Gen Z workers need to endure bad bosses and boring assistant jobs to become resilient, says Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama said young people must learn to put up with bad bosses if they want to become leaders themselves.
Speaking during a live podcast recording in East London, the former First Lady said the younger generation needed to learn to be more resilient rather than expecting instant career satisfaction.
He said: ‘This is what I want young people to understand. Every experience, the bad boss, the boring assistant job, the job where you feel underappreciated, the job that doesn’t give you the task you want when you want it – it’s all about learning to be resilient.’
Mrs Obama, 62, was speaking at a packed taping of the IMO podcast with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson at the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch.
Along with his brother, he was the keynote speaker at the SXSW London festival, a music, technology and business festival in the capital.
He appealed to young professionals not to give up when they are given mundane tasks or face setbacks.
He said: ‘I think a lot of young people want to do what they want to do or what they’re good at. But you have to earn it by carrying some bags, going through hard times, and making people treat you unfairly.
‘We don’t give you a raise when you think you deserve it; There is character development that prepares you before you become your own manager, your own leader.’
Michelle Obama takes to the stage at SXSW London for a special ‘Conversation with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’ event
The Ivy League-educated lawyer has become a media entrepreneur since leaving the White House.
In 2018, she published her memoir, Becoming, which has sold more than 17 million copies.
She later founded a production company called Higher Ground with her husband Barack, 64.
In 2019, the documentary made by the company American Factory won the Academy Award.
The Obamas also executive produced the 2023 Netflix apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind, starring Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke.
Last year, Mrs. Obama launched the IMO podcast with her older brother, Craig Robinson, where she talks about parenting, work and even dating.
While speaking on the podcast last year, she talked about the importance of showing your kids that you can fight back amid divorce rumors between her and Barack.
Her guest, Mara Brock, cryptically told Ali: ‘Sometimes we don’t realize we’re parenting because of our fears; We parent out of a desire not to feel pain, and we express that as “we’re doing this for them.”
‘[Our children] We need to see our flaws,’ the mother of two insisted. ‘It’s very useful for them.’
She shared her past struggles with her daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24.
“That’s something Barack and I always try to remember, seeing the vulnerability, seeing the fears, it kind of gives them permission to have those same emotions,” she shared.
‘We think we’re protecting them, but when my daughters get brave, we’re talking about failure, right?’ he continued. ‘And to see two parents succeeding at a certain level, we have to make it a point, right?’
The IMO presenter continued: ‘They weren’t around when we were grinding, when we were struggling, when we lost the bid for Congress, when I failed the bar for the first time, when we argued; They were too young for that.’
He also addressed divorce rumors on the podcast in July last year.
“There was never a moment in our marriage when I thought about leaving my man,” Michelle said passionately about Barack.
He continued: ‘And we had some really tough times. So we had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures, and I’ve become a better person because of the man I married.’
Alongside her brother, Mrs. Obama was the keynote speaker at the SXSW London festival, a music, technology and business festival in the capital.
The SXSW London event is an offshoot of the South by Southwest festival, which has been held in Austin Texas for nearly four decades.
The US version has hosted names such as Barack Obama, Elon Musk and Meghan Markle in the past.
SXSW first took place in 1987 as a music festival but has since grown to include film, television, video games and technology.
It has also been a launch site for movies and TV shows, as well as a showcase for singers at the beginning of their careers and businesses in their early stages.
Musicians such as Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Amy Winehouse made their debut here.
X, formerly Twitter, introduced itself there in the early days of 2007, as did Uber, now the world’s largest ride-sharing company.
