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As a rabbi and leadership coach, much of my work is intergenerational. Multigenerational interactions provide fresh perspectives and useful mirrors for all our behaviours, especially those of leaders. I’ve just read ‘Gen Z Explained’, a recent book by four social scientists that reflects on in-depth research about Generation Z in Britain and America. According to the research, this generation, born between 1997 and 2012, and so now aged 9 to 24, demands transparency and accountability from leaders far more than their elders do. They often reject hierarchies, embracing shared systems of power. For them, political, religious or business leaders - acquire legitimacy through consultation and collaboration and must be held to their values uncompromisingly. If leaders don’t deliver, Gen Z can and does set up alternative channels of leadership. They sidestep and supplant established institutions. As one teenage entrepreneur said in a Ted talk, ‘if they bs, we swipe on.’ While many generations have spearheaded social change, the democratising power of technology enables Gen Z to be far more impactful. Many young people cite the need to protect their mental health and feeling of safety as a reason to challenge hierarchical structures. Gen Z’s practice of strictly holding leaders to account and stressing collaboration reminds me of how the Torah describes God’s response to Moses while the Israelites were in the desert, desperately needing water. God commanded Moses to produce water by speaking to a rock. But instead of collaborating with God or having the humility to speak to the rock as God requested, instead of speaking at all, Moses was impetuous, lashing out in frustration, striking the rock twice. In this Biblical version of cancel culture, God implements a ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy, denying Moses entry into the Promised Land. Many commentators have questioned God’s decision, because it seems, on the face of it, disproportionate. Judaism’s greatest commentator, Rashi, suggested that Moses’ sin was hitting the rock instead of talking to God. Others claimed Moses slandered the Israelites by calling them rebels, failing in his leadership at a critical moment. Perhaps, leadership is about speaking what needs to be said at the right time, in the right way, even to God. There’s a price to avoiding or rejecting dialogue, and sometimes that price is so-called cancellation. Like many generations before them, Gen Z holds leaders to account and make us all rethink our methodologies. I think we should integrate their wisdom alongside that of other generations. If we don’t listen properly, we certainly won’t reach any Promised Land.