The Life of Z: Understanding the Digital Pre-Teen and Adolescent Generation (From The Award-Winning Author of The Book The Life of Y)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

A Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, has become the poster girl for the climate change and sustainability movement across the world. Only 16 years old, she has been nominated for the Nobel Prize and has featured on the cover of the Time magazine. Greta personifies and symbolizes zeners, who are unique, world changers and perhaps the only hope for this planet. Yet, if not nurtured, they are at risk of being lost due to the ignorance of institutions and individuals.

The Life of Z packs extensive real-life narratives and analysis to help us understand this generation born in the year 2000 and after, and to engage with them for a better future for all of us.

Debashish Sengupta, a dual PhD, completed his PhD in manage- ment from Central University of Nicaragua (UCN) and Azteca University, Mexico. He holds certificates in 'Social Psychology' and 'Leadership Development' from Wesleyan University, USA, and Japan Management Association, respectively. He is an award- winning author. His book The Life of Y: Engaging Millennials as Employees and Consumers (SAGE Publications) recently won the first prize at the DMA-NTPC Management Book Awards- a national-level award in India. The book has not only become a bestseller, but it has also been featured in the library collections by Stanford University. Dr Sengupta is also the co-author of the Crossword Bestseller and KPMG-cited book Employee Engagement. He has authored five other acclaimed books. His research papers have been published in leading international journals. His papers have featured in leading international journals including TQR (The Qualitative Report); International Journal of Learning Management Systems; PM World Journal; Journal of Project, Program & Portfolio Management, and Journal of Business and Retail Management Research to name a few. Besides this, he has written for numerous business media publications and has over 100 publications to his credit. Recently, he was featured globally as the 'author of the week' by PM World Journal, USA, to honour his research con- tributions. He occasionally writes for reputed business media publications. He has received several research awards in his career spanning over two decades, including best paper awards and young researcher award.

Dr Sengupta is the Asia Editor of a London-based leading global business magazine The Future of Earth: Environment, Economy and Society. He is a much-sought-after speaker, trainer and business consultant to various Indian and multinational companies. His strategic and practical insights guide leaders of large and small organizations worldwide, through his teaching, writing and direct consultation to major corporations and governments.

Dr Sengupta presently teaches human resource and strategy at the Royal University for Women Bahrain. He has teaching experience spanning nearly two decades and has taught students from India, the USA, Europe and Far East.

Aradio buzzing in a corner, the transmission was unclear, the signal seemed to be wavering. I adjusted the antennae that we had fixed near the roof of the room. The voice on the side became better. By that time, I had repeated this ritual several times. However, the cracking commentary of the cricket match on the other side made up for all the hard work and irritation. Both my younger brother and I were stuck with the radio for the whole day. Our parents were not at home. My mother wanted to call our grandma and therefore she went to the post office to book a trunk call. It took few hours of waiting before her turn came and she could speak over the government-run public landline phone before returning home. We had the whole day to ourselves. It took longer than expected for our parents to come back home. They could not find a taxi near the post office and had to walk for nearly a kilome- tre before they found a transport. Poor mom, she had to cook the dinner after a long day. Meanwhile, India had lost the match. We spent the whole evening helping our mom in the kitchen. Another uneventful day had come to an end. But we had some excitement coming up. Sunday was just a day away when we would catch another episode of Star Trek and by that time we should also be getting a letter from my cousin brother who was sharing our secret encryption code, as he had promised in his last letter. This was to prevent elders from finding out the contents of our letter. And yes, he was also sending some photos from his recent vacation.