It’s time we looked beyond the Gen Z stereotypes and started listening more carefully, writes the MFA’s Melanie Aslanidis.
The industry keeps complaining about Gen Z. The uncomfortable truth? The generation born between 1997 and 2012 are exposing where our leadership systems are broken.
In media, Gen Z professionals are often framed as a problem to manage: too demanding, too impatient, too focused on flexibility and constant feedback. But after working closely with thousands of early-career professionals through the MFA’s NGEN program, I’ve come to a different conclusion.
What many leaders interpret as generational friction is often something else entirely: a signal that the way we organise work, communicate expectations and develop talent hasn’t kept pace with how the industry actually operates today.
Gen Z now represents around 48 per cent of Australia’s media workforce, making their expectations impossible for the industry to ignore. That insight sits at the heart of the MFA’s new whitepaper, The Gen Z Effect.
As head of NGEN and MFA Foundations, I work closely with almost 3,000 media professionals in the first five years of their careers. That gives me a direct window into how early-career talent is thinking about work, leadership and careers.
And what I see isn’t a generation looking for special treatment.
I see a generation that is commercially aware, ambitious and motivated to do good work – but far more willing to question systems that don’t make sense.
Yes, they can be direct. Sure, they ask questions older generations might have kept to themselves. But those questions often expose something useful: where expectations are vague, feedback is inconsistent or career pathways are harder to see than they should be.
In that sense, Gen Z isn’t disrupting the system. They’re stress-testing it.
A career that began in disruption
To understand their expectations, it helps to look at how many of them started.
Many Gen Z professionals began their media careers during COVID. Their first months on the job were spent navigating remote onboarding, learning systems over video calls and working with colleagues they had never met in person. Slack messages replaced overheard conversations. Much of the informal learning that once happened by sitting beside someone more experienced simply wasn’t there.
Now, they’re building careers in an industry where roles evolve fast and tools change constantly. For younger professionals entering media today, ambiguity isn’t motivating – it’s paralysing.
In that environment, feedback and direction are no longer occasional leadership gestures. They’re part of the infrastructure of doing the job.
According to our whitepaper research, this shift shows up most clearly in four areas: learning, communication, culture and careers.
Learning happens inside the work
Gen Z doesn’t see learning as something that only happens in training rooms. They expect development to be embedded in daily work, through live briefs, campaign optimisation, reporting cycles and real-time feedback.
If leaders interpret this as “needing too much feedback”, they’re missing the point. In complex systems, regular input isn’t handholding. It’s how people stay aligned and build capability quickly.
Workshops and structured learning still matter, particularly for building confidence and soft skills. But they work best when they clearly connect back to real tasks and current challenges.
Communication needs to be clearer
Gen Z values communication that is direct, timely and transparent. They’re comfortable communicating digitally and directly, but psychological safety plays a major role in whether they speak up.
When expectations are vague or feedback is delayed, uncertainty grows. When priorities are explicit and input is timely, performance improves. In fast, deadline-driven media teams, clear communication keeps people aligned and work moving.
Do what you say
For Gen Z, culture isn’t defined by value statements or employer branding. It’s judged through daily behaviour – how leaders respond under pressure, how workloads are managed and how respectfully people treat each other.
They’re paying attention to the small signals: who gets listened to, how mistakes are handled and whether wellbeing is genuinely supported.
Culture, in other words, isn’t what organisations say – it’s what leaders consistently do.
Careers are built on growth
Gen Z tends to view careers less as ladders and more as evolving portfolios of skills and experience. They’re pragmatic about movement between roles if it helps them build capability. Loyalty often sits with managers and teams who invest in development, rather than institutions that rely on implied long-term progression.
If you’re finding retention is getting harder, the issue may not be impatience. It may be that growth pathways simply aren’t visible enough.
What this means for leaders
Across all four themes, one idea keeps surfacing: clarity.
Clear expectations. Clear feedback. Clear development pathways.
Gen Z performs best when they understand what good work looks like, what matters most right now and how their efforts connect to future opportunities.
Those aren’t unreasonable questions – they’re the basics. In practice, that means leaders doing a few things consistently: defining what quality work looks like, setting clear priorities, giving specific feedback and explaining how progression actually works.
Less guesswork. Fewer mixed signals. No mind-reading required.
A leadership opportunity
Gen Z isn’t asking for less from work. They’re asking for leadership that is clearer, more transparent and better aligned with the realities of the modern workplace.
The practices that resonate with this generation – embedded learning, open communication, credible culture and honest career conversations – aren’t generational concessions. They’re simply what effective leadership looks like in complex, fast-moving industries.
The leaders who respond with curiosity rather than frustration won’t just engage Gen Z more effectively. They’ll build stronger teams, clearer organisations and a media industry better equipped for the pace of change ahead.
Download the full The Gen Z Effect whitepaper on the MFA website.
Authored by Melanie Aslanidis, head of NGEN and MFA Foundations at the Media Federation of Australia.
