly. It’s not an integrity thing for me. I aim to learn from my experiences, and this is not one of them.
When the last trained generation exits, companies will discover the real danger. No one remaining knows how anything works. Or why the company did things a certain way. They’ll just follow trends until they end up as a brand in an industry. Maybe you’ll figure the AI thing out, but I hope it knows what your business actually does. I hope you get out before everyone wants to sell to the highest bidder (which, you know, completely breaks the global economy).
That’s when the wheel stops - not figuratively, but literally.
This Is a Leadership Problem
If you consider yourself a leader, the burden is on you to answer questions like:
Where is your business actually headed?
What skills does your org need in 1 year? In 5?
Who inside knows how to do the hard things?
What happens when they leave?
Where is the ladder?
Who teaches the next rung?
What are you building besides process adherence?
What agency do your people have?
What agency do you have?
What decisions are you actively making versus inheriting?
Are you working for the profits next quarter or the business in 5 years?
Who wrote your 5 year plan?
Did you ever have one?
If you cannot answer these, you’re not running a business.
You’re maintaining a brand until the systems collapse under you.
Just remember to buy low and sell high.
The Wheel Already Stopped.
Most companies are coasting. And coasting is indistinguishable from decay until you hit that sweet, sweet friction again.
Gen Z didn’t cause this.
They’re just the first generation unwilling to pretend momentum is the same thing as motion.
If leaders want to fix the workforce, they’ll need to stop trying to “fix” Gen Z and start rebuilding the business with investments in training, development, responsibility, structure, direction, standards, and managerial agency.
There’s no “workforce solution” for a wheel that isn’t connected to anything.
There are no further destinations at the end of the line.
Just me, sitting here, looking as stupid as always, and waiting for company.
I’m chilling at the Final Stop.