""I ended up in the ER," says a senior communications director in his late 30s who works in the public sector, describing waking from a nightmare with chest pains, pins and needles in his left arm, and being short of breath. He was convinced he was having a heart attack. The director, who requested anonymity given the public-facing nature of his role, told Fortune that a doctor diagnosed him with a panic attack."
"As Fortune reported in July, millennials broke the managerial tipping point in 2025, as the cohort aged roughly 29 to 44 has displaced Gen X as the largest percentage of leaders in the workforce. But what does it mean for " the burnout generation " to be the ones in charge? They've found themselves leading in a climate dramatically different than the one their own bosses walked into-often with minimal mentorship or guidance along the way."
"Over the past three months, Fortune has heard from more than a dozen millennial managers, coast to coast, private-sector to nonprofit, and found a once-optimistic cohort now sandwiched between old-guard expectations, a daily onslaught of modern pressures, and the promise and peril of new work trends. Several of them, like the comms director who visited the ER, requested anonymity to speak freely about their own struggles and those of their colleagues and organizations."
Millennials became the largest percentage of leaders in the workforce in 2025, displacing Gen X. Many millennial managers report high stress, burnout symptoms, and acute health incidents linked to workplace pressure. Managers often lack mentorship and formal leadership training, leaving them unprepared for modern managerial demands. Millennials expected empathetic workplaces and now face heightened expectations from Gen Z subordinates for care and support. The cohort feels sandwiched between legacy expectations and new work trends, navigating private, public, and nonprofit sectors while many ask for anonymity when describing personal and organizational struggles.
Read at Fortune
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