The Opportunity of a Lifetime: Partnering With Gen Z to Shape What Comes Next
What do all of you think — Gen Z is disengaged?
Let me tell you something.
Do you know that Gen Z reports the highest levels of loneliness, disconnection, and lack of purpose of any generation ever recorded?
Yet if I walk into a room and see every young adult on their phone, nobody says a word — because we’ve normalized disengagement.
Do you know that the leading cause of Gen Z burnout is not laziness, and it’s not screen time?
It’s the absence of meaningful connection, mentorship, and belonging.
A young person can be surrounded by thousands of digital “friends”…
and still feel completely alone.
Here’s something else:
More than 70% of Gen Z say they want to contribute to something bigger than themselves —
but they don’t know where or how.
They’re hungry for purpose, direction, and real community.
They’re waiting for someone to show up with authenticity.
Words, spoken with intention, can change that.
They can ignite passion.
They can shape identity.
They can pull a young person back from the edge of hopelessness
and launch them into leadership, innovation, service, and purpose.
You have the power to elevate a generation —
or lose them —
using only your words and actions.
A simple choice of message can be the difference between Gen Z accepting or rejecting what you’re offering.
You can have a powerful mission,
an incredible opportunity,
a life-changing program —
but if it’s not communicated in a way that resonates with them,
it will fall flat.
Gen Z is not lost.
They are not unreachable.
They are not apathetic.
They are searching.
Searching for identity.
Searching for belonging.
Searching for leaders who don’t talk at them — but talk with them.
And here is the uncomfortable truth:
If we do not engage Gen Z urgently, authentically, and consistently — we are in trouble.
Not someday.
Not later.
Now.
Because the future of every organization, community, and nation
is built by those who are coming next.
If we don’t step in with guidance, mentorship, and genuine connection,
someone else will —
and that someone else may not have good intentions.
So choose your words wisely.
Speak with purpose.
Lead with authenticity.
Because one conversation can light a fire in a young person’s life
or leave them feeling invisible.
And the difference
is whether we choose to engage
or choose to ignore the generation that will shape the world after us.
References
Research shows that only about 15 % of Gen Z reported never feeling lonely in the past year, compared to 54 % of Baby Boomers. GWI
A recent international survey found that approximately 47 % of Gen Z respondents say they “often feel lonely”, and 28 % report they do not feel connected to a community. Oxfam GB
According to the Deloitte 2025 Gen Z & Millennial Survey: about 89 % of Gen Z say a sense of purpose is “very or somewhat important” for their job satisfaction and well-being. Deloitte+2Deloitte+2
Another study found that over half (58 %) of young adults said they had experienced little or no purpose or meaning in their lives in the prior month. mcc.gse.harvard.edu
