Redesigning Leadership: Gen Z, Diversity, and Emotional Maturity

Tony interviews Hemlata Karooa, Head of Client Management and Business Development at Ellgeo Re, about evolving leadership to unlock Gen Z performance in insurance and reinsurance. Hemlata shares how early responsibility at home and exposure to both unfair and supportive leaders shaped her belief that leadership is accountability, fairness, and empowerment, not title or pressure. She argues industry transformation (AI, automation, analytics) is outpacing the human side, driving disengagement and talent loss, citing research that direct leaders heavily shape job experience. Hemlata says Gen Z is misunderstood: they value purpose, transparency, feedback, and emotional safety, and reject burnout and micromanagement. She calls for shifting from control to trust, micromanagement to ownership, secrecy to clarity, and authority to example; expanding diversity into real inclusion and intergenerational collaboration; addressing ego-driven and toxic leadership; and building merit-based promotion systems, including Ellgeo Re’s career competency framework. She closes by urging young professionals to learn and bridge generations, and CEOs to lead with trust, empathy, and emotional maturity.