Ideas in the Wild: AnneMarie Hayek Aims To Reshape How We View Gen Z

There are moments when the normal flow of time catches, hesitates, and shifts direction.

2020 was one of these moments.

Now, at this critical juncture, a new generation is coming of age and demanding a reckoning: Generation Z. Three billion strong, they’re at the center of the most pivotal issues of our time, from reimagining how we live on our changing planet to enacting a new mandate for racial equity. The following decade will bring unparalleled change, with Zs shaping the path ahead.

This generation has a voice — and force — that’s united, unprecedented, and still unacknowledged.

In Generation We, cultural and generational expert AnneMarie Hayek joins forces with thousands of Zs to tell their powerful story — one that impacts all of us. From new ideas on capitalism, politics, and climate change to education, gender, race, and work, AnneMarie explains how Gen Z thinks, what they envision, and why we should be hopeful. Zs are not naïve idealists. They’re hardened realists with a bold vision for how we can transition, re-create, and progress. In Generation We, AnneMarie invites readers to see the future they will create as it’s unfolding. I recently caught up with AnneMarie to learn more about her new book.

What happened that made you decide to write the book? What was the exact moment when you realized these ideas needed to get out there?

I realize now as I look back that I’ve been a student of humanity my whole life. While my family didn’t have the money for fancy travel, as soon as I was old enough to read, I devoured my parents’ Encyclopedia Britannica, skipping from country to country, fascinated by how people live and think differently throughout the world.

By design, I spent my 20s and early 30s leading anthropological studies and brand strategy work for global companies across more than 50 countries. I was learning not only how people eat and shop and do laundry differently, but how different governments, economies, and social constructs work. When I returned to the U.S., I saw our country through new eyes, newly grateful for what works in our systems, but also deeply aware of the flaws. And it became something I could never unsee.

With COVID, as with most of us, my life ground to a halt. And the flaws in our systems were laid bare: the inequality, the lack of healthcare access, the social and political division, our declining environment. No longer crisscrossing the globe each week for work, I had time to sink into the sadness of our situation. And to crave solutions. I found the voices that most inspired me with their optimism and bold, fresh ideas, were our youth.

Intrigued, in April 2020 (just one month into COVID), I decided to launch a mobile survey amongst 1500 Gen Zs (13–23 years-old) to ask what they thought was possible in our society post-pandemic. I was in awe of their maturity, their awareness, and their ideas. The media had really only focused on Gen Z’s digital obsession and cancel culture. No one was telling the deeper story about who this generation really is, their powerful ideas and coming impact. I knew then that I wanted to create a company and write a book dedicated to elevating the voices of this generation.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned going through the journey you share in the book?

Zs are not afraid to be BIG in the world, despite their young age. They’re not afraid to use their voices and be seen and heard. They intentionally seek out the biggest platforms, as that’s where they know they can make the biggest impact. They organize the largest protests on record, they publicly challenge corporate leaders, they speak in front of the UN, they foil presidential rallies, one (Amanda Gorman) stole the show at Biden’s inauguration.

I realize I’ve been acting too small. Despite my success, the inner bully is a constant. The hardest part of writing the book was waking up every morning in the dark, cold solitude of COVID and quieting the voice that questioned if I had a book in me. That made me feel like staying small, instead of being BIG in the world and boldly expanding my platform to share this message.

How will you apply this lesson in your life moving forward?

We should all be inspired by Gen Z. By their willingness to be BIG in the world, to take up space, and to take bold action. We act smaller than we need to be, which serves no one.

Writing and putting this book out into the world makes me feel more HUMAN than ever: I am experiencing immense excitement, gratitude, and simultaneously, great vulnerability. I have coined this range of feeling: CFH (crazy fucking human).

I realize that this is how Zs live. They have grown up from early childhood with digital access to all that is raw and real and beautiful and broken in our world. Unlike the Millennials before them, they shun the glossy perfection of Instagram for the unfiltered storytelling of TikTok, exchanging life experiences and struggles without pretense (or make-up), building empathy through the honesty of their shared humanity.

Zs inspire me to be BIG. And to show up as a CFH. Now, in all the podcasts and interviews (like this one) that I do, I banish the bully and I speak loudly on what’s possible in our society. I challenge myself not to show up just as a “professional” or an “expert” or an “author” as much as a HUMAN that can share and inspire others via what I know about this generation and their ideas for our shared future.

There are 3 billion Zs on our planet, fearlessly putting themselves out there. What if the other 5 billion non-Zs were also willing to show up as CFH every day? To boldly engage and have the tough conversations? To be honest and challenge what’s not working? To put BIG ideas out there? My wish is that this book will foment the kind of cross-generational understanding and conversations that will help make this possible. Let’s all banish being small.