This essay originally published in the Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 edition of the Fortune Archives newsletter.
Once upon a time, young workers hoped to get in with a good company and strive their way up the ladder. Today, some twentysomethings are circumventing that grind by embracing entrepreneurialism and being their own boss, Orianna Rosa Royle reports in the most recent issue of Fortune. LinkedIn’s second-fastest growing job title for Gen Z grads is “founder,” she writes.
The generation just before Zoomers still bought in to the promise of a corporate ladder to climb: Millennials’ embrace of business-casual office wear and hustle culture were captured in Nadira A. Hira’s 2007 Fortune profile of what was then called “Generation Y” (a moniker that didn’t stick). “At once a hipster and a climber, he is all nonchalance and expectation,” Hira wrote of the archetypal millennial worker. “He is new, he is annoying, and he and his female counterparts are invading corporate offices across America.”
Hira lightly mocks the cohort’s high-maintenance ways and parental codependency (one recent grad brought his mom to a job interview), but also praises multitasking millennials for being the “hardest working” generation. Bosses could motivate them with frequent praise and access to perks like an office gym.
As a millennial myself, it’s almost painful to read about our generation’s collective optimism as we entered the workforce in the simpler days before the 2008 financial crisis. One year after Fortune’s profile, the Great Recession would put many of our careers on hold. The Plan B of going back to school while waiting for the job market to improve would pile crushing student loan debt upon many millennials’ shoulders. And all that multitasking and those side hustles would lead to the widely discussed phenomenon of “millennial burnout.”
The challenges that stymied millennials left Gen Z with a deep skepticism about the corporate American Dream. Witnessing the struggles of their older siblings and mentors illuminated the pitfalls of what was once the “safe” path. No wonder Gen Z feels it is safer to channel their tech and social media skills into being their own boss.
Put simply: Millennials tried to impress their bosses. Gen Z wants to get rid of them altogether.