Next Gen Now Summit Speaker Spotlight: Kelli Amerine

On October 30, the Next Gen Now Summit takes place virtually and in-person in Washington DC. Featuring 25 thought leaders, policy experts, and community innovators, the Summit is focused on solving critical challenges at the intersection of work, education, and leadership.

XYZ University's CEO, Sarah Sladek, organized the Summit to gather and share best practices on workforce trends, engagement strategies, and reaching the next generation. Speakers include leaders from organizations trailblazing the future -- and over the course of the next two weeks, we're featuring insights from the amazing line-up of speakers here on our blog.  

Stay tuned! And for more information or to register, visit: https://nextgennowsummit.com/.

Kelli Amerine is the Co-Founder of Cool Shiny Insights

What inspired you to focus on generational engagement and inclusive leadership?

The convergence of the work that I do with organizations to architect and lead large scale change, culture and employee engagement efforts combined with my own and now, watching my young adult children and their experiences in the workplace.  

Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that shaped your approach to building inclusive cultures?

Early in my career, I worked at a high tech organization and was responsible for new hire development, which was an 8 week, very intensive program and curriculum with a requirement to pass.  I joined the organization just after finishing my Master’s degree in Instructional Systems Design and was so positive about how I could apply my learnings and strategic thinking capability to the program.  I worked for a manager that thought I should primarily be responsible for “holding the doors” open and giving directions at break time and I’ve never forgotten it.  It was pivotal for me as it led me to do something hugely courageous….I’ve always believed ‘if you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.’

In your view, what is the most pressing challenge organizations face in engaging younger generations today?

I see organizations now facing such pressure – cost pressure, too many priorities, confusion about how best to adopt AI, how to address the impacts that digital and AI capabilities may have on the workforce, the pressures to return to office, etc.  All of this complexity and under-resourcing on change can result in a “peanut butter spread” approach to the organization.  Leaders are fatigued from the pace and I worry that the “art” of engaging younger generations will get lost if it feels too “hard”.

What emerging trends do you believe will significantly impact intergenerational collaboration in the next five years?

There are a few that I am wondering/curious about:

• How transfer of ‘tribal knowledge’ needs to change in organizations, particularly in vocations that have impending labor shortages, where it’s important to embrace younger generations fast

• How organizations prepare for AI and its impact to the workforce and skills that younger generations won’t gain in the same ways

• The important role that community will play, how it can be built differently

• What workforce flexibility looks like and how organizations balance what different generations need as we still try to find the new balance after Covid and the subsequent return to office standards

• Finally, what the impact will be to both younger and older generations as a result of the shifting and de-prioritization of certain vocations and lifestyle choices

How can leaders cultivate environments where all generations feel valued and heard?

I’m a huge believer in listening systems and the value of work to understand sentiment and how it differs between generations.  Leaders will need to find ways to do this and equally important, have a culture and value for what is heard and  learned – I think curiosity will be the new superpower for effective leaders, as part of the effort to find new ways to engage and work.   

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