Leading with Intention: Reflections on Our Latest Research

Published On: August 25, 2026By Katrina Noelle

The art of leadership – the ongoing, intentional work of making sure the people around you feel genuinely heard, not just managed – has always been a top priority for me. So when the opportunity came up to work on a study specifically about what engaged employees need from their leaders, it felt less like a research project and more like a mirror.

This summer, KNow Research partnered with ProjectNext Leadership and the University of San Francisco’s Marketing Intelligence program to explore the relationship between leadership and followship. The research question was: What do engaged employees (those who are genuinely invested in their jobs and their teams), need from their managers and leaders?

In addition to answering that question (see our white paper for the full findings), the study confirmed some core beliefs, gave me a chance to collaborate with other great leaders and connected themes we’ve been hearing about what Gen Z specifically needs from leadership over the past couple of years.

I already believed that one-on-one conversation can be the highest-leverage habit a leader has. While company-wide updates, all hands meetings, and Slack channels help to communicate facts, updates, ideas and statuses, one-on-one conversations and connections allow each member of a team (including leaders!) to feel heard, not just informed. What we learned this summer confirmed that belief and pointed out that those conversations can move people from reporting to a leader to choosing to follow one.
In addition to confirming and bolstering theories, I had the chance to collaborate with leaders I deeply admire (Molly Rosen of PNL, Mary Johnstun of Lexicon & Line and Stephen Kraus of USF). We all try to be the kind of leaders the research describes every day. And it was a treat to work alongside Shawn, a Gen Z member of our team here at KNow. Collaborating on the work gave us a chance to talk about what it means to be an engaged employee and a thoughtful leader at the same time as we were studying it together. As Shawn said, “I expected to learn from my leaders and never considered that I’d be consulted by them. But when it happens, that small gesture goes a long way in making me feel like a real part of the team with leaders who are invested in my growth within it. That kind of feedback loop also establishes a 2-way trust between me and my leaders that pushes me to show up as my best self and produce my best work. They’d shown me they valued my perspective, not just my output – and that’s enough to for me trust and follow them.”
It also felt like a culmination. Over the past couple of years, we’ve done a lot of thinking and research about Gen Z in the workplace (Understanding Gen Z in the Workplace and Bridging Generational Gaps with Qualitative Research).This latest study picked up the thread and confirmed for us that transparency about decisions, real two-way dialogue, and the sense that their perspective was worth hearing are Gen Z’s priorities in the workplace. And these needs are very consistent across generations, so leaders can feel confident that improvements in these areas can help no matter what the generational makeup of their team.

Bottom line is that good leadership doesn’t require a major overhaul. Instead it requires consistency, intention, taking care to explain the why behind decisions and creating genuine space for the people least likely to speak up to actually be heard.

I’m grateful not only to the leaders who made this project possible, but also to every participant who showed up and spoke honestly about their experience. That honesty is what makes insights work real. And it’s a good reminder that the most powerful thing any of us can do as leaders is exactly what we ask our research participants to do: show up, tell the truth, and trust that someone on the other end is actually listening. And it’s what we ask our clients to do too. As leaders of brands, we ask that they listen to what participants share and commit to acting on it, as consistently and transparently as possible.