Sense of Soul - Generation We

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Todays Sense of Soul Podcast  starts of 2022 with the Social Scientist, Cultural Consultant, Generational Expert, and Author AnneMarie Hayek. AnneMarie is the Founder/President of Global Mosaic, and ZSpeak. She joined us to talk about her amazing book, the best seller Generation We: The Power and Promise of Gen Z.  In Generation We, joins forces with thousands of Zs to tell their powerful story—one that impacts all of us. From new ideas on capitalism, politics, and climate change to education, gender, race, and work, AnneMarie explains how Gen Z thinks, what they envision, and why we should be hopeful. Zs are not naïve idealists. They’re hardened realists with a bold vision for how we can transition, re-create, and progress. Generation We is your invitation to see the future they will create as it’s unfolding. AnneMarie is truly a lifelong student of culture, spending her 20s running global projects for multi-nationals around the world, living on four continents (Asia, Europe, North America and South America) and leading initiatives across more than 50 countries. She served as SVP of Global Strategic Planning at BBDO and VP of Global Strategic Planning at Leo Burnett. In her 30s, she studied modern/historical drivers of cultural, economic and political evolution (particularly in the context of globalization) at the University of Chicago, earning an MA with highest honors. She was selected as one of 36 founding members of the BoP (Base of the Pyramid) Protocol, an international consortium of MNCs, NGOs, academics and social entrepreneurs creating more inclusive and sustainable business models for operating in the developing world. Since founding Global Mosaic in 2003, AnneMarie and her team have led projects around the world, worked with start-up founders, presidential candidates, rebranded countries and revitalized cultural/educational institutions. She’s passionate about evolving cultural movements and loves to speak/write about what’s next. Personal passion projects include youth culture (she’s somewhat obsessed with Gen Z) and girls’ education (she runs a global girls’ education initiative with her two teenage daughters). Learn more about Generation We and AnnMarie… https://www.annemariehayek.com Take the Gen Z test? https://71qw9bpif45.typeform.com/generationwe www.global-mosaic.com FB https://www.facebook.com/ZSpeakFB/ IG https://instagram.com/zspeakglobal?utm_medium=copy_link Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/annemariehayek Don’t forget to rate, follow and leave us a comment! Please go check out our Sense of Soul’s merch and workshops including Shanna’s CLEAR ancestry workshop and learn more about us @ www.mysenseofsoul.com! Exclusively NOW on Sense of Soul Patreon you can also listen to Shanna’s mini-series about her ancestral journey, “Untangled Roots” and Mande’s mini series about her two NDE’s and much more! https://www.patreon.com/senseofsoul

Welcome to the Sense of Soul podcast. We are your hosts, Shanna and Mandy. Grab your coffee, open your mind, heart and soul. It's time to awaken. Shanna and I are super excited about today because we are going to be talking to Anne-Marie Hayek about something we've never spoke about before, and that is Generation Z. Anne-Marie Hayek is a cultural consultant, generational expert, and a social agitator who deeply understands society's evolutions. She founded and leads two companies, Global Mosaic and Z-Speak. She has a passion for navigating the cultural movements shaping our world. Anne-Marie and her team of experts have advised the world's largest companies, organizations, governments, and presidential candidates for more than 25 years. She is a graduate from the University of Chicago and previously served

as a senior vice president and vice president of global strategy at BBDO and Leo Burnett. We both had the pleasure of reading her new book, Generation We. In this book, she talks about how she joined forces with thousands of Zs to tell their powerful story, one that impacts all of us. From new ideas on capitalism, politics, and climate change to education, gender, race, and work. Anne-Marie explains how Generation Z thinks, what they envision, and how we should all be hopeful. We're super excited to have you on, Anne-Marie, and talk about Generation Z. Thank you and welcome to Sense of Soul. Hi. Hello. Hi. Oh, we're so excited to talk to you. Janet and I both text each other like this morning, like this is the best book ever. It's so good. Yeah. And so we both have always

thought that this generation is so special. You think they were actually born into like right timing and you even go as far as saying in quotes, partially by accident. Talk about that for a moment that you think it's timing. It's such a great question. I can't know this, right? I can't know that it was an accident or not. I guess what I'm expressing is that I believe very much as you do, right, that our humanity is on this trajectory. And we are at a point where we need to evolve. And there are people and there are events and there are things that are happening that are intentionally meant to break us out of our complacency and are meant to help move us forward. And I agree with you that this generation is a huge part of that.

And I actually think for those of us who really are students of humanity and know intuitively that it is a critical time for us to evolve, I think that's why a lot of us got really excited about millennials as well, right? Because here was youth and we knew that they did have a greater sense of awareness. And I think that that's why for a lot

of us, we put a lot of cultural, frankly, pressure, I think, on the millennials, right? It was literally the turn of the millennium. They were coming of age at 2000. We were all looking at 2000 and saying, we need to make some changes. Maybe with this change of the millennium, we were all looking at 2000 and saying, we need to make some changes, maybe with this change of the millennium that will happen. But it turns out that the millennials, while they certainly are different from older generations in some ways, they have produced more incremental change, right? And now here we are 15 to 20 years later after initially getting excited about the millennials. And now we have this new generation, Generation Z, who are coming of age. And they're also looking at the millennials and saying, you know, you guys didn't really address the things that are broken.

You didn't really move us forward far enough. So we are now the ones to really take on that torch and carry that torch and move us forward. And we don't have any more time to waste. And I think to some degree, they were sent at this time to continue to move us forward. But I also think if I look as a social scientist, right, I'm very much a spiritual person. And I'm also a social scientist. And I knew that if I were to write this book in a way that it was really meaningful and accepted by the largest part of the population, right, of our society, that it had to be rooted in science as well.

It had to be rooted in data as well. It had to be rooted in fact as well. It couldn't just be rooted in my intuition, even though I very much believe in this generation. And that's why there's so much data and so many facts and so much acknowledgement of the current state of our world and the current state of our society, right? So for example, when I say that so much of it is just where we're at, we're at this point, the fact that they are coming of age as we're standing here in 2021, right? At this inflection point, trying to make our way out of COVID. And we all know that we're not going back to how things were before, right? But what happens from here, right? And that the fact that we have, we're at this precipice and

we have this young generation with all of these big ideas and such a clear way of looking at the world and they're coming of age right now. I mean, that's an incredible confluence of events, right? That's an incredible confluence of events, but there are also things that are very data and fact-based like, you know, when millennials came of age and we were looking at the climate, you know, as a society, we were still talking about recycling. Make sure you put your milk container after life recycling bin. That was like the big thing that millennials were part of. Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Exactly. And now we have Zs, right? Who were born onto a planet that is burning, right? That has experienced these national disasters like we have never seen, where the six most recent years in history are the six hottest ever recorded, right, on our planet,

or at least recent history. And so there are real events and facts and situation that these young people are being born into. And so I guess whether they were really born extraordinary, not born extraordinary, they're certainly being born into a time where they have to rise to the challenge. And what's so interesting, right, is you read the book and we're talking about it is the fact that they have access to tools like social media, which has allowed them to be such a unified generation. So what I find so amazing, and again, we could have such a fun discussion and debate around whether they were born into this time to do this or whether this time has given them the tools to do this work.

