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Introducing a New Era of HBR IdeaCast

Introducing a New Era of HBR IdeaCast

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April 30, 2025
A new sound is in store for the HBR IdeaCast . Every Tuesday, we'll keep giving you the insights, research, and advice you need to lead, featuring practical conversations with leading thinkers. But as Adi Ignatius, editor-at-large at Harvard Business Review, joins executive editor Alison Beard as cohost of the show, we're offering even more to better serve you.
Look forward to more interviews with C-suite executives, more expert perspectives on the most pressing, up-to-date problems facing leaders, and some special surprises for HBR subscribers. The new and improved HBR IdeaCast kicks off next Tuesday, be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Tell us what topics you'd like us to cover: ideacast@hbr.org
ALISON BEARD: Hey, guys. It's Alison Beard, executive editor at Harvard Business Review and for nearly seven years, host of this show, the HBR IdeaCast .
ADI IGNATIUS: And I'm Adi Ignatius. For 16 years, I was the editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review, and now I'm an editor-at-large and joining HBR IdeaCast as the new cohost.
ALISON BEARD: With Adi joining us, you can look forward to all of the same HBR IdeaCast content you love, ideas, research, and hard evidence you need to lead. We'll continue our focused, practical conversations with world-renowned thought leaders.
ADI IGNATIUS: But we also want to keep changing and evolving and making sure we're serving you, the best and brightest leaders and managers out there, with the information that you need. So that means bringing you even more interviews with C-suite leaders to share what they're really doing behind the scenes.
ALISON BEARD: More expert advice around the most pressing problems you're facing in your organization today. From tariffs to AI to talent retention.
ADI IGNATIUS: You'll see us pop up more often on your favorite video and social platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
ALISON BEARD: Plus, there will be some special surprises in store for Harvard Business Review subscribers.
ADI IGNATIUS: Check out the new and improved HBR IdeaCast , same time, same place every Tuesday. Hit subscribe and follow the show on your favorite podcast app and tell us what topics you'd like us to cover. Just email us a note at IdeaCast@hbr.org.
ALISON BEARD: HBR IdeaCast , where we offer insights and inspiration to make you a better leader. See you next week.

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The millennial Midlife Crisis is in crisis
The millennial Midlife Crisis is in crisis

