Mind The Gaps The 2015 Deloitte Millennial Survey

Mind the gapsThe 2015 DeloitteMillennial surveyExecutive summary

Millennials overwhelmingly believethat business needs a resetin terms of paying as muchattention to people and purposeas it does products and profit. Seventy-fivepercent of Millennials believe businesses are toofixated on their own agendas and not focusedenough on helping to improve society.Deloitte’s fourth global Millennial surveyasked tomorrow’s leaders, what they think ofleadership today, how businesses operate andimpact wider society, and which individualcharacteristics define effective leaders. Thesurvey uncovered several noteworthy gaps:between the ambitions of young professionalsin emerging markets and developed markets;and between Millennial men’s and women’sattitudes and aspirations toward business andleadership; and between Millennials making themost and the least use of social media.The study collected the views of more than7,800 Millennials representing 29 countriesaround the globe. All participants wereborn after 1982, have obtained a collegeor university degree, are employed fulltime,and predominantly work in large (100 employees), private-sector organizations(see methodology).2The Deloitte Millennial Survey – Executive summaryThe Purpose of BusinessGlobally, more than seven in 10 (73 percent)Millennials believe businesses have a positiveimpact on wider society. They also aregenerally a little more optimistic abouteconomic prospects than they were a yearago. Yet, there are serious questions raisedabout how businesses operate—their prioritiesand even their ethics—and how they addresschallenges raised in the 2013 Millennial Surveyresults, including unemployment, financialinequity, resource scarcity, and climatechange. The dichotomy can be explained, inpart, by considering Millennials’ beliefs aboutthe purpose of business.When asked to identify the words or phrasesthat match their own ideals as to whatbusiness should try to achieve, Millennialshighlight “job creation,” “profit generation,”and “improving society.” Millennials also lookto businesses to drive innovation and enableprogress. They expect business to be goodfor individuals by offering employment, andto have a positive impact on wider society.But, they also recognize (without judgment)that businesses exist to make money.Millennials, thus, have a “rounded” viewabout the purpose of business.“The message is clear: whenlooking at their career goals,today’s Millennials are just asinterested in how a businessdevelops its people and itscontribution to society asthey are in its products andprofits,” said Barry Salzberg,CEO of Deloitte Global.“These findings should beviewed as a valuable alarmto the business community,particularly in developedmarkets, that they need tochange the way they engageMillennial talent or risk beingleft behind.”

They believe business is successfullyimpacting wealth creation, but is lesseffective in improving the wellbeing ofindividuals or providing general socialbenefit. In comparing purpose—whatbusinesses should do—versus impact—what they are doing—Millennials considerbusiness to be under-performing by10 points at improving livelihoods, andunder-performing by 12 points on social/environmental benefit. In contrast, thereis a perceived over-emphasis in areas ofprofit generation ( 10) and wealth creation( 13). Views typically differ in emerging anddeveloped markets. For example, businessis thought to have the largest impact bycreating profits in Switzerland, but thatfigure is lowest in China. Conversely, theimpact on society is rated most highly inChina and lowest in Switzerland. (Figure 1)For six in 10 Millennials, a “sense ofpurpose” is part of the reason they choseto work for their current employers. AmongMillennials who are relatively high users ofsocial networking tools (the “super-connectedMillennials”), there appears to be even greater3The Deloitte Millennial Survey – Executive summaryfocus on business purpose; 77 percent of thisgroup report that their company’s purposewas part of the reason they chose to workthere, compared to just 46 percent of thosewho are the “least connected.”A strong sense of purpose is alsoclosely linked to positive organizationalperformance, as demonstrated in Deloitte’s“Core beliefs and culture survey” and echoedin this current study. Among businesseswhere Millennials say there is a strong senseof purpose, there is significantly higherreporting of financial success, employeesatisfaction, and recruitment. (Figure 2)Via this research, Millennials are suggestingthey want more from business than mighthave been the case 50, 20, or even 10 yearsago. They are asking some searching andprofound questions:Are businesses only interested in theirown agendas? Do they behave ethically?Is their impact in line with expectationsof what they could and should achieve?“(A leading company) givesits employees a chance tolearn and grow. It is capableof making correct but difficultdecisions and ableto succeed.”In asking these questions, Millennials aresending a very strong signal to the world’sbusiness leaders that when doing business,they should do so with purpose. They arealso suggesting that the pursuit of a differentand better way of operating in the 21stcentury begins by redefining leadership.A new definition of business leadershipMillennials view leadership in a waythat runs contrary to how they feel theircurrent leadership teams operate,signaling a “leadership gap” betweenwhat Millennials would prioritize if theyled their organizations and where theybelieve their senior leadership teams arecurrently focused.