But regardless, they're here now and they have the characteristics and tools to do this work. Right. Absolutely. 100%. Talk about being born into doing this work. It sounds like, and I'm going to take us back for a moment. It sounds like you were born into this world to do this work. I mean, I was blown away that at such a young age, you were like reading the stuff that you were reading and that the behaviors and attitudes of, you know, different cultures was so interesting to you at such a young age. I was like, who the hell's reading encyclopedias when they're 10? Well, apparently Anne-Marie was. Well, not all encyclopedia. I would literally skip from country to country. I mean, it is so interesting, right? How we all, I think we all are, if we allow ourselves to be internally driven

and we allow ourselves to be intuitive, we all have the ability to be intuitive and to be inner driven if we can quiet and find the still and turn inward. And I think that it's so interesting how we're all born to do certain things. It is kind of a joke of the universe. I think that it's so interesting how we're all born to do certain things. It is kind of a joke of the universe. I talk about it that way that I really do feel like I was born to be a student of humanity and this kind of global citizen and have always been focused on what makes us different, but yet what unites us. And the fact that I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, you know, the child of 100% Czech, not

a lot of diversity, not a lot of diversity of thought. And yet here I am born into Cedar Rapids, Iowa as this like global citizen and as the student of humanity. And I always knew that about myself. And Cedar Rapids was an amazing place to grow up. I can't say enough good things about it, but it just is funny that that was my purpose, but yet I was chosen to be born there. What is your generation? What did it look like for you? Yeah. So I'm Gen X, right? So Gen Z is this younger generation, right? Which is roughly 10 to 24 years old now, born between 97 and roughly 2010. And then above them are the millennials, right? Which we've all heard so much about, probably too much about over the last 15 to 20 years. And then I'm, and then I'm,

I'm Gen X, right? So, so we're like the sandwich generation between the millennials and the boomers. And I, and I write about this in the book, they were kind of the sandwich generation and we're, we're the ones no one ever talked about because the boomers were a giant generation and they very much both because of their size and because they, their generation was born between 46 and 64. And that was the whole, you know, post-war boom. And so many of our systems were being made in the U S at that time. And so the boomers have just been such a dominant generation, which also, as you all know, is very much based on this individualistic approach to achievement, this kind of individualistic approach to the American dream, to capitalism, to what I have a right to achieve in my life, right? And now what's really interesting is through these younger generations,

especially Gen Z, that pendulum is really swinging toward this much more collective place, right? Which is why the book is called Generation We, because as I researched them, I found that's really what's most distinctive about them is that they really think as a collective as opposed to from a very individualistic standpoint. But anyway,

so I am Gen X. And so I'm 51 years old. I was born in 1970. And as a student of culture, I spent my 20s studying. I was working for a lot of big, big international companies, right? And big international marketing companies. And so I was essentially doing all this anthropological work all over the world in my 20s. And that was such a gift because basically on someone else's dime, I was able to travel the world. I was really able to understand and study. I was being paid to do so, right? How people eat, how people care for themselves, how people do laundry, how they, I mean, all of these things, right? And so I really enjoyed and had the opportunity to see how we're all different, but also how we're so alike. And then in my early thirties, I decided, you know, I really love this kind of work. I really love studying humanity, but I no longer want to work for these big companies

because I really want to have more control over the kind of projects that I'm doing. I don't necessarily feel good about helping a cereal company convince Chinese children that they should be eating sugared cereal in the morning instead of like the rice and vegetables that they're eating now. Right. So, so I decided I wanted to start my own company, Global Mosaic, where I could do cultural consultancy work, but I could really pick and choose the kind of work that I wanted, the kind of projects that I wanted. It felt good that we're, that, you know, we're really moving the world forward. And actually the whole inspiration for, for the company name Global Mosaic is this idea, right? That we are a mosaic, that we are, when you look up close and personal any mosaic you see the

individual beauty in all the tiles you see the individual colors you see the individual differences but then when you back up we all come together to create this this this greater whole so I was 31 years old when I created global mosaic and that was the intention behind it is to really help companies and organizations we've been working with presidential candidates we've worked with I mean we've been fortunate with all different kinds of organizations, but to really understand and honor our differences and our similarities. Wow. That whole mosaic thing is beautiful. I love the intention and the meaning behind the name of your company. That's beautiful. I'm going to back up and just start real simple because I have to be honest, I didn't even know what a social scientist was. And you call yourself a generational expert. I'm like, wait a minute, there's actual

people out there that like go to school and do this. I mean, my daughter would probably absolutely love this as something to look into now that she's getting ready for college. But I mean, a social scientist, I mean, talk about that. Was that a degree you got? What did that look like as far as education? So my graduate degree is in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. But I'll tell you too, I mean, I think that so many of these words are what they mean to us. This really goes back to being internally driven and really taking time to be in the stillness and be with yourself and follow what feels true to you and you feel passionate about. And so social science, certainly there's a school of social science at

the University of Chicago and other schools. And that's what I studied as part of my graduate degree. But one of the things that this reminds me of is Global Mosaic. When people asked me initially, what is Global Mosaic? I said, it's a cultural consultancy. And I completely made that up. I had never heard of anything being a cultural consultancy. And I just thought to myself, I love it. This is the life's work that I want to do right now is I want to help organizations, companies, sometimes nonprofits, whoever it might be, who are interested in truly understanding culture, right? And then doing the work that they do inspired by that authentic cultural understanding. And I felt that there was more of that needed, right?

