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It\u2019s no secret that Gen Z often gets flak for showing up late to work, ghosting job interviews, refusing to do put in any overtime for free, and demanding senior titles and work-life balance before they\u2019ve really earned it.\u00a0Some bosses are fed up\u2014firing fresh-faced Gen Z grads just months in and branding the whole cohort \u201cunprofessional.\u201d Even Gen Z workers have described themselves as the hardest generation to work with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes and you want to pull your hair out,\u201d echoes Matt Huang, the cofounder of the $12 billion crypto investment firm Paradigm. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then you see what they can do and it\u2019s like, holy crap,\u201d he told Colossus Review in April 2025. \u201cNobody else in the world could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Case in point: Paradigm\u2019s first hire in 2018, Charlie Noyes, was a 19-year-old MIT dropout who walked into his first 10 a.m. meeting five hours late. By 2025, Noyes was general partner at the crypto company at just 25.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Noyes was the one who saw MEV as a critical blockchain issue, leading Paradigm to become the lead investor in Flashbots\u2014a company whose infrastructure now touches nearly every transaction on Ethereum and has established key market rules in the $450 billion ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Noyes recently left the business, but he wasn’t the only bright young mind making waves at Paradigm. <\/p>\n
Georgios Konstantopoulos, the firm\u2019s CTO, joined the company just two years after graduating college in 2018 and has since become one of crypto\u2019s most prolific engineers. Then there\u2019s the developer known only by his Discord handle, transmissions11, whom Paradigm reportedly found while he was still in high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I feel like I\u2019m running the X-Men Academy,\u201d Huang jokes, referencing the eccentric minds on his team\u2014young mutants whose exceptional skills make all the chaos worth it.<\/p>\n
Fortune reached out to Huang for comment.<\/p>\n
Gen Z may be hard to work with\u2014but they’re vital <\/p>\n
Like most generations did before them\u2014millennials will remember being labelled work-shy snowflakes before climbing the corporate ranks into management\u2014Gen Zers have gained a reputation for being difficult to work with. <\/p>\n
A 2024 survey of more than 960 employers from Intelligent revealed that one in six companies were hesitant to hire a Gen Z worker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the same research that describes the youngest generation of workers as the hardest to work with, also notes that much is to be learned from them\u2014and that perhaps the corporate world is long overdue a shakeup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey bring a unique blend of talent and bold ideas that can rejuvenate any workforce,\u201d wrote Geoffrey Scott, senior hiring manager at Resume Genius. \u201cGen Zers might have a bad rep, but they have the power to transform workplaces for the better.\u201d <\/p>\n
Because if companies don\u2019t adapt, they risk getting left behind. <\/p>\n
Tobba Vigfusdottir, a psychologist and the CEO of Kara Connect, a workplace well-being platform, previously told Fortune that employers need to bend to Gen Z\u2019s desires (read: flexible work policies, sustainability pledges and purpose-driven work) if they want to stay competitive after the baby boomers retire.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies really need to wake up and smell the coffee,\u201d Vigfusdottir warned. \u201cThe companies that will survive are listening and letting them in, because they\u2019re changing things.\u201d <\/p>\n
Will.i.am and Josh Kushner are betting on Gen Z, too<\/p>\n
Huang\u2019s not the only future-thinking leader betting on the disruptive energy of Gen Z. The multimillionaire rapper and songwriter Will.i.am and Thrive Capital\u2019s founder Josh Kushner are betting on the bright young minds of tomorrow too.<\/p>\n
In fact, Kushner previously told Fortune he specifically likes to hire people with less than four years of industry experience.<\/p>\n
When he launched the venture capital firm at just 26, he faced pressure to bring in older, more seasoned hires. But, as he put it, \u201canyone who has experience that is talented will never want to work with a 26-year-old.\u201d So, instead, he recruited the \u201csmartest people that we knew who were our ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that bet paid off: His firm made early investments in startups worth billions, including OpenAI, which was recently valued at $300 billion.<\/p>\n
These days, Kushner could easily hire industry veterans with glowing r\u00e9sum\u00e9s\u2014but he\u2019d still rather \u201cfind that young, hungry person who\u2019s willing to run through walls like we were ten years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will.i.am has reached a similar conclusion. The Grammy-winning Black Eyed Peas frontman might be best known for his chart-topping hits, but behind the scenes, he\u2019s a serious investor too. He backed Tesla, OpenAI, and Pinterest before they became household names\u2014and now, he\u2019s betting on Gen Z for his next investment. <\/p>\n
Why? He believes the next big breakthroughs in tech will come from young innovators at MIT and Stanford.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re young kids, and they\u2019re native to this,\u201d Will.i.am told Fortune. \u201cSo you want to hunt for that. That\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on April 10, 2025<\/p>\n
Read more about Gen Z from Fortune’s Orianna Rosa Royle:<\/p>\n
Gen Z has no idea how to interact with their coworkers\u2014and it could cost them a promotion<\/p>\n
L\u2019Oreal exec tells Gen Z new hires to be that person who grabs their manager\u2019s coffee\u2014instead of making you look junior, she says it can get you noticed<\/p>\n
Gen Z is investing younger than any past generation and American Gen Zers are leading the way\u2014with crypto acting as the gateway drug<\/p>\n
Gen Z is \u2018task masking\u2019 to look as busy as possible in the office. Experts warn they\u2019re self-sabotaging<\/p>\n
Astronaut says Gen Z often quits when things get uncomfortable\u2014here\u2019s the Jeff Bezos Blue Origin training that taught her to push through<\/p>\n
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/p>\n
#billion #crypto #company #boss #Gen #create #absurd #amount #chaos #pull #hair #outbut #hes #betting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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