Rethinking the Way We Work and Lead

While scrolling through my LinkedIn feed recently, I came across an article titled “No one wants to be the boss: Why is Gen Z turning down promotions?” It examined a trend, taking shape in Europe, of fewer young employees aspiring to management roles and raised concerns about how businesses will develop their next generation of leaders.

I found the article only a week or so after our team hosted a breakfast discussion at Cultivate’26 about how the next generation of workers and technology will drive success. The three growers on the panel shared how technology adoption is prompting them to rethink long-held assumptions about traditional workflows.

By the end of the discussion, we all agreed there’s one oft-used phrase that should be immediately retired: “We’ve always done it that way.”

Why? Because while it’s easy to fall back on familiar routines, that mindset can become a barrier to innovation. When implemented thoughtfully, technology can lead to major changes in greenhouse production, improving efficiency, plant quality, and profitability.

The same thinking can apply to your company’s leadership structure.

In the article, Tomasz Szklarski, CEO of Enpulse and an expert on workplace engagement, says young workers’ reluctance to take on managerial roles is driven largely by the growing responsibilities that come with the job.

“Generation Z has carefully weighed what work-life balance means against the sacrifices required to become a boss. Young people can clearly see the burden that comes with management. A manager is accountable both to their superiors and for increasingly large teams that require constant support,” says Szklarski.

This declining interest in management is not just a concern for individual companies. Szklarski believes it could become particularly challenging in areas where demographic changes are already shrinking the workforce.

“If we do not train a new generation of managers and prepare people to take responsibility for teams, we will face growing challenges in maintaining organizational efficiency,” he says.

The good news is, I’ve spoken with several people in business leadership roles who are hiring department managers not for their plant knowledge or horticultural background, but for their ability to lead teams and communicate effectively across generations. Check out the “Rethinking Recruitment in Floriculture” article in our February 2026 issue for a couple of examples.

Still, no industry is immune to this kind of challenge, and horticulture is no exception. So, what can we do to avoid going down this road? I offer this suggestion.

Review How You Are Incentivizing Leadership

How many employees are your department heads responsible for? How accountable are managers to both company leadership and the teams they oversee? Is your management structure allowing managers to pursue and develop new ideas, or is your reporting system bogging down the process?

“We’ve always done it that way” cannot be part of the vocabulary for any industry that wants to develop a new generation of leaders. In floriculture, it may be time to rethink not only how work gets done, but also what we ask of the people responsible for leading it.