And so, I mean, that was 19 years ago that we started the cultural consultancy, but it's been everything from helping companies to understand the health and wellness trajectory, you know, and how helping would be food companies, whether it be, I mean, all different kinds of companies to understand how to help make us all more well. How can we move things forward in terms of health and wellness? You know, how can we relate to even boomers, right? How can we help boomers think differently about aging, right? Don't want to discount millennials because millennials have introduced a lot of fresh thinking, you know, and they really pushed back against our really toxic work environment. And we think about, you know, the eighties and the nineties and the Gordon Gekko-ism of our work culture and how unhealthy that all was, right? Read is good, blah, blah, blah. You know, millennials have

really come in and really reshaped and refused to put up with that same kind of work culture, right? And work hours. And certainly my generation did. I mean, my God, my first job working at Leo Burnett, I was filling a hundred hours a week because when they said jump, we jumped. I mean, that was the work back then. That was so unhealthy. That was so toxic. And so, and so anyway, really, you know, helping, helping, I mean, I've always felt again that I'm a student of humanity and I just love to learn and I'm constantly learning and observing and then love to share those observations with organizations and with companies that I think can help move us forward. Because if a big food company can really think more progressively about how people need to eat, they can make an impact, right? When companies really accept the work culture can be different,

they can make an impact. So I've always been impact driven, driven by curiosity, and then driven to work with the kinds of companies and organizations where I feel like they'll actually listen and potentially help move us forward collectively. That's amazing. You know, what's interesting is that as I was reading your book and just as we're talking right now, I did a lot of ancestral work, which was a lot of generational work. I had to look at the different generations and what was going on around them is what shaped them and then what they tried to carry forward. However, we're an evolving people. I just wanted to see if you could break down the generations because I found that to be so amazing. And I saw so many

things that I see in my house. I have so many different generations because I have kids from 24 to nine. It's so amazing the dynamic that you get in a family when you have different generations because of the different things that you bring. It is right. You've experienced it. And it's and generational studies are such a I mean, and, and, and generational studies are such a, I mean, like most things, right. They are such an art, right. I mean, it's a mosaic. It's like you said, I'm really careful to say that, you know, when you look at generations, it's not a hard and fast science and we're all individuals. I don't mean to try to oversimplify things by lumping people into a generation at At the same time, it really is interesting because when you study humanity over time,

what you find is that when you grow up, what happens during those formative years, it does impact your worldview. It does impact your values. It does impact how you look at things and how you think about your role in the world. And so there is the silent generation, which at this point are, right, the oldest, oldest generation really alive in our country right now. Those are before the boomers.

And so those, those silent generation were born prior to 1946. And they're a very conservative generation, right? They lived through the world wars. The clean cut Elvis generation. The clean cut Elvis. This is how I describe my generation i use the fat elvis and i love it that is brilliant that is absolutely brilliant and then of course we have the boomers and and the boomers again began um in 1946 so world war ii ended in 45 and then

they were that baby boom that came immediately after that. And they're the ones who were born between 1946 and 1964. And the reason we continue to hear so much about boomers is that they, again, they happened to be born during this incredibly pivotal time in our world and certainly in our country, right? Because that was the biggest economic boom that we've experienced, right? And so, and also, if you think about it, they're 82% white. And so, whereas this new generation is about 50-50 white, non-white, right? Well well can I also point out one thing the quiet generation kept from the from the boomer generation that they were indeed many of them that were black I went down the rabbit hole of your website because I just I fell in love with you guys spending time on your website and I read your ancestral story which yeah that happened though know, and so when you say the queer generation, you are all just

fits right into, you know, because of the times that they lived. Yes, absolutely. And so everything was oriented around the white experience though, right? It was. The boomers, a white experience, right? With 82% of them claiming, identifying to be white. So, I mean, all of these issues in our country, right, that affect the minority just never really got a lot of play. And as I said earlier, I mean, the boomers, they were just, in some ways, they were just fortunate to live through this time of great economic abundance and growth. And so, and so for them, guess what? If you wanted to go to college, you could go to college. Guess what? If you wanted to go to college, you could go to college. Guess what? If you came out of college, there wasn't generally a great job waiting for

you. And guess what? That company was going to employ you for life and give you full benefits and help you save for retirement. And so, you know, and so boomers look at the world and they actually look at young generations today and they just don't understand because they, boomers are the, you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps you can go to college you can anyone if they're willing to work hard you're lazy and can succeed and what they don't understand is the is the rules of the game have completely changed access to opportunity is not equal and access to education is not equal and access to advancement is not equal right but they don't understand that. And so these young generations look at boomers, that's really what's so much behind these like memes around, okay, boomer, is that, you know, the boomers just don't understand. They are living in the reality that they grew up in, but things have changed so dramatically and so then after the boomers was us right after 19

1964 until about 1980 the that's x that's me generation x and that's us too there's there's so little that's been written about us i don't know that anyone ever wrote a book about gen x like lots of they just wrote about our cool bangs that we curled this way and this way yeah right they should because women during this generation really had to step up because this is when they had to step in a lot into the masculine role. Absolutely. This was a lot of dual working families. This is when divorce became the instance of divorce for the first time. moms and so we were if anything what's been written about us is that we're the latchkey kids we're like the original generation

of kids right so we're as the boomers i mean this is another thing that the boomers just kind of got the boomers were born during a time when they tended to have like you know two parent households and you know mom likely stayed home and there was and you were cared for and then we came and then generation x showed up right good music though we had really probably great music we had we were like the first mtv generation we got you got some great music videos. We got Michael Jackson, we got Prince, you know, we got, we had some good, I mean, come on. I mean, I can't believe they didn't write about us. I mean, this is when women started like wearing leather pants and leather bustiers and going to Metallica concerts. Like, come on. Damn it. That's going to be my

next book. I'm going to get started on that right away. We do deserve a book. We totally deserve a book. Yes. I mean, a big part of it, honestly, is just, you know, the world pays attention to large generations as well, right? They have standing power and they, let's be honest, right? Like a lot of the world and a lot of certainly corporations are oriented around where is

the market opportunity? And we were also a small generation relative to the boomers and the millennials. And then the millennials were born and they were, again, this huge generation, right? So that was really interesting to people. And they also, again, I think a lot of it was that they were coming of age around the time of the change in millennia, literally coming of age around 2000. And so I think we were all just expecting so much to change when we hit that 2000 mark, when we went from 1999 to 2000, and not as much change, nothing crashed, but there weren't any super substantive changes that

happened in the decade after that. And as you may have seen in the book, you know, I say, because I think this is a really powerful point is that it turns out the year 2000 was not that pivotal after all, but the year 2020 is super pivotal. Let's all hope that we look back at 2020 as being pivotal. Let's hope that we look back at it, right. As the inflection point that sends us into an era where we are more thoughtful and where we are thinking about things differently and we are remaking what's broken, right? We're at that inflection point and we have that opportunity, certainly. We won't know until we look back at this time in history. I think that the 2020 was really in our face pivotal. I do think that 9-11 and the beginning of that whole Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East war was more,

