"Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is." ~ Saul Bellow

Photo Credit: Kevin Jordan, Utah, Jun/Jul 2025.
L: Red Hollow/Thor’s Hideout Trail, Cedar City | R: The Living Room Trail, Salt Lake City.

Greetings -

I hope you, your families and friends are enjoying the dog days of summer and staying cool!

Our "nomad summer" road trip moved on from the friendly confines of St. George, Utah to its nearby neighbor, Cedar City. Officially known as "Festival City USA," this mighty metropolis of about 27k boasts multiple events of all stripes throughout the year, most notably the annual Utah Shakespeare Festival (one of the oldest and largest in North America). We took in an evening performance of the Bard's play "As You Like It" at the grand Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. Minus a brief rain interlude, it was a wonderful performance and a great way to spend an evening!

Cedar City and Brian Head are also home to some of the most gorgeous hikes in southern Utah. Our favorites were Cedar Breaks National Monument (about 45 minutes outside of Cedar City) and Red Hollow/Thor's Hideout Trail (just on the east side of Cedar City). The hikes and the views were spectacular and we had most of the trails completely to ourselves (a great benefit of sunrise hiking!). It is worth noting that the town itself has miles of great walking, running and biking paths that you can access without ever getting into your car.

No trip to Utah would be complete without a visit with our beloved daughter in her adopted town of Salt Lake City. Though she may not have bargained for two weeks with her parents in such close proximity and popping in and out of her daily routine, she was an excellent sport and a gracious host. Between her internship duties with the Governor's office and her summer coursework (ever the over-achiever :)), we had some lovely family time, excellent meals and a lot of laughs. And we all got the benefit of a visit with my wife's parents, who joined us from the Bay Area for a long weekend. Classes at the University of Utah kick off in mid-August and soon our rising senior will graduate. Yikes!

Two wonderful hikes within Salt Lake City of note: 1) The "Living Room" hike (as seen above) and the "Ensign Peak" hike. The Living Room is so named as previous intrepid hikers arranged the rocks into rough shapes of over-sized living room chairs that you can sit on and enjoy the panoramic views of the city (and they are reasonably comfortable). Ensign Peak's claim to fame stems from the fact that it is where Brigham Young, while battling "mountain fever," climbed to survey the landscape and the topography of what would become Salt Lake City.

The voyage of discovery continues in Bozeman, MT, where we arrived last Saturday. We will spend the next two weeks here before heading to Missoula for a week. I will share insights and experiences as we wend our way through Montana and into the Pacific Northwest. Stay tuned!

With respect and deep admiration for you all, happy reading and listening!

Be well, take good care of yourselves, families and community. 

-kj

PS - (Missed a newsletter? Past editions can be found here: https://www.kevinjordan.coach/blog. And if you hit paywall on an article(s), feel free to send me a note and let me know what you need. I have subscriptions to many of the sources that I cite.)

Featured: HBR: Why “Wisdom Work” Is the New “Knowledge Work”

"Valuing human wisdom provides the ideal workplace balance to the rise of artificial intelligence. Although anybody who effectively distills life experiences can be wise, the more life lessons we've navigated, the more raw material for wisdom we possess. It's time that we invest as much energy in helping older workers distill their wisdom as we do in helping younger workers accumulate their knowledge." ~ Chip Conley

As leaders navigating increasingly complex organizational dynamics, you're likely witnessing firsthand how multigenerational teams can become your greatest strategic advantage. The research is clear: organizations that intentionally harness generational diversity consistently outperform their peers in both engagement metrics and sustainable growth.

What distinguishes these high-performing environments isn't luck or circumstance—it's the disciplined practice of values-centered leadership. These leaders understand that creating psychological safety and fostering authentic dialogue across generational lines requires both skill and intentionality.

At the heart of this approach lies a critical leadership competency: your ability to create and hold space for meaningful exchange. When you master this art—facilitating conversations that honor diverse perspectives while driving toward collective wisdom—you unlock innovation that no single generation could achieve alone. Your role becomes less about having all the answers and more about orchestrating an environment where curiosity, honest reflection, and thoughtful debate can flourish.

Consider how this applies to your current context: Are you actively drawing from the experiential wealth of your seasoned team members while simultaneously creating pathways for emerging talent to contribute fresh perspectives? The most effective leaders I work with have learned to see this integration not as a challenge to manage, but as a competitive advantage to cultivate.

Your workforce—whether you're leading internally or transitioning between roles—expects leaders who understand that sustainable performance comes from seeing people not just as they are today, but as who they're capable of becoming. This requires a fundamental shift from managing resources to developing human potential across all career stages and generational perspectives.

The question isn't whether your organization will become more age-diverse—it already is. The question is whether you'll lead the intentional cultivation of wisdom-centered cultures that allow both you and your teams to thrive in an era where human insight becomes increasingly valuable alongside technological capability.

Articles

Psychology Today: How to Lead Young People. "Interestingly, over the last two decades, a scientific revolution has been brewing in the study of young people, and it speaks directly to the causes and solutions of the generational divide. This revolution doesn’t focus on superficial differences in 'kids these days' like social media or smartphones. Nor does it claim that young people are flawed and deficient thinkers who can’t comprehend the consequences of their actions. To the contrary, it argues that the source of young people’s frustrating behavior comes from their normal—and even positive—developmental needs."

