A Promise from ‘Generation Z’ - Alchemising Perception

In this blog, I want to share with you the experience of visiting my engineering college campus after 20 years of graduation.

I was surprised by the openness of Gen-Z towards self-discovery. You can gain a quick sneak peek at the in-depth conversation about “alchemising perception” and the “future of leadership."

So let’s dive in.

Entering my college campus, 20 years after graduating, was like being teleported to my early 20s. I could notice my breathing pattern change, the perception of the present moment obliterated by the memory from 20 years back. 

Playfulness, aspirations, knowledge, and intellect, all came alive in this experience of nostalgia. I could almost hear the buzz of students in spite of no one being around.

On this occasion, I had been invited as a guest speaker at an event. The event theme was “Alchemising Perception”. 

What does Alchemising perception mean? 

It shows how you can release yourself from your limited perception, which ends up having differences of opinion and conflict in the world.

At this event, the host and the audience were keen to understand how we can rise to a perception that has the power to broaden the perception spectrum.

Some of them were also curious to find if there is a way to recognise how a perception gets formed and when required, be free of it altogether. 

This is a ‘larger than life’ journey to take on; and this event showed me that 20-year-olds have taken on this journey.

What does this shift really mean to all of us?

I would like to do a small comparison of two real-life events that I have experienced 20 years apart. 

Year 2002. I am in a training room with 44 others. All of us are in our early twenties. The trainer offered me the stage to speak about anything that I would like to. For three and a half minutes I speak on the importance of self-discovery - ‘Who am I’.

Not a soul in the room is able to connect to what soul-searching means. Result: 44 people in their early twenties mock the speaker, me, for a week or so. 

Year 2022. I am invited as a guest speaker to an event. A crowd of 100 students in their early twenties attend. The questions from the audience include topics like karma, free will, destiny and self-discovery.

Conversations roll with deep contemplations and revelations in the room. Result: 100 people in their early twenties get down to genuine soul-searching, not knowing that they have won my respect for their entire generation.

Why is this shift worth paying attention to?

This openness and maturity of GenZ means different things to different sets of people. 

To the millennials it means Good news: We didn’t entirely screw up in bringing up the new generation. 

The general disappointment towards certain traits of GenZ, that can be observed going around, ironically means that the millennials did not do a good job at upbringing. This event has given me an opportunity and evidence to see GenZ in a different light.

The creators of the program have shown a great deal of readiness. An openness towards 

bringing perception to a plane where it is free of all the contamination of bias and self-imposed rigidity. 

This is a journey into clarity. We feel that an opinion or a point of view gives us a ground to stand on - supports our confidence and self-assurance. It doesn’t take much to see the flip side of it though. Holding on to an opinion too tightly makes us resistant to change, growth and to moving with flexibility in a world that is ever-changing. 

The openness of the youth towards this alchemising of their perception brings in a whole new possibility for future generations. This would make us more interrelated and hence create an environment of interrelatedness.

The environment we create is one of the most dominant factors for the upbringing of the next generation. This means the youth of today is creating a conscious world for the upbringing of the future generation. 

Of course, this interpretation of mine smells of hope based on the generalisation made out of a small subset of people; but paying attention to this hope and giving it time and energy, I feel, is our chance to bring it to reality. 

What’s in it for us?

It is wondersome how the world is changing. GenZ is setting the ground for mature living. It invites leaders in their 30s and 40s to catch up with this transforming world.. 

By alchemising perception, leaders can bring transformation to their day-to-day conversations. They get the ability to influence conversations from a clutter free inner space.

Also, keep the resulting decisions clean of any contamination of individual and limited perception. This process, right here, is the access point to their own transformation and that of their teams and organisations.