and a lot of it's being exposed now, but it was more undercover pivotal and sets us up for a lot of what's happening now. Interesting. Well, I also have to say, just from a generational standpoint, when you think about the power that generations have and why they have that power to the fact that Gen Z has had access to the digital world and the internet and all that's happening in the world from a really young age has been really, really powerful, uniting them as a generation and making them really aware and savvy. I love that you said that. And this is one of the points, I mean, part of the reason that I really wanted to write this book too, is because I found myself so in awe of this generation. And when I really sought to read about them and learn about them, I felt that what was being

written about them was so superficial and it was really derogatory. And I think that we as a culture love to trivialize youth because we want to feel that our lived experience has given us this, you know, superior perspective and superior knowledge, right? And it builds us up to trivialize youth. And so, so much of what was being written was how Zs just are always staring at their screens. Like if you do a Google image search, if you type into the Google search bar, Google image search bar, Gen Z, all you get are pages and pages and pages of like teenagers staring at their phones, right. That they're just obsessed with their, with their screens. They have no idea what's going on in the world. They're just, you know, they're sharing stupid memes and whatever

it is. And the reality is, is it's made them really wise from a young age. It's also been traumatic in many ways. So that's a whole, there's a dark side to that for sure. But going back to, for example, your comment about 9-11, millennials were in elementary school and middle school when 9-11 happened. But the median age of a millennial when the iPhone came out was 19. So, you know, most of them didn't have a device, or didn't exist yet when 9-11 happened.

So the millennials didn't see 9-11 unfold in real time. It was more the parents and the teachers and the administrators who got to talk about how do we want to expose our kids to this, right? Whereas RZs have had access to this. They've had a front row seat 24-7 since a young age. They see George Floyd in the street, right? They see more recently the Afghans hanging onto those planes as they're taking off. They see this unfolding.

And so it makes them really aware and it allows them to be having these conversations with each other from a relatively young age and really want to have a voice in what's happening in our world because they have that awareness and because they see clearly because of this access that they have the state of our world and the state of our politics and the state of our climate and the state of all of these things in a way that no previous generation had at that age. Right. You know, those were my two favorite words that I found in your book about this generation was unity and awareness, because Shannon and I talk about those two things all the time. Talk about really tweaking perspective, you know, and looking at this digital link that they have. You know, we all view it as negative.

No, that is what has offered them this unity. And then when you talked about, you know, the generation using it in such positive ways, it was just like really insightful for me to read that. Also said that they had to dismantle what the boomers did and I went down and I told my 22 year old daughter that I when you when I read that she was like oh hell yes we do yes funny because she doesn't even blame my generation she's happy that my generation is allowing it to come forth we're just sitting back going okay and you, like millennials and Gen Z are actually very different from each other. Like if you ask your Gen Z daughter or children, right, about millennials, to them, again, millennials are old, you know, millennials, millennials didn't grow up with the same level

of awareness. They're not activists in the way that Gen Zs are. They aren't as progressive in their ideas. And so Gen Z sees themselves as very different from millennials. But what I will say in the way that they're united is that boomers are the push-off point. Boomers are the pivot point for most of the things that Gen Zs and millennials take issue with and are looking to remake because

they just see, and again, not to trash boomers, but they just happened to be born into a time where everything worked out generally fairly well for them. Now, certainly there were people who were excluded from that. Yeah. I was going to say, as long as you're in the box, they were 100%, but as a generation, right, generally things worked out for them. Right. The economy was booming. They had access to all of these things. And so but those systems that they build, I mean, you look at our approach to capitalism, right, which worked well for the individuals for whom it worked well for. But Zs as well as millennials look at that now and say, gosh, from where we're standing now, 50 plus years, 60 years later, we're looking at this and from where we're standing, it looks like it's created the greatest level of economic inequality that we've experienced. It looks

like it's degraded the climate. It looks like all these people are excluded from the game. So we need to rethink this, right? Again, it's when you're born and what's happening in the world and what you're seeing and what your experience is. One thing I wanted to say, because I absolutely just, I think this is so powerful. Amanda, you were talking a minute ago about awareness and unity. And I think that, and getting back to the unity, because Generation Z is the largest generation on the planet and in our country right now. 27% of our country right now, they have surpassed millennials in terms of numbers, but it's not their size, right? That makes them so powerful. As you read about in the book, it is this unity. And when you talk about the difference in generations,

this is one of the things that I just think is so incredibly powerful about Gen Z. And it's related to the meaningful ways that access to digital have impacted their life is I love how their apps like TikTok, which is, you know, very much a Gen Z app, right. And how it operates so differently from like an Instagram or Facebook, where differently from like an Instagram or Facebook, where if you're on Instagram or Facebook, as you know, like you open your feed and you pretty much see the people that you follow or that you friended, maybe some sponsored content, whatever it might be. But the way that the TikTok algorithm works is that when they open their For You page, say in the morning, when they wake up, they certainly see some of the short videos and

things their friends have posted, but they also see whatever's being crowdsourced and getting the most likes and going viral around the world. And so Zs all over the country and all over the world are seeing a lot of the same content. And I just think that that's so powerful. And, you know, whether I live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or I live in Seattle, or I live in Hong Kong, or I live in wherever I live, right? I'm seeing stories. I might be seeing stories of like a young black, you know, teen and his encounter with the police or a trans youth in, in Iowa and what it's like to come out as trans there or whatever it might be. And we don't have, no other generation has had this experience. The only way we could have replicated this, and I know this sounds kind

of crazy, but really this is like the equivalent for us would have been if we came down to breakfast every morning and there were like 10 strangers sitting around our breakfast table from all over the world. Say I'm 17 and I come down every morning and there are 10, 17 year olds sitting around my breakfast table. And while I ate my breakfast, they all have about a minute to tell me their life experience, their lived experience. And then the next morning I come down and there are another 10, 17 year olds from all over the country and all over the world. And that is what Zs are experiencing all the time. And so it helps them to just understand that these factors of nationality or skin color or gender identity or red or blue state or urban or rural or whatever it is that those aren't dividers, that there's actually more than it unites us and divides us. Because if I'm a 17 year old,

