- Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra is relying on Gen Z workers for fashion inspiration, from picking out his outfits to deciding what brands the site should feature. He credited them for keeping him current with trends and bringing unique perspectives—and other employers are waking up to Gen Z’s value.
Gen Z is the newest cohort of workers tapped to innovate businesses with a fresh set of eyes. One chief executive even lets them pick out his outfit of the day.
Manish Chandra, the founder and CEO of Poshmark, told Fortune he frequently relies on young workers to keep the $1.2 billion e-commerce marketplace hip—from choosing his clothes to informing him of the latest and greatest brands.
“I’m talking to some of our younger folks in the company, and they’re giving me advice on how to style myself. So what I’m wearing right now is all styled by 21-, 22-year-olds in the company,” Manish said, donning a muted button-up underneath a three-quarter zip jacket. “That’s something I have to immerse myself in more, to experience how the next generation is thinking about fashion.”
While some leaders clash with Gen Z—accusing them of being “really annoying,” having no work ethic, and being entitled—Chandra thinks they’re at the forefront of Poshmark’s next chapter. He discussed how the young generation is the latest cohort of shoppers with their own distinct tastes, and leaving them out of the conversation is counterintuitive. As CEO, Chandra soaks up lessons from all types of employees.
“I think each person is a teacher in itself,” Chandra said. “So when I think of the very young generation, they are coming to the company with fresh ideas, thoughts, and perspectives. I ask them to recommend 12 brands they’re looking at.”
Chandra said most brands Gen Z mentions are already featured on the site. But if not, he asks Poshmark’s marketing team to look into featuring the clothes. And the chief executive fields other types of suggestions beyond the latest trends, enlisting the company’s Gen Z summer interns to help reconceptualize the Poshmark app. It was such a success that he’s looking to integrate some of their recommendations into an updated version of the platform in the future.
“They proposed a new architecture of the app and brought in a completely fresh perspective and a completely new way of doing things,” he said, crediting them in having digital-native tech savviness and rejuvenating Poshmark’s company strategies. “If you’re not learning new things, are you even growing? When I think of the young people, they’re really driving some very interesting thoughts.”
Gen Z’s impact on innovating businesses
Gen Z is here to stay in the workforce, and employers may be better off learning how to work alongside them instead of resisting. They’re the new movers and shakers of the office.
By 2034, about 80% of the workforce in advanced economies will be comprised of millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha, according to a 2024 report from data provider McCrindle. And a World Economic Forum article, authored by EY CEO Janet Truncale says that Gen Z in particular will lead in driving community and workforce culture across organizations, and they’re deeply invested in authenticity and purpose. They also grew up with the advent of the internet: This will come in handy as companies move into an AI-enabled future of work.
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There is also research that backs Gen Z’s dynamism. Roberta Katz, a former senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), detailed eight key ways the young generation will change the workforce. Gen Z expects change, is pragmatic, wants to make a difference, values collaboration, and wants leaders who follow the general consensus—what’s best for the greater good. They also distinctly value work-life balance and mental health, think about loyalty differently, and crave trust and authenticity.
“My bottom line always to employers is stay open to hearing about different ways to get things done, because Gen Z has one foot in the future,” Katz said in the report.
Other companies see the merit of young minds in the office. In 2023, EY was charting specific hiring policies to attract more young talent as the financial services company wanted to grow Gen Z’s careers and better engage their purpose values.
And The Body Shop tapped a group of workers in their 20s to lead a shadow board and provide new constructive criticism on the company, balancing their passion for sustainability with wanting the business to succeed.
“We had the realization that, if we’re lacking the voices of young people [on our board], how can we really honestly say, we’re building a business that we can pass down to the next generation?” Chris Davis, board member and international director of sustainability at The Body Shop, told Fortune.