Harvard Business Review: Redesigning Retirement. "...Every day 10,000 Americans reach the traditional retirement age of 65, which exacerbates the problem. Critical skills, experience, and connections can walk out the door with each retirement. The good news is that many older employees want to keep working; in fact, nearly 60% say they’re receptive to the idea of working during retirement. It’s time for companies to stop overlooking this large, valuable labor pool. Employers need to shed their misconceptions about older workers and take measures to make the most of their experience, creating phased retirement programs, offering refresher courses, and recruiting through retiree networks, among other strategies. Older employees’ knowledge can be leveraged through coaching roles, on multigenerational teams, and in institutional systems. But companies will have to work to engage their seasoned staffers, offering them flexibility, the right benefits, and opportunities for connection."

Harvard Business Review: How Gen AI Could Change the Value of Expertise. "In the near future, gen AI is likely to affect some 50 million jobs, automating away elements of some jobs and augmenting workers’ abilities in others. The extent of those changes will compel companies to reshape their organizational structures and rethink their talent management strategies in profound ways, with implications that will affect not only for industries but also individuals and society. Critically, traditional learning curves for jobs will be redrawn, creating new paradigms for skill acquisition and career advancement. This shift demands a fundamental rethinking of how businesses approach talent management and how individuals navigate their careers."

McKinsey & Company: A new operating model for people management: More personal, more tech, more human. "Organizations are just at the start of a massive transformation in people management—but the time to act is now, as people functions will play a critical role in helping them navigate a more complex and uncertain future. Over the next decade, they must take significant strides toward a value-driven, human-centered, and tech-enabled approach to people management. This will mean overhauling the people operating system to be simpler, more strategic, and more fluid than it is now. Such a transformation will boost organizational effectiveness as well as employee engagement and productivity. Regardless of their starting point, organizations should embrace the opportunities in adopting this powerful new people management model and use it to create value for the business."

Blog Posts & Opinions

Korn Ferry: And Now, Awkwardness Training. "From 'get to know you' lunches to training on interacting, companies are taking some serious steps to get the generations to talk to each other. Is it working?"

Aeon: The unseen. "Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being."

Human Resources Director: Workplace benefits of reverse mentorship. "...Younger, less experienced employee(s) get an immediate connection with a senior leader to build their leadership style as well as receive career advice, guidance and support. And in turn, the senior leader receives a different perspective on how the workforce should be from the junior employee."

Podcasts 

Worklife With Adam Grant: Generational differences are vastly exaggerated. "There are 5 different generations in the workplace today, and strong views can lead to conflict between age groups. But are generational differences really the problem? In this episode, Adam investigates the root causes of age stereotypes, why they hold us all back, and how to overcome generational divides at work." [KJ: Here is a short, follow-up podcast - "Office Hours with Adam: Bridging generational divides" - that looks at: 1) the misuse and impact of psychological safety; 2) how to brainstorm productive ways to counter negative stereotypes about Gen Z; and 3) strategies for bridging communication gaps across generations.]

The Ezra Klein Show: How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z — and the Rest of Us. "Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani are both proof of how the ability to capture attention is power. And the attention economy isn’t reshaping just politics; it’s also reshaping the actual economy: the crypto market, A.I. venture capital, and how people, especially Gen Z, are making career decisions. Kyla Scanlon has emerged as a leading theorist on the economics of attention and is herself a member of Gen Z...I asked her on the show to walk us through her theory of the attention economy."

This American Life: My Summer Self. "Summer is a time when change seems more possible than ever. But is that really how it happens? Can people actually reinvent themselves in the warmer months? This week, we present stories — and some comedy — about people and their summer selves."

Arts, Music, Culture & Humor Corner

TED 2025: The inside story of Notre-Dame’s incredible reconstruction. "In a moment that stunned the world in 2019, the famed Notre-Dame in Paris went up in flames, threatening the future of the centuries-old Gothic treasure. Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of the cathedral’s restoration, recounts the collective effort to bring the building back to life while honoring its history. Listen for a story of craftsmanship, devotion and innovation — and learn how more than 2,000 hands worked to return this landmark to the world." [KJ: apropos of the June edition's theme of failure and what we can learn from it, see Amy Edmondson's piece on the "complex failures" that contributed to the Notre-Dame fire.]

Esquire: Bono Has Another Story to Tell. "The U2 frontman spent the past few years reexamining his life and career. Now he’s back with new projects, new music—and a fresh sense of urgency to change the world."

The Atlantic: How the Ivy League Broke America. "...What you assess is what you end up selecting for and producing. We should want to create a meritocracy that selects for energy and initiative as much as for brainpower. After all, what’s really at the core of a person? Is your IQ the most important thing about you? No. I would submit that it’s your desires—what you are interested in, what you love. We want a meritocracy that will help each person identify, nurture, and pursue the ruling passion of their soul."

The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs: Read This Before Entering my AirBnB. "Thank you for choosing to rent my Airbnb property for the next one-to-three nights. I’m the owner of the house, and I want to provide some simple ground rules before you walk through the front door—with your shoes and socks off, of course!" [KJ: This hits very close to home as we travel this summer!]

Reflections

"I'm afraid I'm an incorrigible life-lover, life-wonderer, and adventurer." ~ Edith Wharton

"It is more important to be good ancestors than dutiful descendants. Too many people spend their lives being custodians of the past instead of stewards of the future...The responsibility of each generation is not to please our predecessors-it's to improve conditions for our successors." ~ Adam Grant

"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow." 

~ Robert Pirsig