I'm a millennial. Raised in advertising by boomers. Currently managing Gen Z. And honestly? It's a lot.

Nobody tells you that one day your team will start questioning the very instincts that got you promoted. The habits you were rewarded for. The rules you never even thought to question. It's uncomfortable. It's disorienting. Not everything is right. But you do realise that not everything is wrong. And somewhere in all of that friction with Gen Z, I found five things that actually changed me.

You're allowed to say no

I was that person. Yes to everything. Every task, every ask, every 11pm email. I thought that's what good looked like.
Then someone on my team, early twenties, barely a year in said no to a task. Just like that. No drama, no fallout, no career implosion. And I remember thinking… wait, you can do that?

Turns out you can. Saying yes all the time isn't dedication. It's conditioning. I just needed someone younger than me to show me that. It's not being disrespectful in most cases, it's just priorities. 

Freelancing isn't chaos. It's just a different kind of confidence

The idea of leaving a salary used to genuinely scare me. Like, what do you mean trust your own talent and just… figure it out? That felt reckless. Irresponsible. Something other people did.

Then I watched Gen Z after Gen Z just go for it. At 22. At 24. Without a safety net, without a five-year plan, without blinking. And something in me shifted. If they can back themselves that early, why was I still waiting for some imaginary green light? That locked-up confidence? A lot of us have it. We just never gave ourselves permission to use it.

Talking about mental health at work isn't oversharing. It's just honest

In advertising we were taught to push through. Shake off the anxiety. Head down, perform fine, fall apart at home if you have to but never when something needs to be delivered. Stress was just part of the job. Smoking and drinking were just perks of the job. Burnout was a sign you were serious about your career and working hard for it. 

Gen Z just… didn't buy it. They said when they were overwhelmed. They asked for what they needed. And instead of the mess I expected, teams actually worked better. Imagine that. Turns out performing fine and actually being fine are two very different things.

You don't have to wait your turn to have a voice

I spent years believing you had to earn the right to speak up. Put in the time, survive the rooms, then eventually, you'd get your moment. Gen Z walked in on day one with opinions. Questions. Pushback. And yeah, it was jarring at first. But honestly? They were interesting thoughss more often than I expected. Not because they knew more but because they hadn't yet learned to silence themselves. That's not arrogance. That's just what thinking out loud looks like before the system trains it out of you. We used to be like that when we were kids. 

Work is something you do. It's not who you are

This one hit the hardest. I had quietly made advertising my whole personality. The grind, the hustle, the always-being-on. Resting made me anxious and guilty. Taking a holiday felt like losing ground and being left behind. I was always on the job because one of the coolest things to do as a copywriter was to be one. 

Then I watched Gen Z clock out. Like actually clock out. Without guilt, without apology, without a second thought. And I realised how much of myself I'd handed over without anyone even asking for it. I'm still figuring out how to take it back. But at least now I know it's worth taking back. The irony is that this actually made me do better advertising too. 

To sum things up, I feel Gen Z isn't making things difficult. They're just better than most of us at not pretending. And, for those of us who spent years learning how to pretend really well, that kind of honesty can feel like a challenge. But it's not. I feel in most cases it's just a mirror. And sometimes, that's exactly what you need.

The author is CCO and co-founder, tgthr. This column first appeared in the April issue of Manifest, which can be purchased here.