• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
CommentaryLeadership

Proof You Should Never Underestimate a Millennial

By
Wes Durow
Wes Durow
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Wes Durow
Wes Durow
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 9, 2016, 4:00 PM ET
181144266
Photograph by Izabela Habur via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question: How do you keep your team motivated? is written by Wes Durow, CMO of Mitel.

Everyone has different leadership methods, but my approach has always been to start with the ultimate end goal: build an organization with cheetah-like speed and sled-dog endurance. To move quickly in business you need to ask a lot from your staff, but you also need to ensure they have the motivation to go the distance. Here are five ways your company can create determined employees who are always eager to get to work:

Create a culture of continuous learning
The best thing you can do for both your employees and your organization is to create a culture where employees can fail often, but still learn. Certainly you don’t want to be making the same mistakes more than once, but part of the budget — as well as part of the team’s energy and effort — should always be dedicated to trying new things. These new things can be micro tests, allowing you to start small and build on successes while discarding any failures without consequence.

See also: Why More Money Won’t Motivate Your Employees

Keep things fresh and interesting
The best place to look for new ideas is often outside your industry. When I think about high-tech — the space my company is in — it’s a high-involvement purchase decision. Whether somebody buys a $25,000 contact center solution for a mid-size business or small business, or spends millions of dollars on a 4G LTE environment, that decision is every bit as fraught as buying a new house or a new car. So, it’s probably safe to say that these industries have some good processes in place that we might be able to borrow to make things better for our customers. Looking at other industries is a great way to learn and test new ideas.

Don’t underestimate younger employees
This is what I call, “ask a millennial.” If you’ve been doing things a certain way for a long time, consider asking a millennial for his or her fresh perspective. When I talk to my daughter about placing a conference call, she’s expecting to see the same functionality on a desk phone as she has on her smartphone. In reality, the process is not that easy. Asking digital natives for advice can be eye-opening on how we can make technology more intuitive. Not only does this create a culture where employees are learning from other industries, but also from each other. It also creates a culture where younger employees are valued for their life experience just as industry experience benefits older employees.

Provide clear guidance
Organizations need to simplify things for their team whenever possible. We often make things too complicated with big, lengthy measurement dashboards. In any organization, there are really only a few core variables that really indicate whether the organization is growing and sustainable. It might be the sales cycle length, productivity, or cost per acquisition. Find the few key variables to measure and be really clear about these throughout your organization. If you’re not doing something that adheres to and drives those measures, restrategize and do something else.

Keep things fun
This is something that is easy to say, but harder to execute. If you really want to have a culture of learning, employees need to be able to have some fun. People have choices when they wake up every day to choose whether they want to come to work with you or not. So we want to make sure we create an environment where employees are set up for success, both individually and as a team. Build a culture that provides that transparent, straightforward feedback that employees are looking for while implementing a little fun along the way.

About the Author
By Wes Durow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

heat
Commentaryclimate change
McKinsey Global Institute: Climate planning has prioritized floods. Heat demands equal attention
By Sylvain Johansson, Mekala Krishnan, Kanmani Chockalingam and Annabel FarrJuly 7, 2026
15 hours ago
j
CommentaryEducation
AI didn’t break higher education—It exposed the credential trap
By Jason BenedictJuly 7, 2026
16 hours ago
e
CommentaryEntrepreneurship
I skipped college and founded a company at 18. Several exits later, this is what I learned
By Eric FranciaJuly 7, 2026
18 hours ago
mw
Commentaryregulation
Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority CEO: Finance’s AI future moves at the speed of its slowest regulator
By Matthew WhiteJuly 7, 2026
19 hours ago
t
CommentaryParenting
Babylist CEO: The Trump Accounts gold rush is overlooking moms
By Natalie GordonJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
e
CommentaryCorporate Governance
SpaceX’s supervoting shares put a decades-old governance debate back in play
By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven TianJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
3 days ago
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
Asia
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
By Nicholas GordonJuly 7, 2026
19 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 6, 2026
2 days ago
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
4 days ago
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
Politics
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
By Catherina GioinoJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.