Young founders are reshaping leadership

Leadership is no longer linear. Among the founders I meet, there’s a clear shift: Younger entrepreneurs are starting earlier, building faster, and often working across multiple ventures at once. More than half of Gen Z has a side hustle. Entrepreneurship is beginning to look less like a single trajectory and more like a portfolio. But this generation isn’t just building businesses. They’re building dynamic careers with intent. There is a growing expectation that entrepreneurs integrate social and environmental impact into core business decisions. Nearly a third of Gen Z is interested in serving on nonprofit boards or advisory groups. The line between building a company and driving impact is increasingly blurred. In my role, working with leaders across sectors, I see this shift play out in real time. A new model of leadership is emerging: one defined not by sequence, but by action. These leaders aren’t waiting to establish credibility before they lead. They’re building and leading simultaneously, often across multiple platforms. Sophia Kianni is one of them. Kianni is the co-founder of Phia, the AI alignment layer for commerce, and co-host of business podcast The Burnouts. She also founded Climate Cardinals, now the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit, and served as the youngest UN climate advisor in U.S. history. Together, we unpack what it means to lead today, and why the next generation isn’t waiting to step up. They are already doing it. WALSH: There’s a perception that leadership comes with time and experience. But that seems to be changing. What are you seeing? KIANNI: What’s changing is access and expectations. With social media and AI, it’s easier than ever to build, get real feedback, and learn fast. If you’re a high agency young person, you can compress the timeline for building expertise and start gaining meaningful experience much earlier. At the same time, I deeply appreciate that some lessons only come from making mistakes over time. That’s why