The Gen eXit: Why Association Boards Are Losing Their Next Wave of Leaders
In October of 2023, I was laid off from my job as a VP of Revenue Enablement at a big tech company. Rather than find another job in tech, I decided to take my fate in my own hands and build my keynote speaking business. Then, in the summer of 2024, I resigned from the board of the Revenue Enablement Society. “I’m sad to let this go,” I explained, “but I underestimated the demands of building my own business after getting laid off, and I can’t give our members the effort they deserve right now.” In that one statement, I expressed a cascade of events that countless Gen X professionals have gone through in recent years, and I became a living example of a growing threat to associations’ operational stability.
Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) is a primary source of current and future association board members and presidents. They have the expertise, experience, credibility, and clout that most associations prioritize when selecting top volunteer leadership. However, Gen Xers have endured massive career disruption in recent years, with 14% having been laid off once or more during the past decade, and a quarter still unable to find a new job. I call this the “Gen eXit,” and as it has changed thousands of people’s relationship with their profession, their relationship with their professional associations has changed too. Many who would have gladly served on association boards over the next decade or two are resigning their seats or declining to take them at all.
It’s understandable why they’ve pulled back. Job loss causes most of us to crouch down into our survival instincts, close ranks around those we love most, and change how we spend our money and time. “How will I pay my bills and feed my family?” quickly takes priority over “How will I fit the board retreat into my schedule next month?” Also, most people shift from a service mindset to a member mindset, wanting their association to help them find a new job and being less concerned about helping that association operate.
All of this adds up to fewer Gen Xers available to fill and lead association boards. This crack in the future leadership pipeline is real, and it will get wider as AI drives more layoffs and the impact of Baby Boomers delaying retirement halts Gen Xers from advancing into the senior leadership positions that Boomers occupy. Membership will be impacted, too. While many who were laid off are seeking new jobs in their industry, just as many have started their own businesses or left their industry entirely. Returning to my story at the beginning of this article, I not only left the board I was on, but I left the association, too, because I left the revenue enablement industry to build my professional speaking career. Since I didn’t need to navigate that industry anymore, I didn’t need an association to help me. It was like a row of falling dominoes: I lost my job, my industry lost my talent, my board lost my labor, my association lost my membership and dues.
Can associations stop the Gen eXit? No. Associations are on the receiving end of how members’ lives are impacted by their careers. What we can do, though, is take these three strategic steps to provide the support Gen X needs right now while protecting our future leadership pipeline:
1. Provide programming on navigating late-stage career disruption. This is their most pressing need, so meet them where they’re at. Bonus points if your programs support the variety of possible paths forward: those looking for new jobs in their current industry, those building consultancies to serve that industry, and those who are moving on to new industries as employees or entrepreneurs. Since many associations do not offer programs specifically around late-stage career disruption, this will differentiate your association and increase the chances that some impacted Gen Xers will maintain their membership while they’re looking for their next step.
2. Plan for some Gen X member attrition. I said it above, and it’s worth saying again: When someone’s relationship with their profession changes, their relationship with their professional association changes. If your membership and programs teams plan for this, you can absorb the impact to your budget and to the labor needed to make your committees and events run. Most importantly, planning will allow you to deliberately send them off in a supportive tone. This matters because some of those who lapse their membership will likely resume it once they’ve found their footing, and treating them well when you’re losing their dues revenue will make it more likely that they’ll choose to bring that revenue back to you when the time is right for them.
3. Increase your focus on your older Millennial members. They are the next age group-in-waiting for board seats, and you will need them to step into the Gen X gap in your future leadership pipeline. Identify the members who have the skills and attributes your board needs and then nurture those relationships with a deliberate focus on preparing them for board service. Finding these exceptional Millennials may not be difficult at all. They are probably already on your radar as your committee chairs, your recruiting rock stars, and your most reliable volunteers. Also, in 2026, Millennials will be as old as 46, and many of them have built the networks, clout, and public profile that we often look for in board members. If you can move past the ageism that often shades board member selection, you will have greater agility in navigating the bumpy road to the boards of the near future.
These steps will feel more significant to some associations than others, and the impact may vary too. What is consistent for all of us, though, is that large workforce changes like the Gen eXit are calling for large changes in how we lead our associations. Those who dig in now will fare far better than those who wait.
Photo courtesy of eamesBot/Shutterstock.com.