Generation X Is Now In Charge

Generational experts will quibble whether Barack Obama is a boomer or Generation X, but we all know in our hearts he is an X man at the core.

So next week the first Gen X president will be sworn into office. It's a pattern of promotion being repeated all over the globe, notes Harvard Business Publishing blogger Tammy Erickson. CEOs appointed this year will likely be X'ers. And that means Gen Y'ers are moving up the ranks as well, soon to outnumber all other groups in the work force.

Read her post for insights into what this trend means about how organizations will be governed in the 21st century. One point she argues is that Gen X leaders will try to make up for the ideological excesses of boomers by emphasizing pragmatism and effectiveness.

"This generational priority," she writes, "will give X'ers a strong advantage in remaking organizations to reflect twenty-first-century realities: the need for transparency, accountability, real-time performance, lack of ideology, top-of-market effectiveness, and cash value."

Interestingly, that description does seem to me to capture many of the values expressed by the next president. It's also interesting to note, at least to us 50- and 60-something folks, that most of Obama's Cabinet appointees are boomers.

Is Gen X ready to lead the world in the years to come? How do you think management will change both in government and corporate worlds? Is the Obama style indicative of what to expect from the next generation?

Speaking of presidents and leadership lessons, check out Bob Woodward's 10 Take Aways From the Bush Years. From a management perspective, Woodward attacks the current president on a number of fronts including failure to encourage dissent, not having a basic grasp of data behind policies, and reluctance to deliver bad news.