Opinion | Can The Generations Born In 1960s, 1970s Still Lead? A Puzzle For Gen Z

Lt Gen Devendra Pandey

In an age of accelerating change, the greatest threat to leadership may not be lack of experience but it may be experience that refuses to evolve

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Many of today’s leaders, strategic thinkers, analysts and institutions were educated, trained and professionally shaped during a world that was fundamentally different from the one we inhabit today. For those born in the 1960s and 1970s, the formative years of education, professional development and leadership were largely spent during the latter decades of the Cold War and the relatively stable period that followed it.

It was an era characterised by relatively predictable power structures, established international institutions, expanding globalisation and strategic assumptions that changed incrementally rather than overnight. The rules of the international system were reasonably well understood. Military power remained central, but economic interdependence was generally seen as a force for prosperity, technology was an enabler rather than the principal driver of power, and information moved at a pace that allowed governments and institutions time to analyse, deliberate and respond.

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That world is disappearing. The certainties of the past are steadily eroding. The twenty-first century is witnessing a transformation in the nature of power, conflict and competition that is unprecedented in both its speed and scale.

Technology is advancing at a pace that institutions struggle to absorb. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber capabilities, space technologies, quantum technologies, biotechnology and data-driven decision-making are reshaping the strategic environment. Information travels across the globe in seconds. Often faster than old structures of governments can verify it, let alone respond to it. A political development in one corner of the world can create immediate strategic, economic or societal consequences thousands of kilometres away.

Economic interdependence, once regarded primarily as a source of prosperity and stability, is increasingly becoming an instrument of strategic competition and leverage. Supply chains can be disrupted and critical technologies can be denied. Financial systems can be used as instruments of pressure. Sanctions, export controls, data restrictions and access........

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