Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban has no filter when it comes to his opinions about different generations. In a recent episode of the “Re: Thinking with Adam Grant” podcast, Cuban praised Gen Z for their focus on mental health and work-life balance. According to Cuban, this younger generation will go down as the “greatest generation” in history.
Cuban, who made his fortune in technology and digital media, sees a lot of himself in Gen Z. He believes they take all the ingredients into account when making decisions, much like he did when he was starting out. He also applauds them for prioritizing mental health equilibrium and warns that organizations need to understand this more in the future.
But Cuban didn’t stop there. He also had some biting words for baby boomers. According to Cuban, this generation will go down in history as the most disappointing ever. From the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll of their youth to what they have today, Cuban doesn’t hold back in his criticism of the boomer generation — the generation he is part of.
Some Twitter users pointed out that the technologies Cuban used to become a billionaire and those used by Gen Z were largely created by boomers. Cuban acknowledged this fact but went on to criticize boomers for spending their days watching cable news and distorting politics, chasing power instead of fighting against the establishment, as they did in the 1960s and 1970s.
Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Cuban is never short of an opinion.
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But while he may see Gen Z as the greatest generation, not everyone shares his sentiment.
A survey from ResumeBuilder shows that nearly 75% of managers and business leaders believe that Gen Z is “more difficult to work with than other generations.” In fact, 49% of those surveyed said it is difficult to work with Gen Z all or most of the time. The survey also showed that many managers feel that Gen Z lacks communication skills, effort, motivation and even technological skills.
The problem is so significant that 20% of managers surveyed said they had to fire a Gen Z employee within a week of their start date. And one of the top reasons for their termination was that they were “too easily offended.” While some may see Gen Z as the future, Akpan Ukeme, the head of human resources at SGK Global Shipping Services, believes that working alongside them can be “exhausting” because of their lack of discipline and tendency to challenge authority.
The only generation that came close to Gen Z’s unpopularity was the baby boomers. Only 4% of respondents preferred to work with them, which is not surprising given Cuban’s scathing remarks about the generation.
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