#KatieTalks: Why Understanding Gen Z Is Every Leader’s New Competitive Edge

About this episode

Katie Bennett-Stenton discusses the importance of understanding Gen Z for effective leadership and communication with guest India Starr.

To lead well, and communicate brilliantly, we have to understand the people shaping the world around us. Gen Z already makes up around 60 percent of the global workforce, and while they’re not yet the senior decision-makers in most organisations, their influence on culture, communication and consumer behaviour is undeniable. For leaders, marketers and strategists, grasping these generational shifts isn’t optional; it’s how you stay relevant. In this episode of Katie Talks, Katie Bennett-Stenton speaks with India Starr, a graduate researcher at the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, about the findings from the 2025 Global Communication Report: Mind the Gap. Katie met India at the IABC World Conference in Vancouver, where India spoke on a panel exploring how generational perspectives are reshaping communication, influence and leadership. Together, they unpack what the research reveals about the friction, and opportunity, between those creating messages and those consuming them. In this conversation, they explore: Why every generation believes it’s the most informed, and what that reveals about trust, truth and the stories we choose to believe. How older communicators still…

People in this episode

Host: Katie Bennett-Stenton

Guest: India Starr

Topics covered

• Gen Z
• leadership
• communication
• consumer behavior
• generational shifts
• trust
• authenticity

Keywords

• Gen Z
• leadership
• communication
• consumer behavior
• trust
• authenticity
• generational shifts
• influence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, IABC, New York Times, CNN

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