60 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY programs and initiatives, the ideological underpinnings of the Gen Z cohort are certainly important to understand.3 If younger generations are truly as entitled, cautious, and self-absorbed as the research portrays, these generational characteristics could negatively affect the future of the business industry’s desire to enact socially responsible change and be others-focused. The question of Gen Z’s involvement in corporate social responsibility programs will functionally concern how and why this generation may desire to take care of the world, environment, and others despite being one of the most inward-facing generations in human history. A potential answer to this question lies in the nature of generational altruism, which may be an underlying guiding principle in the upcoming life and work of Gen Z. If altruistic values do indeed impact Gen Z’s behaviors in the workplace, it is plausible these values correlate to attitudes and behaviors established early in childhood and human development. Very little academic research has been completed on Gen Z developmental processes and psychological models, and it is not known whether attitudes and social norms modeled early in their childhood development may significantly predict ethical tendencies and moral behaviors later in life. If a connection exists, this presents an enormous opportunity for parents, educators, coaches, and mentors of Gen Z to help shape the ethical and moral behaviors of future leaders in the corporate world towards doing good and proactively caring for others.4 It is important for today’s educators, parents, and societal leaders to express strong leadership, training, and instruction towards Gen Z in preparation for the generation’s corporate arrival in the years to come. A dedicated servant leadership approach towards Gen Z would empower young people and instill values of service over self,5 which may in turn save the future of corporate social responsibility programs in the business world. THE RISE OF GEN Z When a new generation enters the workforce, there is a tendency to compare it to the predecessor—which in this case, is the millennial generation. Known as “generation me,”6 millennials are often described as entitled, narcissistic, and self-serving by the extent to which they
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