by Elysia Hegarty, Future of Work Institute (Cpl Group), and President of Future Work.World Ireland
A few months ago, I stood in Malahide Castle watching Alanis Morissette belt out lyrics I hadn’t thought about in years….
“Be a good girl, you’ve gotta try a little harder, That simply wasn’t good enough to make us proud.” – Alanis Morissette, Perfect – Jagged Little Pill Album circa 1995
In that moment, exhausted, elated, and fresh from maternity leave her words hit me differently. “Try a little harder,” she sang. I thought, wow, that’s what so many of us were raised on: try harder, be more, achieve but don’t burn out, lead but don’t be too loud, work but don’t let it show on your face. It made me think, is that the leadership legacy we’re handing down?
As someone who works at the intersection of leadership, wellness, and the future of work, I spend a lot of time thinking about what comes next. And the more I look at Gen Z’s and how they approach boundaries, wellness, and leadership, the more I wonder….maybe they’re not lazy or uncommitted, maybe they’re just better at protecting themselves than we ever were taught to be and that’s something worth learning from.
The Problem Isn’t Laziness
Millennials like me, grew up with the hustle. Late nights were a badge of honour and burnout was a whisper not a warning. We linked our output to our worth and often confused self-sacrifice for ambition. But today’s younger generations are saying No to that model. They’re building new definitions of success rooted in meaning, mental health, and self-awareness. And instead of seeing that as entitlement, I see it as evolution.
Deloitte’s 2024 Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey[i] found that 46% of Gen Zs feel anxious or stressed most of the time, but they’re far more likely to talk about it, seek support, and walk away from toxic environments than previous generations. It’s not that Gen Z’s are more resilient or evolved, they’re just navigating a very different world and perhaps we should be paying attention to what they’re doing well.
Leadership Starts at Home
As a new parent, I’ve begun to see this from another angle too: The future of leadership doesn’t just start in boardrooms or on video chats it starts in living rooms, kitchens and nursery’s. The way we teach our kids to listen to themselves, to rest when they’re tired, to say no without guilt and to care about others without self-abandonment aren’t just fundamental parenting lessons they are the foundations of wellness-centred leadership. A kind of leadership that doesn’t just protect the leader from burnout but ensures those that follow are not diminished by old leadership styles too.
What if we raised future leaders who measured success not in hours worked, but in impact made, prioritised self-awareness over self-sacrifice and understood that kindness and boundaries can co-exist? Because if we want more empathetic workplaces, we need to nurture empathy in our children. If we want more sustainable organisations, we need to model sustainable ambition. And if we want healthier happier leaders, we need to start with modelling this behaviour in the home.
Wellness-Centred Leadership Development
It’s not just parenting that needs to shift, how we view and design leadership development programmes needs a shift too. For too long, we have rewarded stamina over strategy, visibility over value, and confidence over care but future-focused programmes must evolve to include wellness as a core leadership skill. We need to consider boundaries and time awareness as core competencies and incorporate reverse mentoring as a must have for every leadership development programme as we would traditional mentoring and coaching methodologies. Open structures where senior leaders actively learn from younger generations, not just about tech or trends, but about how to lead with more humanity, empathy and wellness are key to future leadership programmes.
Our research at Future of Work Institute has shown that Gen Z employees say purpose and values matter more than compensation alone. This is pushing organisations to align leadership and culture with broader priorities and viewing wellness as a strategic enabler for businesses to thrive.
If younger generations can teach us anything, maybe it’s that you don’t have to break yourself to lead well and maybe they’re not “quiet quitting” maybe they’re “quiet healing”, and thats something worth listening to.
As I think about the kind of leader and mother I want to be, I’m no longer striving for perfection, I’m striving for presence, sustainability, and honesty. Alanis got it partly right, trying harder doesn’t always make us better but trying differently does!
[i] 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey
About the author
As Associate Director at the Future of Work Institute (Cpl Group), an award-winning consultancy and President of Future Work.World Ireland, Elysia helps leaders reimagine how people and organisations thrive together. With 20+ years’ experience across HR, wellness, and employee experience, she partners with organisations to design inclusive, human-centred strategies, diagnostics that uncover what really drives engagement, workshops and talks that spark change. She is passionate about designing work that works for neurodiverse leaders, working parents and the people behind the job title with wellness at its core.