I can be a 17 year old and I can be white and I can be straight, but I'm still in the process of establishing my identity and who I am in the world. So I can relate to the struggles of all of these other people who are 17 year olds who are doing the same thing all around the world. And that's so powerful. And when we did all this research, we were doing research with thousands of Zs across the country, and we do work around the world as well. But most of the research in the book is, is us based to keep it meaning, you know, manageable and really meaningful and insightful. And I think the most exciting thing from all the research we did is we intentionally would ask about different issues. And I think the most exciting thing from all the research we did is we intentionally would ask about different issues. And then we would slice and dice the data and we would look

at it from across red, blue state, urban, rural, all these different kind of geographical distinctions. And there was no statistically significant difference if somebody was red or blue state, urban or rural. And we know that all these older generations, us included when we grew up, who influenced us. It was our immediate geographical circle, right? It was the conversations we had around the dinner table or the conversations we had in our town or our community. And for these Zs, they just, they're connected in a way that allows them to understand diversity and see what unites us and have this kind of perspective that you can't have unless you travel or exposed to lots of different kinds of people. So, so, so, so powerful. And that's something, again, no other

generation has ever had. And we see it in the way that they show up for each other too, because like, for example, with Black Lives Matter last summer, only 14% of Gen Z is actually Black, you know, or identifies or checks the box for Black, but yet 77% of Zs had actively participated in the Black Lives Matter movement by the end of last summer. And 90 plus percent say that they support the Black Lives Matter movement by the end of last summer, and 90 plus percent say that they support the Black Lives Matter movement. Same thing with the LGBTQ plus community. According to GLAAD, I think 16, or maybe Gallup recently, 16% of Gen Z identifies LGBTQ plus, but 90 plus percent believe and will fight for equal rights regardless of gender or sexual orientation so you know when we look back at like the civil rights movements in the 60s and things like that

it was not these movements were not that broad-based because there wasn't that shared sense of empathy and then access digitally is creating this shared sense of empathy which is incredible the shared kind of social consciousness and sense of unity. That's why you operate as generation. We write to just individuals that are, you know, limited to their experience of where they're growing up or the people that they're just surrounded by in real life. It's like, it's offered the bigger picture. And I think that's what your book does too. We as a society and as individuals, we always fail to see the bigger picture. I think that's such a downfall of us all individually. I mean, your book opened up just the bigger picture for me, even reading it. And I, you know, I'm very raw about throwing myself under the bus and I'm going to do that

right now. Like one page in, I started telling my husband how excited I was to read your book. And I said, the only thing I don't like about this generation is I feel like they're kind of like that cancel culture generation. And I had just had a conversation with my daughter the night before about how, you know, at her school, they're not allowed to have the white outs or the blackouts in the football stands anymore. They have to call them something completely different. And then also the boys for their senior year, they dress up in the palms cheerleading outfits and they cheer for a game. It's been tradition. They do it every year. They can't do it this year because it's gender gender identifying. And, and I was sitting there like rolling my eyes, like that's so annoying and frustrating. That's stupid. And then when I read your book and saw that you changed

that word to the accountability culture, it was like something just switched in me where I was like, Oh my God, I get it. I love what they're doing. Now I see why they're doing it. It was just that simple line that you put in your book. That was my aha moment. Well, it's tricky though. It's really tricky, right? We've had so many conversations with Zs about cancel culture. And they tell us that language came from all of these thousands of Zs that we're working with and interviewing, right? That it's accountability culture. That's how they think about it. And I think from like a larger human progress standpoint, you know, as we talk about the critical nature of this point in time, it's this young generation's way of saying, hey,

we can do better than this. The change that needs to be made that people are actually going through with it. Someone's got to do it. Well, you know, it's tricky because it's so imperfect. It's like we're imperfect as humans, right? And so usually we overcorrect and we go too far. We're trying to figure it out and it's just messy. Progress is messy. Humanity is messy, right? And cancel culture is messy too. And Zs will actually tell us that they feel like it's gone too far because, and actually within the culture right now, there's this whole debate happening about when have you gone too far? Like, what is too woke? What is too PC? I mean, in our language, they say PC.

In their language, they would say kind of like, what is too woke, right? Their desire is not to quiet different perspectives. It's never to quiet discourse. It's never intended to quiet a diversity of perspectives or discussions. And Zs will say it's been overused in some cases where it's been, it feels like it's being used to quiet a perspective or quiet a voice that could actually be productive in this, you know, larger conversation culturally and societally that we need to be having. So it's far from perfect. And Zs admit that it's far from perfect. But one of the things that really, honestly,

I mean, Zs have inspired me in so many ways because I'm sure you are all familiar with one of my favorite quotes is that Marianne Williamson quote about, it serves no one for us to be so small in the world, right? You know which quote I'm talking about, that we should all be bigger. And Zs aren't afraid to be big. They're also not afraid to make mistakes, but they don't live quietly. They don't come from a meek, quiet place. They don't ask permission. They are loud. They're not afraid to be big in the world. They shoot for the biggest platforms because they know that's where they can make the biggest impact kind of actions that they're pushing for. Yeah. Can you name some of those bold actions you've talked about in your book? Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, I think that some of the largest ones that might resonate with

listeners, because if I kind of tell this as a narrative, it starts to really piece together the power of this generation, whereas I would say about three years ago, no one was really talking about Gen Z, right? There were just, there were kids and teenagers in our world. And then that big shooting happened in Parkland, Florida, right? And that's when Emma Gonzalez and those classmates stood up at that press conference and said, we call BS. We call BS on your older generations. We call BS on your thoughts call BS. We call BS on you older generations. We call BS on your thoughts and prayers. We call BS on your inability to protect us children in school. We call BS on your inability to stand up to, you know, the NRA, right? And actually enact real gun

regulation. Six minutes and about 20 seconds and a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone, in the Douglas community was forever altered. Everyone who was there understands. Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands. For us, long, tearful, chaotic hours in the scorching afternoon sun were spent not knowing. No one understood the extent of what had happened. No one could believe that there were bodies in that building waiting to be identified for over a day.

No one knew that the people who were missing had stopped breathing long before any of us had even known that a code red had been called. No one could comprehend the devastating aftermath or how far this would reach or where this would go. For those who still can't comprehend because they refuse to, I'll tell you where it went. Right into the ground, six feet deep. Six minutes and twenty seconds with an AR-15,

and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice. Aaron Feist would never call Kira Miss Sunshine. Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan. Scott Beagle would never joke around with Cameron at camp. Helena Ramsey would never hang out after school with Max. Gina Montalto would never wave to her friend Liam at lunch.

Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan. Alaina Petty would never. Kara Lugren would never. Chris Hickson would never. Luke Hoyer would never. Marquine Duque-Aguiano would never. Peter Wang would never. Alyssa Alhadaf would never, Luke Hoyer would never, Marquine Duque-Aguiano would never, Peter Wang would never, Alyssa Alhadaf would never, Jamie Guttenberg would never, Meadow Pollack would never. Never again!

Never again! Never again! Never again! Never again! Never again! Never again! Never again! Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle.

Blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job. And then a month later, they organized a million students in D.C. where the speakers ranged from Naomi Wadler, who I think was 11 years old at the time, to, you know, high school students. I mean, all of those speaking in D.C., our country stopped and listened, right, to these teenagers. And that was in 2018. And then just a few months later, Greta Thunberg started doing her school walkouts, right, in Europe, and that started to spread. And then these teenagers and elementary school students all over the world started walking out of their classrooms. And then when they organized that climate strike in the fall of 2019, 4 million people around the planet, the largest recorded, the largest recorded mobilization, human mobilization

organized by teens. And because of the way that they are so connected digitally and they're having this discourse, they're having these conversations, that's how they were able to do that. I mean, I went back to look at the movements from the sixties because I was really interested in how that compared. And the largest anti-Vietnam war protest that occurred was in DC and it was about half a million people. Whoa. Right. And so we look back at, we say, oh yeah, these kids are organizing. It's a lot like the sixties where we had all, you know, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, women's rights, but those are really small mobilizations compared to what these

kids are able to do. And then in a year there's Black Lives Matter. And again, 77% of Z's participating, the president of the New York Black Lives Matter chapter was in her teens when she was elected president. I mean, this young generation was really running huge swaths of the Black Lives Matter movement and really keeping it alive. We talked to so many Zs that our town, our city organized one march, one protest, one rally, and then that was it. But it's not. This is for Zs, this is an imperative, right? Because about 50% of them identify as non-white, this is very, very personal. And again, because of the shared empathy that they build digitally as well, they're all engaged in this. I mean, Zs just don't believe that anyone should be limited by any of their conditions of their birth. And I mean, they're definitely responsible for, you know, just even the Biden election. But you know what I find just very interesting, and I've been saying this, and so I really want your opinion on this. I don't actually see them as the one to be the great change because they don't have the support and structure yet. They're the first, they're the newbies to do this.

They're jumping out of the box, but there's no structure yet for them. So I feel like there's this growing pain that they're going to have to go through. I had a conversation with, it was me, my 24 year old and my nine year old yesterday. And this was a very apparent generational difference. My daughter at the end of her school day, her teacher and her walked up to me and her teacher straight up said in front of my nine year old, she's very shy. I mean, and I'm like, like, duh. And then she starts offering suggestions. And so we get home and Drew's like, well, you know, he puts his two cents in. Okay. He's like, but the thing is, Kinsley, you'll be able to learn better if you are more open to working with your class. And she's like, I'm fine with being shy. Nothing is wrong with being shy, Drew.

And he's like, you're a 24-year-old. Yeah, but if you include yourself with the rest of the class, you might learn better. You might even learn something about other children. And she's like, but I don't need to change who I am, Drew. And he's like, well, right now you're just being a baby. You're crying about it. She goes, it's good to cry, Drew. And I'm just like, well, right now you're just being a baby. You're crying about it. She goes, it's good to cry, Drew. And I'm just like, holy shit. And then my son, Drew, tells me, don't coddle her, mom, like you did me.

Be awareness. Awareness. Isn't that amazing? And so many of the things that they said, her sense that it's absolutely okay to be whoever you are and no stigma around being shy, no stigma around anything. You are who you are, right? No apologies. And they 100% wanting her to be unified.

And, but then him seeing the value of the collective as well, like both sides of that conversation, so many of the values that we see, it's so powerful. Right. Can you imagine we never would have had that level of like self-awareness, societal acceptance at age and ability to voice and speak with such strength and clarity and articulation and not be afraid to use our voice and not be afraid to speak our truth. And it's crazy. Well, what I was going to say to the earlier kind of when you started telling that story and you said, you feel like this generation doesn't have the support. That is really why I

wrote this book, right? Is because this book is about this generation, but my larger purpose is for it to, right, encourage greater cross-generational understanding, cross-generational conversation. Absolutely. Generational progress. So Gen Zs don't need to read this book. It's the millennials and the Xs and the boomers that need to read this book. And my hope is just to broaden perspective, right? Because we're starting this Forbes column, we're starting a monthly Forbes column on Gen Z. And I was actually working on the first,

the inaugural column yesterday. And I decided I want the first column to be entitled, don't be afraid of Gen Z. Because what's happening is that older generations feel like this generation is so volatile. They're scared of them. They're scared of them because they're afraid of getting canceled or misappropriating or using the wrong pronoun or, you know, whatever it is, because these are so vocal and they have such power and it scares older generations, but that's exactly what they need. There are 3 million of them. There are 5 million of us. They need us.

They've been told they're lazy. They're outcasts and they carry that stuff. Like, why are we verbally abusing them? And you're right. It's out of fear. Well, and because they're really willing to call us out on our shit. Like my son telling me that I coddled him. I freaking not fucked me up for the rest of the night. So yesterday I had this table of these three old older women. And at the very end, I walk up to give them the tab. And one woman says, can you make us a promise? And I said, well, actually I'm in Alcoholics Anonymous and they tell us not to make promises, but I said, I'll make you a verbal commitment and try to hold it. And she goes, could you never ever please call us hon again? And I said, what? And then the other woman steps in and she goes, it is so

disrespectful that you called elders hon. We are not hon. And she was so angry at me that I kind of, I'll be honest. I kind of stepped back and the way she was treating me in the moment I said to her, well, I am so sorry that offended you. You know, someone told me something once that when you're triggered by something, it's where you might need some healing. And she looked at me and she goes, well, what the hell does that mean? And I said, well, for example, I hate when men call me babe, because when I was cocktailing in Las Vegas, a lot of times these men that were hitting on me and touching me inappropriately would call me babe. Well, it opened up this amazing conversation

with this woman where we ended up sitting down and she said, you're absolutely right. I am triggered by it because my generation called the call girls at truck stops, hun. And so it was offensive to her because the call girls and the women were called hun. Okay. So this generational thing that me and her were able to sit down and talk about. And then once it was explained that way, I understood why it was a trigger word for her, but it was so interesting to see how upset she was, but we ended up having this amazing conversation about it. I absolutely love that. And what that reminds me of is you probably remember, right? How the millennial generation became kind of known for these safe spaces, right? We need to create safe spaces for kids in school and safe spaces for kids at home

