There’s a quiet panic in a lot of middle management circles right now, and it’s not about job security–it’s about succession. Business Insider recently ran a piece titled “Gen Z doesn’t want to be the boss, and it’s creating a succession crisis,” and the headline alone tells you everything you need to know. Managers across industries are looking around and realizing the next wave of workers isn’t lining up to be promoted–and for once, it isn’t being blamed on laziness. It’s clarity.
Gen Z watched the previous generation get sold a bill of goods. “Put in your time, go the extra mile, and you’ll climb the ladder!” was the pitch. But what did they actually see? Their parents and mentors burned out, underpaid, micromanaged, and tossed aside the moment they became “too expensive.” In a world where salary data is public and people share horror stories about middle managers crying in their cars during lunch breaks, you can’t sell a promotion as a reward anymore. It’s just…more work for a little more money and a whole lot more stress.
As someone who’s held leadership roles across multiple blue-collar environments–warehouses, delivery hubs, bike shops, you name it–I’ve lived that exact transition. That moment when you’re no longer “part of the team” but not really upper management either. You’re stuck in the awkward middle, trying to protect your people from decisions you had no say in, while getting scolded from above for not “driving results.” I once had a boss who called me into his office to say I wasn’t “being inspirational enough.” I was running on five hours of sleep, conducting a bunch of new-hire training, covering a sick call-out, and rebuilding a spreadsheet that someone decided to delete while I was gone over the weekend. But sure, let me whip up a TED Talk real quick to inspire the team.
So yeah, Gen Z is opting out And that’s not a sign of laziness–it’s a sign of intelligence. They’re demanding clearer boundaries, more support, and actual authority to make decisions if they’re going to be held accountable for outcomes. They want leadership with teeth, not just titles.
What many companies are experiencing now isn’t a leadership vacuum. It’s a backlash. A generation is finally asking, “Why would I take on the stress of management when you’ve made it clear you don’t value the people doing that work?” If you want to fill the leadership pipeline, you don’t need to offer more free pizza or cute job titles. You need to rebuild trust. And that starts with listening.
Because here’s the secret no one wants to say out loud: You can’t guilt people into being passionate about a broken system. Not anymore.
And that’s not a crisis. That’s an opportunity.
It’s an opportunity to redefine what leadership actually is. To stop treating it like a punishment for doing well at your job. To make mentorship part of the job instead of an unpaid side hustle. To give new leaders room to breathe, grow, and–this is important–fail safely. It’s a chance to let go of the myth that the loudest of busiest person in the room is the best candidate and start rewarding people for emotional intelligence, clarity of vision, and actual people skills.
In other words, if no one wants to be the kind of boss we’ve had, maybe it’s time to create the kind of bosses we’ve always needed.
Let Gen Z say “no thanks” to the old system. Then build a new one that’s actually worth saying yes to.