Every generation is shaped by the forces it inherits. But only rarely does a generation arrive at the moment when those forces fundamentally redefine what it means to be human.
That is the reality for those born after 2020.
They are not growing up with artificial intelligence. They are growing up after it. AI is not a disruption they must adapt to later in life. It is the environment into which they are born. It is present in their learning, their creativity, their relationships, and soon, their leadership.
This is why naming matters. Generational labels have always helped us understand patterns of identity, values, and responsibility. But alphabet-based labels and time-bound definitions are no longer sufficient. Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha. These labels describe when someone was born, not the conditions of being they inhabit.
The generation being born today requires a different frame.
That is the purpose of GenNexus: The Future of Being. This is one of those moments.
For Myers Report subscribers, this conversation should feel familiar. For decades, this platform has focused not on surface disruption, but on structural change. On the forces beneath the headlines. On what leaders need to understand before markets, culture, and institutions reorganize themselves. It’s this commitment to explore generational change that led to my earlier works Hooked Up: A New Generation’s Surprising Take on Sex, Politics, and Saving the World (2012) and The Future of Men: Masculinity in the 21st Century (2016).
GenNexus (Nexus Generation) is not a marketing construct or a demographic category. It is a description of function. A nexus is a connection point, a bridge, a place where systems converge and something new emerges. This generation will live at the intersection of human intelligence and machine intelligence, not as operators of technology, but as integrators of it.
They are the first generation for whom co-intelligence is native.
Why this matters goes far beyond naming. It shapes how we educate, how we lead, how we design systems, and how we define responsibility across generations. If we misunderstand who GenNexus is, we will prepare them for the wrong world. Worse, we will attempt to impose legacy expectations on a future they are uniquely equipped to shape.
This 80-page book (including 20 images for sharing) was written not to predict their behavior, but to honor their position in history.
GenNexus is the generation that will inherit systems still being built. They will not remember a world without algorithmic mediation, intelligent agents, or machine collaboration. Their intelligence will not be measured by retention alone, but by navigation. Their creativity will not be constrained by tools but amplified by them. Their leadership will not emerge from hierarchy, but from synthesis.
This has profound implications for those of us who came before.
Parents and grandparents must shift from control to stewardship. Educators must move from content delivery to orchestration. Business and media leaders must move from optimization to responsibility. And all of us must confront a difficult truth. The future will not resemble the past we are most comfortable defending or debating.
GenNexus is not waiting to be trained. They are already training the systems that will shape society, culture, and the future of being.
This is where Your Third Brain: Powering a Future of Unimagined Possibilities, publishing later this year, enters the narrative. This book explores how humans must evolve their thinking, leadership, and creativity in partnership with intelligent systems. GenNexus is the generation for whom that partnership is not aspirational. It is foundational. They are living proof of what co-intelligence looks like when it is not learned later but lived from birth.
Together with my award-winning The Tao of Leadership, these works form a single arc. GenNexus defines who is arriving. The Tao of Leadership establishes the human principles of harmony, balance, flexibility, and integrity required to lead through technological transformation. Your Third Brain explores how humanity must evolve in response.
The decisions being made now about AI governance, education systems, media ethics, and leadership development will not primarily affect today’s executives. They will define the conditions of leadership for GenNexus. That is why preparation matters more than prediction.
For paid subscribers, I will be sharing exclusive excerpts from GenNexus: The Future of Being and from Your Third Brain that speak directly to this responsibility. They address what it means to prepare a generation without asking them to follow our rules, but instead to shape a world worthy of their clarity. If your work involves preparing people, systems, or institutions for what comes next, this conversation is not optional. It is foundational.
Free subscribers will continue to receive ongoing commentary on generational change, leadership, and co-intelligence accompanying my regular Myers Report economic forecasts and data, market intelligence, organizational guidance, and cultural insights. On January 13, my 41st annual Myers Report Economic Forecast for 43 marketing and media categories will be published and on January 20 look for my State of F.A.S.T. Channels 2026 report, plus my regular commentaries throughout the week. Of course, I encourage you to download the GenNexus: The Future of Being eBook at Amazon for only $1.99 or order the paperback for $14.95.
If GenNexus represents the future of being, then how we respond represents the future of leadership. That conversation continues here. The passage shared below is not speculative. It is already unfolding.
Excerpt and graphic poster from GenNexus: The Future of Being
(Available below for Myers Report paid subscribers)
From GenNexus: The Future of Being
GenNexus is not a future phenomenon.
They are not arriving someday.
They are here now. They are forming.
And through them, we are being reshaped.
This generation will not remember a time before intelligent machines. They will not experience artificial intelligence as novelty, disruption, or threat. For them, intelligence is ambient. It is relational. It is collaborative.
Their intelligence will not be defined by what they know, but by how they move through complexity. Their creativity will not be constrained by tools but expanded by partnership. Their leadership will not emerge from hierarchy, but from synthesis.
If we attempt to prepare them to use legacy labels, outdated systems, or inherited fears, we risk misunderstanding the very future we are trying to build.
The question is not whether machines will shape humanity.
That is already happening.
The question we must now ask is more difficult, and more human:
What kind of humanity are we teaching intelligence to reflect back to us?
