CEO Leadership Insights - November 2025
- Scott Thurber
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
“When you have exhausted all possibilities,
remember this—you haven’t.”
Thomas Alva Edison
1847-1931
American Inventor and Businessman
Is Gen Z Unemployable?
Recently The Wall Street Journal published one of the most thought-provoking articles I’ve read this past year.
Suzy Welch, NYU Business School Professor, former Harvard Business Review Publisher and widow of late GE CEO Jack Welch, published an article in which she rigorously researched a very challenging question. “Is Gen Z Unemployable?”
In the past year other articles have explored why the Boomer executive cohort is so frustrated with Gen Z’s workplace behavior and performance, but the reasons offered were anecdotal and not supported by good research and hard data.
Dr. Welch’s WSJ article explored the reasons for this, and it comes down to one word: Values. Any good relationship is characterized by some degree of shared values and work relationships are no different. Her shocking and disturbing finding is that there is an incredibly wide chasm between the core values of most employers and Gen Z.
Specifically, only 2% of Gen Z hold the same values as employers. This minimal congruence of values meansthat every employer will be affected by this.
If you have a WSJ Subscription, I urge you to read her article “Is Gen Z Unemployable?”
If you don’t subscribe to WSJ, this five minute interview with Dr. Welch on Fox Business will give you a good executive summary of this study and its implications.
B2C Disruption
Major events can cause people to change behaviors in ways that might take years otherwise.World War Il, for example, created new technologies, especially in electronics, aviation and nuclear power that might have been delayed decades but for the crisis the conflict created.
So did Covid.
It's hard to believe that the Covid pandemic emerged over five years ago, but it had impacts on consumer behaviors that are still with us. This short article from McKinsey explores the "Five COVID-19-era dynamics that are still shaping the consumer sector" in a recent article "State of
Workforce Trends for 2026 and Beyond
“To define the meaningful outside of the organization is the CEO's first task” wrote Peter Drucker. Every company reacts to, and if successful, serves the environment outside it.
Vistage members are fortunate that every year, Vistage strategy speaker Marc Emmer provides an invaluable service to our members by offering an overview of the outside trends that CEOs must consider and plan to take advantage of opportunities therein, or to manage the risks of an uncertain world.
Mr. Emmer has recently published the first installment of his annual gift to us:
Next month we'll feature his Technology Trends for 2026 report.
Econ Recon:
Still ‘driving in the fog’... With the lack of economic data due to the shutdown, economist Brian Wesbury looks at one important leading indicator in his “Three on Thursday Blog”: A Q3 Look at Household Debt and Credit”.
Friends,
I hope you take time this Thanksgiving to pause and reflect on the many blessings we have. For me, part of a poem found in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament expresses my gratitude: GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HE IS GOOD, HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER (Psalm 118:29).
I hope you can express your love and gratitude this week to those you appreciate.
I wish you all a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Scott
