With each successive generation to enter and climb through the ranks of the workforce, the concept of leadership has evolved to incorporate that generation's learning and management styles.

The Baby Boomers, for example, are strong, charismatic leaders with strong personalities. They excel at motivating, persuading, thinking strategically, and being decisive - characteristics that became essential when companies often struggled with slow or lagging information in a pre-Internet age.

By contrast, Generation Y is highly informed, and they're more likely to rely on data that they gain themselves than something that they're told by their managers. They're experts in abstract thinking, and they boast more ambition and social confidence than their predecessors.

Generation X is the natural bridge between these two polar extremes. Generation X-ers are typically socially progressive, and they're change-oriented and culturally sensitive, making them the natural intermediaries between the two overlapping generations. However, as a group that incorporates characteristics of both sides, they're not as skilled in the dominant strengths of either their elders or their youthful colleagues.

In order to create effective leadership development programs, organizations must understand what motivates each generation, and how to successfully harness that generation's unique workplace mentality.