and safe spaces for kids at college, right? To like protect them from things that are hard or things that are triggering. And that's kind of the Instagram generation, right? Where things are supposed to be kind of pretty and pristine and everything kind of looks okay from the outside. And then Gen Z, because of the way that they grew up, seeing all that's real and raw in the world, they don't have time for pretty and pristine and they don't have time for all that, right? They like want to have the real conversations. They know you need to have the real conversations. So Zs talk about creating brave spaces, not safe spaces, but brave spaces. And that's what they do. They are not afraid to have these conversations exactly like the one you had. And they would be, Zs would be standing up cheering for you to see that people of different generation are able to actually

engage with each other and have this discourse and talk about, hey, this is what triggers me. And this is why, and this is what triggers me. That's what they want us to have. They want us to have these brave conversations with them. And they feel like we don't, you know, they're doing it because they're on the same platforms that's sharing each other's like real raw journeys. Like it's hard. I'm suffering from depression during COVID isolation. They put that out there and then they talk about it. Right. Or they discuss and debate whether they thought what AOC wore to the Met Gala was like appropriate or not appropriate. They have these conversations and they want us to engage in these conversations. They're just not afraid. But I feel like older generations tend to,

we just assume that, you know, you're either Republican or Democrat. You either watch CNN or Fox news. You're either like you're in this circle or this circle. And we just, we don't engage as much as younger generation. So I love, love, love that, that you do that. And I just wanted to say too, going back, I mean, I hope that these guys, I hope that this generation that we can look back 10 years from now and feel that they really are heard and that they are able to continue to assert their power and that we are able to help support them. I mean, the median age of a Z right now is 17 years old. So they're still super young, right? Like, yeah, even are just, you know, can't even drive yet. The majority of them can't even vote yet,

but those that can really showed up. They showed up in January, right? The numbers, it was like the highest youth voting numbers. I mean, like the only reason why I know who was president in high school was because it was on a video. Do you remember that, that like video on MTV with like the fake presidents and Ronald Reagan? I mean, I'm serious. I could have cared less about politics. It's absolutely amazing how they really, really, they're all into equality, politics. They care about the earth. I mean, it's just, it's beautiful. Absolutely. And I have so much gratitude that you found meaning in the book. This book very much came from a lot of meditation and a lot of stillness for me.

And I had never written a book and I don't, I didn't need to write a book at 50. I didn't need to write a book. Like my business was doing fine. And I just kept getting this message. You need to write this book. You need to share the message of this generation because the authentic message around the unity and the potential for impact of this generation isn't being told.

And you need to put this message out there and you have the power and the position and the connections that you can write this book and you can put it out there. And we made Amazon bestseller after four days in multiple categories. You're not ever going to be able to have true understanding or empathy of someone, unless you take the time to try to understand them period. And that's what

this book gives you an understanding of them. So do you have your book in front of you? I have one right over here that I can grab. Because if you could just read starting with this book is about hopefulness. Go from there to the end because I love it. Okay. This book is about hopefulness at a time when our world sorely needs it. It's about the potential for positive impact and positive change. We're entering a revolutionary period, and I believe Generation Z will play a critical role in our evolution. Zs are young and imperfect, and their methods raw.

Transitions can be messy, but that's the work to be done, and that's how progress gets made. I think Gen Z are a reason for all of us to be optimistic about the future. In the first part of this book, I'm going to explain the roots of Z's power, the conditions and characteristics that have made them such a force. In the second part, I'll share the extraordinary transformation they are poised to create in all of our lives, in gender, race, climate, capitalism, politics, education, and work. I want to help you understand them so that you can understand more about what's coming. I also hope this book will make you a Gen Z ally. As we'll discuss later, there's a dark side to this generation, a price paid for growing up with all that connectivity and a front row seat to the world's problems 24-7. Generation We needs our support because at the moment they're carrying a disproportionate amount of the burden at a stage in their lives when they should be studying,

partying, traveling, meeting partners, almost anything other than mobilizing to try to ensure their own future. Their story is important because it's our story. It's a story of how we can work together to craft our shared future. Unity, collaboration, bold action. Let's get to the work. I literally tear every time I read that because that is the purpose of me writing this book.

I'll show you, you can see my board behind me, which I did when I was in editing phase and totally overwhelmed, but you might not even be able to see, but at the top I have all about impact. And this book is all about, this is collective healing. To me, this is in the middle of my board. I don't know if you can see, it's just collective healing.

Yes, I love it. That is, and I have, this Joseph Campbell quote says, if you want the whole thing, the gods will give it to you, but you must be ready for it. I have to say that writing the book was so difficult. I knew that I was meant to be writing this book, but again, I didn't have to write this book. I didn't do it for any personal gain. I felt I was being called to write this book. It's just one of the people right now who are trying to continue to move humanity forward in each of

our small ways. And it was challenging. I'm a single mom and it was the deep dark days of COVID in Chicago and to wake up every morning and motivate myself to do the research and do the writing. And it was so hard and I was so alone. And I had to start with meditation every morning and recenter myself around the purpose and my calling to write this book. This one is from Don Luis Miguel. This is the other one I have on my vision board. Your word is the power that you have to create.

Through the word, you express your creative power. It is through the word that you manifest everything. Regardless of what language you speak, your intent manifests through the word. What you dream, what you feel, and what you really are will all be manifested through the word. And I just loved that. I thought this is, words are powerful. Words are powerful and I need to put these words into a book and put them out into the world with the right intention and hope that they will manifest progress. What do you see for the future generations? If you read the chapter that talks

through the different generations, right, I mentioned Alpha, which are 10 and younger. And I think there's just a big question mark around them right now. The way that they decide when one generation begins and another one ends, again, it's not a science. It's really an art. As a society, we're essentially looking for big changes, big significant events or shifts, right? And so, hello, COVID, right? I mean, God help us if we have a larger, more defined trauma. And so they pretty much decided now kids 10 or younger are going to be alpha because for those kids, and I know you said you have some this age, is their lives will forever be impacted by COVID, right? The way that we interact with each other, certainly the way that we think about education and work and a greater degree of remote learning. Yeah, Zoom.