Business Insider

time9 hours ago

  • Business Insider

The millennial Midlife Crisis is in crisis

José has a stable life and career. He wishes he could blow it all up. The 42-year-old has worked in cybersecurity for two decades and earns a six-figure salary. He lives with his girlfriend outside Dallas and earns enough to cover their basic expenses and put some money away for retirement. But he's no longer energized by his work. When he thinks about how he'd like to spend the second half of his life, assuming he lives into his 80s, " sitting in front of a laptop definitely isn't it," says José, who requested that his last name not be used so he could speak frankly about his job. He thinks about getting a degree in exercise science, since he's more passionate about combat sports than he's ever been about computers. He's even thought about moving for a while to Southeast Asia, where he spent time when he was younger. In short, José is having a midlife crisis. Or, rather, he wishes he could have a midlife crisis. As desperately as he wants to make a dramatic change in his life, it feels like an especially bad moment to give up a well-paying job. "I wouldn't take that risk now," José says. He's left wondering: If not now, when? In the clichéd fantasy of the midlife crisis — the one a lot of millennials and Gen Xers grew up with — you buy a red sports car and shed as many trappings of middle age as you can. Research suggests that at least 10% to 20% of the population experiences some form of midlife angst, which typically hits in a person's 40s or 50s. But a crisis can also be clarifying: an impetus to restart your life while there's still time, only now with the financial freedom and hard-won wisdom that was lacking in your early 20s. As two researchers argued in an influential 2008 paper published in the Harvard Business Review, confronting one's mortality can spark a transition from "deficiency motivations" — making up for a lack of something — to "growth motivations," when people can embrace the "freedom that only self-knowledge can impart." People are "looking for a revitalization," but have a hard time envisioning what would work — or daring to dream." It's a nice idea — if only the generation already in the throes of middle age felt like they could afford it. In today's erratic economy, blowing up your life to chart a more fulfilling and productive path can feel positively reckless. Many industries — from tech to manufacturing — are contracting, and companies are hiring at their slowest rates in a decade. Knowledge workers and creative professionals are being pushed aside by AI and other new technologies. A Glassdoor poll conducted in October found that two-thirds of professionals reported feeling stuck in their current roles, including more than 7 in 10 respondents who worked in tech. People are choosing to stay put in jobs they may want to leave. Going back to school is about 40% more expensive than it was 20 years ago. The increasing cost of living has made it more challenging to weather a pay cut that may come with shifting to a new career. In one April 2024 survey of millennials, eight in 10 respondents said a midlife crisis was a luxury they could not afford. Between the 10 midlifers I talked to for this story, there was no shortage of ideas for what they'd do if they were to blow up their lives. But they all agreed that this felt like the wrong time to put personal fulfillment ahead of being practical. The real crisis might be an economy that has so many people feeling trapped. Francesca Maximé, a therapist and life coach, has a front-row seat to this dilemma, though she prefers the term "midlife pivot" to midlife crisis. That's how she describes the shift she made in her own life a decade ago. After nearly 20 years as a TV reporter, Maximé, who's now 54, became disenchanted with how the media had covered the 2016 election. Some personal issues led her to therapy, which in turn inspired her to launch a new career that would allow her to offer that kind of help for others. "Now I work for myself," she says. "I have two businesses. They're thriving." She says many of her clients who come with midlife anxiety are hoping to make a similar pivot. But whereas she could see a bright future for herself when she hit her mid-40s, her clients who are reaching that milestone now say there are just too many unknowns in the job market and the economy. "They're looking for a revitalization in their lives," Maximé says. "But they have a hard time envisioning what would work — or daring to dream." Middle age may be a time when people feel they really know themselves. But it's also the time when a big shift can feel especially risky since they're most likely to have people counting on them, whether children, partners, aging parents, or colleagues. "There's nothing wrong with reassessing things, taking stock of where you've been and where you want to go, and making changes," says Margie Lachman, a psychologist who directs Brandeis University's Lifespan Development Lab. After all, you may become dissatisfied in your 40s simply because you're more clear-eyed about what you actually want out of life. "It's not too late to make changes, and you don't necessarily have to have everything figured out," she says. But older millennials, in particular, tend to feel like they've been casualties of periods of uncertainty that have coincided with key points in their lives. The dot-com bust and the Great Recession hit at the onset of their adulthoods and working lives; the COVID pandemic arrived as they were starting to reach their 40s; and now they're dealing with inflation and new technology like AI just at the moment when they were supposed to be nearing the heights of their professional lives and earning power. "Everyone experiences these same events, but depending on where you are in the life course, they can have differential effects," Lachman says. The sense that now is an especially inopportune moment for midlifers to