About Spring

Mission

Spring exists to:

TRIUMPH over the world’s most persistent, elusive problems

DEVELOP the talent of the next generation of leaders 

ILLUMINATE their promising, impressionable and unique capabilities

PROPEL multi-generational workplaces toward not-yet imagined future success

Our Values

  • Authenticity – Professionalism is one thing, but trying to be someone or something we’re not is time wasted. When we show up there’s no guessing who we are, and we’ll expect everyone we work with to do the same. Authenticity fosters innovation, creativity and expedited results.

  • Artful Inquiry – From our journalistic roots we know: The best solutions and answers come from best-posed questions. We take time to be inquisitive, and that gets us to the heart of your issues and opportunities.

  • Humor - Laughter is an accelerator to relationships. In our experience, humor creates an inclusive, transparent space where serious business can happen with fewer mistakes, higher creativity, more descriptive storytelling…and a lot more fun.

  • Thoughtful Velocity – We move at a pace to get results with you and for your business. Expect us to be the gentle hand on your back, pushing. And, we’ll lift off with care and thought, never with half-cocked recklessness. You want results and we want that for you, ASAP.

  • Kindness – We’re in this together, and the best, most fruitful relationships are built on respect. With genuine kindness is how you’ll be treated and through our mutual respect, kindness becomes the property for championing your work, success and transformation.

  • Focus – All consultancies require discipline for the most important work to get done and you can count on us to bring steadiness. Consistent focus makes the daunting feel doable and we’ll be your biggest champion for keeping your eye and action on the goal.

Prologue: Why Gen Z?

For the last several years, I have focused my research on Gen Z, studying their persuasions, ignitors, inhibitors, habits and interests. As a Chief Talent Officer working in and for arts and entertainment companies, Gen Zers were not only becoming part of my own team, but were filling the ranks of my clients’ teams. Add to that, I have a Gen Zer.

Over 1/3 of the world’s population today is a Gen Zer (Deloitte). And they are entering the workforce at high speed, but under peculiar circumstances. They have been isolated from the world—not just by COVID, but by the way we as leaders and parents have managed and overprotected them.

While I am inspired by their creativity, their values, their passion and their entrepreneurial spirit, I also see gaps in their experience. Thanks to technology, they don’t have the opportunities previous generations did to collect implicit smarts. Yet the world is relying on them to take on some very big issues.

The youngest members of your team must be effective from Day 1, and 84% of them do not feel ready.

Chapter 1: Digging into the Data

Curiosity ignites investigation: What’s different about Generation Z?

Born in 1997 and after, they are tech natives, and they are on track to be the most educated generation of all (Pew Research). They value diversity and inclusivity; they are entrepreneurial and want to start their own nonprofits (Deloitte).

But Gen Z members feel unprepared for a successful life. Only 16% of 15- to 25-year-olds believe local schools prepared them “very well” for success at this stage in their lives (Walton Family Foundation). This means that nearly 84% of Gen Zers do not feel ready for their future. Couple this with findings from a study by Deloitte:

“Yesterday’s entry-level work mostly revolved around repetitive work—stocking mailrooms, answering phones, or making copies. Today, many organizations ask their entry-level workers to wrangle with data, perform research, and program advanced technologies.”

Building on this research, Spring commissioned its own study. I worked with my alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and their student-led ad agency Jacht to conduct research, surveys and focus groups with Gen Zers in or about to enter the workplace. How better to learn about Gen Zers than with them?

The critical finding? Confirmation that Gen Zers feel unprepared for life in the professional world especially in the area of durable skills. They feel their education did not prepare them for work or job seeking, and they do not feel confident that they will meet employers’ expectations in the following:

  • negotiating

  • networking

  • speaking confidently in front of crowds

  • resolving work conflicts

  • being managed by another person

Our young leaders—our successors—are emerging from their late teens and into their 20s without the critical-thinking skills and advanced social workplace savvy they need to be successful.

Chapter 2: Spring Begins

Spring was founded to help Gen Z grow into effective, successful new-world leaders, and to enable workplaces to optimize their multi-generational teams for the biggest impact possible.

With Spring as a partner, multi-generational organizations will benefit from:

  • Generational diversity training

  • Data-driven insights about your culture, its accelerators and its suppressants

  • Enhancement in team and individual performance, output and results

  • Cross team communication improvement

  • Targeted, customized leadership development inclusive of mentorship initiatives

  • Increased acquisition and retention of employees of all generations

  • Skills gap analysis

  • Metrics to measure all of this and to track: Are we improving our culture?

Through Spring’s offerings, Gen Z leaders will:

  • Cultivate a high level of emotional literacy

  • Foster their innate curiosity, so they learn to investigate and ask questions

  • Master how to engage in conflict productively and confidently

  • Develop a credible, informed presence

  • Build their higher-order critical-thinking skills so they can observe, interpret and apply data

  • Take risks and feedback

  • Move beyond “me” to “we” and discover how their values can best serve their organization or community

Our emerging leaders have incredible potential. The generational differences of your team are fuel for faster, smarter, better work. unlock bigger, bolder results for your business. With Spring’s cultivation and guidance, unlock bigger, bolder results for your business.