I mean, yeah. We don't even know our COVID trajectory yet, but what we know is that for kids 10 and younger, a big part of their life has already been COVID and will continue to be impacted by COVID. So I think I would be irresponsible to guess about what things are going to look like for them. I think that we know enough about Zs at this point

that my energy and what I'm being called to do is to continue to use my power and privilege to elevate the voices of Gen Z and to get that message out there and to try to encourage more cross-generational understanding and conversation. And I'm excited. We just wrote, Fast Company just invited us

to write an article. We're going to be writing for Forbes. Yeah, the median age of a Z is only 17. They're young and we're at this really, really critical inflection point and they're not going anywhere. They're young and they're vocal and they're not going away and they're not being deterred. They only made up 10% of the voting electorate in the year 2000, right? Because the majority of them still couldn't vote. But you think about their coming political power and most of them aren't in the workforce yet, right? Because the majority of them still couldn't vote. But you think about their coming political power, and most of them aren't in the workforce yet

if their median age is 17. So the impact that they're going to have, they're raising the requirements on what they're demanding from all of us, and certainly from companies in terms of sustainability and inclusion and all of these things. So I think that it's inevitable that their impact will continue to grow.

I think the question is, if they have to go it alone, or if those of us in older generations can meet them andgos aside for a moment and realize there's so much to be learned from these souls, these younger souls, they're so wise and have so much to teach us. Yeah, thank God for them. I wouldn't know shit what was going on in the world because I haven't watched the news, but they do always let me know. My son's the one that helps me crawl out of my box. They are my teachers.

I learned. I learned from them through this process. How old is your child? So I have two girls who are 16 and 18. And so they're right in the heart of this. You know, it was also through my work. It was through my generational work. It was through all of this stuff that I was doing, but I felt like all of these different aspects of my life were coming in together at the same time and screaming at me, look at this generation. They are different. And I also have to say, and this is my truth that I have to share with you is I've been doing lots and lots and lots and lots of podcasts. And your

podcast is the one that I have been jumping up and down with excitement over because I knew that you would get it. I'm so happy to talk to a business podcast or an entrepreneurial podcast, or I'm happy to do all of that as well. I just want to share this message, but you're my first podcast that is at this soul level. And I knew that you would get why I really wrote this book. And I was so excited to be able to really open myself up and be really honest and open and forthcoming about why I wrote this book. And then it's part of something larger, you know, and it's not about me. It's just coming through me. And that came to me during the meditation that I need to write this book because it's part of our collective

healing. A lot of people we have on talk about how the spirituality and science are marrying each other. That's you. That's you. That's golden. That's the shift that's happening. And I think that's also the shift that's in generation Z's. I love it. You know what? You should be so proud of yourself. Like I wanted to rise up after reading, like I'm standing up. Yeah. Like I wanted to just jump up and be like, yes, yes. And that's how I felt. Well, thank you. I love that. And I think that's just the power of intention, right? That was, I mean, I'm wearing right now and I have this whole process. I have lots of rose quartz on, a rose quartz bracelet and ring and another one here. And my intention every single day, I was really clear on my intention. And I think intentionality matters so much. Don Louise

Miguel writes about this, right? That it's really, it's about, you can't tell somebody to understand something or to believe something, but you can have the right intention. Your intentionality carries through almost more than the words, individual words on the page have faith that your intentionality carries through. And so I think what you're feeling, Mandy, is my intention. My intention is, yes, let's be fierce. Let's rise up together. Let's join forces, believe in the progress we can make.

Let's see this vision of the future that Gen Zs are giving us. Let's be open-minded enough to listen and to hear it and to see this vision of the future that Gen Zs are giving us. Let's be open-minded enough to listen and to hear it and to see their vision and to stand with them and have those conversations and talk about how we can help enact that. Love it. Oh man. I love this episode. I told Shannon where we got on today. I was like, I can't freaking wait for this episode. Go Gen Z. Cause they're going to be the one taking care of us too. So yeah, they're going to be wiping our asses. We better be nice to them. I coddled my son. You better coddle me back. Oh no. It's interesting. Cause you're right.

We're in this uncertainty about this next generation and we're shifting, you know, my husband's in robotics. So you think about like these robots that are being implemented because these Gen Z is not interested in these warehouse jobs. And they know that, you know, they're not going to be worked a hundred hours a week. So it's going to be really interesting to see where it goes. It will be. These kids are part of this wave that is part of this collective consciousness and this shift happening in our world on a soulful, spiritual level. Yeah. And, you know, to intertwine the science with that, it's exciting in its hope.

And I love that word. And that's what your book offered it. So thank you for writing it. And you've been an amazing guest. Really an honor to be telling these stories and to be putting this out in the world and for the world to be receiving it thank you thank you for helping spread the message and spread the cross-generational understanding that's what we need we all need to talk to each other more just as you did in the restaurant the other day right

yeah and i saw shanna's face she was like holy shit i can't believe you said that to that woman i'm not gonna lie there was part of me that was a little uncomfortable, but that as they say in that uncomfortable space is where miracles happen. And that's what it created. I mean, her and I hugged at the end and she left me a $40 tip. A hundred percent. I love what you just said. That is where the magic happens. And now it's time for break that shit down. Something better really is possible. Believe in the magic. We believe that we're not part of the problem as older generations,

but we don't realize how conditioned we have become to our existing systems and our existing limitations and our existing way of thinking. And a lot of that is ego, right? It's ego that is connected to our systems. It's ego that's connected to our belief that because we are millennials or Gen X or boomers, that we have more lived experience and we know better. And how can a 16 year old have something to share with me that I might learn from? And if I can let my ego go, let the ego go, listen to these young people that are here at this time with powerful messages and powerful ideas for us and a powerful vision for what our shared future can look like and believe in it. It's true, right? It makes me want to cry. It's true.

It's this work that we can do. And thank you for being part of this work, you know, by having this conversation and believing in this, we're all part of this shared work. I really, I'm overcome with gratitude for you guys, your shared belief in this. Yeah. That message was so powerful. What a amazing break that shit down. Thank you so much. Let everybody know where they can get your book. All right. Well, my book is available on Amazon or really anywhere that they sell publications. I also would love for you to consider going to my website, annemariehyack.com, A-N-N-E-M-A-R-I-E-H-A-Y-E-K.com, because on that site, you can learn more about some of the incredible Zs that we feature in the book. You can read a little bit about the history of the book, and that also will provide links not only to the book, but audiobook and some other resources as well. You can actually take a quiz to see if you're Gen Z smart. It's

almost like a little Cosmo quiz. Oh, I love that. Yeah, well, you can take the quiz and, you know, find out what you know and what you don't know. And so check that out if you can. And thanks again so much, guys. This is just pure joy. Thanks for being with us today. We hope you will come back next week. If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate, like, and subscribe. Thank you. We rise to lift you up. Thanks for listening.