take a leap of faith is echoed by Gen Xers. We should just be buying sports cars and accruing boy toys. But I guess we're doing something else. Jane, a marketing professional in Canada, has already had one midlife crisis. She got so much out of it that she'd like to have another. A decade ago, when she was in her mid-40s, Jane walked away from a career in PR and marketing and spent a few years working on a doctorate in history and traveling with her partner. It was, they thought, their "last chance to have the big adventure." (Jane also asked that her last name not be used for fear of professional consequences.) But when the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, and the academic path turned out not to be economically viable, Jane returned to the more stable world she'd hoped to leave behind. She took a job in content marketing for a tech company in Canada. "I've got, by any standards, a really awesome job with a really awesome company," says Jane, who's now 55. "I have no objective reason to feel dissatisfied with this. I should be grateful." And yet, the past few years have felt like being on "a treadmill that just keeps going faster and faster and faster, and you're just burning more energy to just stay in one place," she says. She's desperate to get off that treadmill. She still feels a strong pull to do community work or to train to become a mental health counselor. But she no longer feels confident that a job in her old field will be waiting for her if she finds she can't earn enough to keep up with the household expenses. She's already the oldest person in her company, and she expects AI will eventually take over the kind of writing she does anyway. She fears her 30 years of experience could rapidly become worthless. "I didn't realize that I would get slammed with being obsolete this early," she says. It can be hard to come to terms with wanting to shake things up — to the point of knowing how you'd do it — while realizing that doing so would be irresponsible. But the implications of being caught in a rut are bigger than a slice of the population feeling unable to follow their bliss. "People feeling stuck means that workers are less engaged with their work," says Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor's lead economist. "And employee engagement is important to productivity." Nearly everyone I interviewed for this story said they felt unsure that the path they were on was sustainable, since new technologies are devaluing skills they've spent decades mastering — let alone that it would offer them a lot of personal satisfaction in the long term. "You pass 40-something, and you start to become really aware how much time is left," gripes one millennial dad. "I feel like I am trading away fast-dwindling years doing insignificant things." Kara Haas, a 43-year-old living in Brooklyn, feels caught between a shrinking profession and more uncertainty than she can comfortably manage. Years ago, she dreamed of becoming a film director. When that didn't work out, she thought she'd found a still-great option working as a set designer for TV shows and movies. But smaller budgets and a steep decline in the number of projects getting greenlit have meant there's a lot less work than there used to be. Haas feels like this could be her last, best moment to switch to something different. She's thought about opening an Airbnb. But with less work, she has a smaller cushion to sustain her through a major transition. She worries about falling behind on her expenses or losing the health insurance she gets through her union. Haas sees only bad options, which is a far cry from how she imagined things turning out. She'd always assumed that her midlife crisis would at least be an opportunity to have some fun. "We should just be buying sports cars and accruing boy toys," she says. "But I guess we're doing something else." Whatever the state of the job market and the broader economy, millennials are certainly not immune to having a midlife crisis in the classic sense: feeling bogged down by adult responsibilities, like parenting, and regret over not getting to enjoy the fruits of their labor. For millennials especially, this can be exacerbated by other cultural shifts: parents, including dads, are spending far more time with their kids than previous generations; they take less vacation; and just keeping up with your contemporaries is more expensive than ever. By one estimate, the cost of raising a child has gone up 20% since 2016. "You pass 40-something, and you start to become really aware how much time is left," says Jason, a small-business owner in New York, who also asked to use only his first name in order to express his true feelings. As a married father of a 6- and a 10-year-old, Jason, who's 44, says having his life shaped by his kids' routines has both brought on his midlife crisis and kept him from doing much about it. "I've worked incredibly hard for decades and now have infinite opportunities to travel, participate in exciting things," he says. "And I'm having to say no over and over again so I can just sit at home and be there for bedtime. And that really kills me. I feel like I am trading away fast-dwindling years doing insignificant things." Maximé, the life coach, says the advice she gives clients who feel stuck at midlife is that blowing up their lives isn't the only way to make a change. She encourages them to think in terms of baby steps. "Start by imagining the perfect way of life you'd want to live," she says. "Then, figure out the practical steps you can take to get closer to that ideal." For a lot of the people I talked to, the most immediate way to ward off feelings of existential angst has been through forging deeper ties with those around them. Jane, the marketing professional in Canada, recently joined a dragon boat racing team and started volunteering at a local dance festival. She's embracing the idea of small-scale adventures — at least until a better option presents itself.

