Gen Z workers are coming for the workforce whether you like it or not. This Houston business leader likes it — and shares why you should embrace these future generation of employees too. Photo via Getty Images

My experience hiring Gen Z has been extremely positive — though many employers have complaints about that generation.

In my experience, employers say Gen Z folks:

  1. Don’t have a work ethic
  2. Lack discipline
  3. Demand instant gratification
  4. Think they deserve attention just for being alive (because they have always had attention)
  5. Think they are better and smarter than their bosses
  6. Are happy to tell their bosses what is wrong with them
  7. Are overly sensitive and easily offended
  8. Demand freedom and “personal space”
  9. Won’t bother learning something they don’t think is important

In a very recent ResumeBuilder survey of more than 1,300 managers, 74 percent of respondents said they find Gen Z more difficult to work with than other generations. Of those, 12 percent said they had to fire a young worker within their first week on the job.

That’s a damning list of negative attributes, especially to mature generations who were raised to believe the world didn’t owe them a living. Many older hiring authorities expect their team to behave the way they did 30 or so years ago. Namely, that new people at the firm should work hard to demonstrate that the company is their most important priority and, in return, they can patiently earn promotions over time after having proved themselves.

My firm manages over half a billion dollars for a short list of individuals and institutions. Every client is extremely valuable to us. Why would we ever hire Gen Z employees who, according to all the negative descriptions above, might endanger our client relationships?

Truth be told, I haven’t found the negative stereotypes about Gen Z to be accurate. I actually like hiring them and helping them integrate with our current mix of employees.

I think Gen Z employees expect their leaders to give deeply of themselves because they want the same thing we all want: to work for a company with a meaningful mission statement that gives a sense of purpose and significance to its employees. They want to see values, not the values hanging on the wall as a beautiful display, but the kind that actually set the tone for daily service, team commitment, and performance. They are sharp enough to immediately recognize when a company does not practice what it preaches. If they are disillusioned, they’re not going to perform as well and maybe they’ll leave.

Gen Z, like all of us, is hungry to learn what they need to know, especially when the knowledge will truly help them make an impact at their job. They are looking for valuable guidance instead of the “party line,” and they respond well to honesty and integrity (also known today as transparency and authenticity).

If a smart, talented professional at the start of a promising career is disillusioned with your company, you should first ask yourself if you’re using them as a disposable resource, or if you’ve truly invested in them by promoting a company culture that is honest, open, and transparent.

Problems with Gen Z in the workplace may be more complex than just pointing a finger at the youngest employees while waving a list of stereotypes. For example, Gen Z employees are said to be overly sensitive and easily offended. Maybe that’s another way of saying they expect to give something valuable for the salary they earn, and they (like all of us) want to see and understand a clear path to advancement. “Do it because I said so,” doesn’t work because they’ve seen so many of their parents give years of effort to a system that downsized them without warning.

When a company’s leaders fire an entire department over the weekend, they may have helped improve the bottom line, but they also have shaped the way that incoming generations look at the workplace. Because up-and-coming professionals have seen the bosses of today reducing benefits and eliminating pensions, they are logically asking for more genuine attention and commitment from their leaders.

On our team, we find that a great first step to changing that cycle is to listen to Gen Z hires, not because of their age, but because all members of the team have a stake. When our leaders’ actions show a genuine encouragement to share opinions and insight, it’s not just Gen Z workers who flourish. When the leaders of a firm model integrity in an environment that offers a clear path forward in their employees’ careers, all members of the team, regardless of generation, will feel the loyalty that is the natural response to respect and dedication.

There will always be other jobs at other companies offering various levels of pay. When you provide your team with a meaningful place in a growing organization that comports itself in a way that makes the members proud to be associated with it, then suddenly a few more dollars of salary at another workplace doesn’t look as attractive.

I just hired another member of Gen Z, and I’m looking forward to working with this young employee who will undoubtedly have a fresh perspective and hard questions. You might enjoy a similar experience if you stop thinking of them as a stereotype and instead honestly exchange ideas. Let your daily discipline and commitment to high ideals give them an example that they can look up to and admire.

I’m reminded of this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Gen Z offers a chance for all of us to improve how we do business. Take advantage of it and teach them well.

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Christopher Manske is a Certified Financial Planner and president of Houston-based Manske Wealth Management. An author, his next book, Outsmart the Money Magicians, is expected this fall with McGraw Hill.

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Texas Space Commission doles out $5.8 million to Houston companies

On A Mission

Two Houston-area companies have landed more than $5.8 million in funding from the Texas Space Commission.

The commission granted up to $5.5 million to Houston-based Axiom Space and up to $347,196 to Conroe-based FluxWorks.

The two-year-old commission previously awarded $95.3 million to 14 projects. A little over $34 million remains in the commission-managed Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund.

Axiom Space, a commercial spaceflight company, said the new funding will go toward the development of its orbital data center capabilities. By the end of this year, Axiom plans to launch two free-flying nodes in low-Earth orbit to support its orbital data center operations. More nodes are set to go online in the coming years.

