In this episode, Mary, Tom, and Sean are joined by special guest Ginny Ertl, a change management and leadership development expert, to explore why generational labels fall short as a way to understand how people actually behave at work. What starts as a discussion about Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers quickly moves past age-based assumptions and into a more useful lens: segmentation. Drawing on needs-based thinking, the group examines why motivations, behaviors, and values explain far more than birth year — whether you’re trying to understand employees, leaders, or customers.

What You’ll Learn

• Why generational labels are classifications, not true segments — and why that distinction matters
• How needs-based segmentation applies just as powerfully to employees as it does to customers
• What organizations miss when they try to incent, retain, or sell to “everyone” instead of the right segments

Key Quotes

• “When you go beneath generational labels, you find the real segments — and they cut across age entirely.”
• “Classification feels insightful until you actually have to make a decision.”
• “You don’t build strong organizations by matching age to age — you build them by matching values to values.”

This conversation offers a grounded reminder that whether you’re building teams or markets, strategy gets sharper when segmentation replaces surface-level labels.