The younger generation is aligned withits current leaders’ priority of “ensuringthe long-term future of the organization.”Beyond this, though, Millennials wouldplace far greater emphasis on employeewellbeing ( 20) and employee growthand development ( 14). They also wouldprioritize their companies’ contributions tolocal communities and the wider society inwhich they operate ( 9). Compared to theperceived priorities of their senior leadershipteams, Millennials place less emphasis on“personal income/reward” (-18) and “shortterm financial goals” (-17). (Figure 3)Millennials believe that an organization’streatment of its employees is the mostimportant consideration when deciding if itis a leader. They then consider its: Overall impact on society; Financial performance; Record for creating innovative products orservices; and Whether it has a well-defined andmeaningful purpose to which it is true.When evaluating leadership, Millennialsgive little regard to an organization’s scopeor scale, its overt charitable activity, or theprofiles of senior executives.4The Deloitte Millennial Survey – Executive summaryOverall, Millennials regard businesses’approach to leadership as perhaps tootraditional or inward-looking. While theybelieve the pursuit of profit is important,that pursuit needs to be accompanied bya sense of purpose, by efforts to createinnovative products or services and, above all,by consideration of individuals as employeesand members of society. These ideas aredemonstrated by the organizations andsectors Millennials recognize as being leaders.“Great leaders possessdazzling socialintelligence.”Google and Apple top the list ofbusinesses that resonate most stronglywith the Millennial generation as leaders,each selected by 11 percent of respondents.Coca-Cola (6 percent) was third withMicrosoft (5 percent) and Samsung(4 percent) completing the top five. Inaddition to these well-known globalorganizations, there was great appreciationof a number of “local heroes.” For example,Gazprom was cited by a fifth (22 percent)of Russian Millennials, Koç was named by17 percent in Turkey, EcoPetrol by 16 percentin Colombia, and Alibaba by 12 percentin China.Among broader sectors, leadership isperceived to be strongest in the technology,media and telecommunications (TMT)sector. Overall, 33 percent of nominationswere from TMT, three times more than forfood and beverages (10 percent), and fourtimes that for third-ranked banking/financialservices (8 percent). (Figure 4)A Millennial leadership styleMillennials’ “socially focused” perceptionof leadership encompasses individuals,as well as organizations. The personalitytraits of individuals identified as “trueleaders” include: Strategic thinking (39 percent); Being inspirational (37 percent); Strong interpersonal skills (34 percent); Vision (31 percent); Passion and enthusiasm (30 percent); and Decisiveness (30 percent).

Having an “autocratic” approach(6 percent) was the least popular individualcharacteristic of leaders among Millennials;being “driven by financial results” (10 percent)was similarly unpopular. (Figure 5)While opinions on the strongestcharacteristics of business leaders areconsistent across markets, there is interestinglocal variation. For example, being “wellnetworked” is a much stronger indicator ofleadership in Japan than the average (30percent vs. 17 percent). “Advanced technicalskills” are of greater influence in Germany(47 percent vs. 17 percent) and Switzerland(41 percent). Millennials in South Korea aremore impressed by a person’s “visibility”(36 percent vs. 19 percent), while havingthe “drive to develop employees” is notedin Russia (38 percent vs. 24 percent) andChina (35 percent). Underlining their strongcollective social conscience, the “superconnected Millennials” valued “strongbusiness ethics” (29 percent) more thanthose who use social media to a relativelysmall degree (24 percent).5The Deloitte Millennial Survey – Executive summaryA Millennial Gender GapIn addition to evidence of a “leadershipgap,” we also are seeing a gender gapbetween men and women within theMillennial generation, especially when itcomes to their aspirations and attitudesaround skills, the qualities that defineleaders and leading organizations, and thedesirability of specific industry sectors.and general business skills (professionalism,teaming, communication, etc.). However,when Millennials were asked to rate theirleadership skills, a significant gender gap of6 points emerged; 27 percent of men vs. 21percent of women rated this skill as strong.(Figure 6)Men are somewhat more likely than womento seek senior positions (64 percent vs. 57percent) within their organizations. Further,in a finding that perpetuates the glass-ceilingdebate, that gap grows significantly to 12points when Millennials are asked how likelythey are to seek to become the leader/mostsenior executive at their organizations.In no country do significantlymore women than men say theypossessed strong leadership skillson graduation.These gaps reflect how well Millennials feelthey were prepared for their careers whenthey graduated from college. Millennialswere asked to rate how strong their varioustechnical, analytical, and leadership skills werewhen they left higher education. Womenrated themselves on par with men in financial,economic, and general business knowledge,and higher than men in academic knowledgeThe gender gap on self-rating of leadershipskills varies greatly by country.In contrast men are significantly more likelythan women to say “leadership” was anindividual strength in: Peru (20 point gap),Italy ( 19), Germany ( 13), South Korea( 13), South Africa ( 12), Switzerland ( 12),Japan ( 11), Mexico ( 11) and France ( 10).(Figure 7)