“Axiom Space is actively evaluating how our [orbital data center] architecture can enhance critical U.S. capabilities, including the proposed Golden Dome missile defense architecture,” Jason Aspiotis, global director of in-space data and security at Axiom, said in a news release. “In this context, real-time, around-the-clock availability, secure orbital processing, and AI-driven autonomy are vital for ensuring mission success.”

Founded in 2021, FluxWorks provides magnetic gear technology that was developed at Texas A&M University.

In 2024, FluxWorks was one of two startups to receive the Technology in Space Prize, funded by Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the International Space Station National Laboratory.

FluxWorks is testing the performance of magnetic gear in microgravity environments, such as the International Space Station.

“Gearboxes aim to reduce the mass of motors required in a variety of applications; however, the lubricant needed to make them work properly is not designed for use in extreme environments like space,” according to a 2024 news release about the Technology in Space Prize. “Magnetic gears do not require lubricant, making them an appealing alternative.”

The Texas Space Commission granted $25 million to Houston aerospace companies Starlab Space and Intuitive Machines earlier this year. Read more here.

3 Houston startups named most innovative in Texas by LexisNexis

report card

Three Houston companies claimed spots on LexisNexis's 10 Most Innovative Startups in Texas report, with two working in the geothermal energy space.

Sage Geosystems claimed the No. 3 spot on the list, and Fervo Energy followed closely behind at No. 5. Fintech unicorn HighRadius rounded out the list of Houston companies at No. 8.

LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions compiled the report. It was based on each company's Patent Asset Index, a proprietary metric from LexisNexis that identifies the strength and value of each company’s patent assets based on factors such as patent quality, geographic scope and size of the portfolio.

Houston tied with Austin, each with three companies represented on the list. Caris Life Sciences, a biotechnology company based in Dallas, claimed the top spot with a Patent Asset Index more than 5 times that of its next competitor, Apptronik, an Austin-based AI-powered humanoid robotics company.

“Texas has always been fertile ground for bold entrepreneurs, and these innovative startups carry that tradition forward with strong businesses based on outstanding patent assets,” Marco Richter, senior director of IP analytics and strategy for LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions, said in a release. “These companies have proven their innovation by creating the most valuable patent portfolios in a state that’s known for game-changing inventions and cutting-edge technologies.We are pleased to recognize Texas’ most innovative startups for turning their ideas into patented innovations and look forward to watching them scale, disrupt, and thrive on the foundation they’ve laid today.”

This year's list reflects a range in location and industry. Here's the full list of LexisNexis' 10 Most Innovative Startups in Texas, ranked by patent portfolios.

  1. Caris (Dallas)
  2. Apptronik (Austin)
  3. Sage Geosystems (Houston)
  4. HiddenLayer (Austin)
  5. Fervo Energy (Houston)
  6. Plus One Robotics (San Antonio)
  7. Diligent Robotics (Austin)
  8. HighRadius (Houston)
  9. LTK (Dallas)
  10. Eagle Eye Networks (Austin)

Sage Geosystems has partnered on major geothermal projects with the United States Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit, the U.S. Air Force and Meta Platforms. Sage's 3-megawatt commercial EarthStore geothermal energy storage facility in Christine, Texas, was expected to be completed by the end of last year.

Fervo Energy fully contracted its flagship 500 MW geothermal development, Cape Station, this spring. Cape Station is currently one of the world’s largest enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) developments, and the station will begin to deliver electricity to the grid in 2026. The company was recently named North American Company of the Year by research and consulting firm Cleantech Group and came in at No. 6 on Time magazine and Statista’s list of America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2025. It's now considered a unicorn, meaning its valuation as a private company has surpassed $1 billion.

Meanwhile, HighRadius announced earlier this year that it plans to release a fully autonomous finance platform for the "office of the CFO" by 2027. The company reached unicorn status in 2020.

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This article originally appeared on Energy Capital HTX.

UH student earns prestigious award for cancer vaccine research

up-and-comer

Cole Woody, a biology major in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Houston, has been awarded a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, becoming the first sophomore in UH history to earn the prestigious prize for research in natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

Woody was recognized for his research on developing potential cancer vaccines through chimeric RNAs. The work specifically investigates how a vaccine can more aggressively target cancers.

Woody developed the MHCole Pipeline, a bioinformatic tool that predicts peptide-HLA binding affinities with nearly 100 percent improvement in data processing efficiency. The MHCole Pipeline aims to find cancer-specific targets and develop personalized vaccines. Woody is also a junior research associate at the UH Sequencing Core and works in Dr. Steven Hsesheng Lin’s lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

“Cole’s work ethic and dedication are unmatched,” Preethi Gunaratne, director of the UH Sequencing Core and professor of Biology & Biochemistry at NSM, said in a news release. “He consistently worked 60 to 70 hours a week, committing himself to learning new techniques and coding the MHCole pipeline.”

Woody plans to earn his MD-PhD and has been accepted into the Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Early Access to Research Training (HEART) program. According to UH, recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship often go on to win various nationally prestigious awards.

"Cole’s ability to independently design and implement such a transformative tool at such an early stage in his career demonstrates his exceptional technical acumen and creative problem-solving skills, which should go a long way towards a promising career in immuno-oncology,” Gunaratne added in the release.