Digital transformation
Digital transformation

Harvard Business Review

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  • Harvard Business Review

Digital transformation

Latest They're harnessing it to help directors prepare, debate, and decide. Save Share From the July–August 2025 Issue In this edition of the HBR Executive Agenda, HBR editor at large Adi Ignatius shares insights from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the marketing world's big annual meetup on the French Riviera. A guide to help leaders design, test, and scale their human-AI labor strategy. Prioritizing players and digital infrastructure led viewership to nearly triple. Save Share From the May–June 2025 Issue Moody's calculated that the risk of standing still outweighed the risk of moving fast. Save Share March 25, 2025 If you're only focused on optimizing your current business model, you risk falling behind AI-first competitors. Save Share March 03, 2025 How to thrive when AI makes knowledge and know-how cheaper and easier to access Save Share From the March–April 2025 Issue A new survey shows that mid- and late-career workers offer unique strengths when it comes to working with AI—but that companies often overlook their potential. Save Share February 25, 2025 Five lessons from an insurer's journey towards a paperless office. Save Share January 07, 2025 Process management has long been a go-to method for achieving the improvements in operational performance that stakeholders constantly demand. By applying... Save Share Buy Copies January 01, 2025 Companies tend to manage capital projects as a single behemoth — which is why they often don't go as planned. Save Share December 10, 2024 How one executive took on transforming California's troubled Department of Motor Vehicles — and what he learned. Save Share November 29, 2024

Boomers Refuse To Believe These Things About The Generational Divide
Boomers Refuse To Believe These Things About The Generational Divide

