#Leadership #Crisis #LocalGovernment #PublicSector #Resilience #AuthentiCityFM
What happens when crisis stops being exceptional and becomes the constant? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Mike, Corri, and Phil explore how two generations now share leadership during what feels like permanent emergency.
Gen X—the latchkey kids who watched the Challenger explosion—learned early that adults couldn't always protect them, developing the radical self-reliance that would serve them through decades of managing the unmanageable. Millennials entered adulthood believing institutions could be reformed, only to have that faith tested by the 2008 financial collapse and everything that followed. Now both generations find themselves leading through COVID, civil unrest, and institutional breakdown, each bringing their own crisis-forged strengths to the work of holding things together.
Through personal stories spanning childhood memories to real-time leadership decisions, they examine how these experiences shaped their approaches to trauma, resilience, and the exhausting work of showing up when systems feel fundamentally broken. But the conversation takes an unexpected turn when they realize something remarkable: while they've been patching and managing, they're raising what generational theorist Neil Howe calls the "Homelanders"—the Artist Generation who may already possess what's needed to rebuild rather than just repair.
Raw and reflective, this episode captures three seasoned leaders confronting a profound question: What if the most courageous thing they could do is finally let go?
Next time: Part 2 explores how the Artist Generation is already showing us what rebuilding looks like—and why that might require us to lean into a little childhood joy.
00:00 Navigating the Chaos of Modern Life
02:59 Generational Reflections: Understanding Gen X
07:48 The Impact of Shared History on Generations
13:02 Crisis and Awakening: The Generational Cycle
18:24 The Weight of Responsibility in a Relentless Era
21:29 Crafting Solutions: The Role of Gen X
25:38 Art as a Unifying Force in Turbulent Times
32:32 Nostalgia and Changing Times
35:37 The Rise of Grandma Hobbies
38:15 Navigating Change and Uncertainty
41:34 Rebuilding and Opportunities Ahead
48:48 Letting Go and Moving Forward
55:36 Courage and Community in Crisis