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Yahoo

Boomers Refuse To Believe These Things About The Generational Divide

The generational divide is real, and it's as wide as the Grand Canyon. You see it in how you communicate, work, and even grocery shop. Yet, boomers often dismiss the idea that such differences even exist. It's as if admitting the gap means acknowledging they might not have all the answers. So, let's break it down a bit. Here are 13 things boomers refuse to believe about the generational chasm—things you deal with every day. Boomers grew up in a world where job loyalty was everything. They'd clock in and out, day after day, year after year, expecting a gold watch at retirement. You, however, crave work-life balance—maybe even more life than work. The idea that you're not willing to sacrifice everything for a job feels alien to them. But according to a study by the Harvard Business Review, you're not alone in this mindset. In fact, millennials and Gen Z are driving the "gig economy," creating a landscape where flexibility is king. Still, boomers might roll their eyes and chalk it up to laziness. What they fail to grasp is that for you, it's not about shirking responsibility, it's about living a fuller, more rounded life. The white picket fence dream doesn't hold the allure it once did. You see homeownership as a ball-and-chain, tying you to one spot, one job, one way of life. Boomers might see it as a rite of passage into adulthood, but you see it as a financial burden. Renting offers you the freedom to pack up and go where opportunity knocks. Sure, owning a home can be a solid investment, but you weigh it against student debt, economic instability, and the desire for flexibility. Your life is more about experiences than assets. The freedom to travel, to switch careers, even to move for love, feels more valuable than a mortgage. And that's a concept many boomers struggle to accept. Boomers grew up with evening news broadcasts and daily papers as their lifeline to the world. You, on the other hand, get your news from Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. To them, this seems like a chaotic and unreliable method of staying informed. But your newsfeed is tailored to your interests, giving you a wider, albeit sometimes narrower, scope of the world. According to Pew Research Center, younger generations are consuming news mainly through these platforms. This doesn't mean you're uninformed; it means you choose immediacy and relevance. Boomers may see this as superficial, but you see it as efficient. It's not that you don't care—it's that you care in a different way. For boomers, therapy was often a last resort, a sign that something was "really wrong." You, however, see it as maintenance, like going to the gym, but for your mental health. The stigma that kept older generations away from therapy is fading fast, but many boomers still see it as a weakness. For you, it's about self-awareness and growth. Conversations about mental health are frequent among your peers, and therapy is often just a normal Tuesday activity. You're not waiting for a crisis to seek help; you're being proactive. Boomers might view this as indulgent, but you're far more concerned with your own peace of mind than their opinions. It's about living your best life, not just surviving it. Marriage was once a given, a step you took without question. Boomers might still see it as a must-do, a cornerstone of adulthood. But for you, marriage is just one option among many. Whether it's marrying later, not at all, or embracing alternative relationship structures, you're writing your own rules. A report from the National Center for Family & Marriage Research shows that marriage rates are declining, especially among younger generations. You're choosing to define relationships on your terms. It's not about rejecting tradition for the sake of it; it's about finding what truly works for you. And love, after all, doesn't have to be confined to a legal contract. Boomers lived in an era where gender roles were clearly defined. Men were the breadwinners; women were the homemakers. But you reject this binary worldview. Gender fluidity and non-binary identities are part of your everyday vocabulary, reshaping how you approach life. You celebrate diversity and personal expression, even if it means challenging the status quo. It's not about erasing gender; it's about expanding its possibilities. Boomers may find this unsettling, clinging to their black-and-white distinctions. But for you, the world is a beautiful tapestry of identities, and you're not interested in limiting yourself to old frameworks. In a time when "don't ask, don't tell" was the norm, boomers learned to keep things close to the vest. You, however, are all about transparency—whether it's in relationships, work, or politics. You want to know where people stand, even if it's uncomfortable. To boomers, this candor can seem reckless. Transparency builds trust, and research from the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that millennials and Gen Z demand it now more than ever. Whether it's in brand loyalty or friendships, you want authenticity. Boomers might call it oversharing, but for you, it's about cutting through the noise. You crave genuineness in a world that often feels fake. Change isn't just inevitable; it's exhilarating. While boomers might cling to the familiar, you're diving headfirst into the new. Whether it's technology, new social norms, or career paths, you're adapting and evolving. You see change as a chance to grow, not something to fear. For boomers, change often equates to uncertainty. For you, it means opportunity. Each shift is a chance to redefine who you are and what you want. Boomers might see you as flighty, but you're committed to the journey, not just the destination. The concept of a 9-to-5 grind feels outdated to you. Boomers might see it as a steady, reliable way to live, but you see it as confining. Remote work, freelancing, and flexible schedules align more with your values. The future of work is here, and you're fully embracing it. Time is your most valuable currency, and you're not willing to spend it all in a cubicle. You'd rather work smarter, not harder, focusing on productivity rather than clocking hours. Boomers might view this as lackadaisical, but you've seen the benefits of a flexible lifestyle. You're defining success on your own terms, even if they don't get it. Retail therapy? Not so much. Boomers grew up in an age of consumerism, but you're all about experiences. For you, life is about collecting moments, not things. Whether it's travel, concerts, or even a quiet weekend getaway, memories matter more than material goods. Boomers might scratch their heads at this minimalist approach. They equate possessions with success, but you see clutter as a burden. Your Instagram feed isn't about flaunting wealth; it's about capturing experiences. Boomers might call it frivolous, but you know the true value of a life well-lived. Boomers often view younger generations as apathetic. But you're anything but. You tweet, march, and vote with fervor, leveraging digital tools to amplify your voice. To boomers, this might look like keyboard activism, lacking the gravitas of in-person engagement. But you're building movements, making real change happen. Your activism is intersectional, embracing a wide range of issues from climate change to social justice. Boomers may dismiss it as performative, but your impact is undeniable. You're shaping the future—and you know it. For boomers, mental health was often a hush-hush topic. You, on the other hand, wear your mental health journey on your sleeve. Therapy, meditation, and self-care aren't buzzwords; they're necessities. Boomers might see this as self-indulgence, but you know it's survival. Your generation has shattered the stigma surrounding mental health, creating a culture of openness and understanding. You're not afraid to call in sick for mental health days, prioritizing your well-being over appearances. Boomers might not get it, but you're redefining what it means to be healthy. It's about being whole, not just functional. The traditional family structure isn't a one-size-fits-all for you. While boomers stick to the nuclear family model, you're redefining kinship. Friends become family, and community means everything. Your family isn't just who you're born with, but who you choose. Boomers might see this as nontraditional or even unstable. But you see it as liberating, a way to surround yourself with love and support. Blood ties are important, but they're not the sole definition of family. You're creating a tribe that reflects your values and aspirations, and that's something boomers are only beginning to understand.

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