Yesterday my Managerial Communication class, with the PGDM (HRM) batch ended in a way I did not expect.

As usual the students had brought a cake for me to cut. They always do that.

After I cut the cake they didn’t stop there they started using my XAT Decision Making framework against me. They asked me questions based on the pieces of information I had shared during class.They had been listening. Really listening. They made it fun. They turned the thing into a playful test something that felt like a game.

I couldn’t. Smile.Then came the next request.“Sir let’s shoot a reel.”Then Gen Z sang.The reel reached 37,000 views in less than twenty-four hours.

Honestly the number did not stay with me. It was the ease with which Gen Z moved between learning, teasing, creating, performing and expressing themselves.

This made me think about Gen Z. We have become quite fond of describing Gen Z.

• Gen Z is distracted.
• Gen Z is impatient.
• Gen Z is overly sensitive.
• Gen Z spends much time on their phones.
• Gen Z wants everything immediately.

Perhaps we should spend time describing Gen Z and more time observing Gen Z.

What happened in my classroom yesterday is not unique to XLRI. Across business schools in India and I see Gen Z increasingly comfortable bringing technology, social media, humour, creativity and personal expression into the learning environment. Research on Gen Z increasingly challenges the stereotypes attached to Gen Z. Gen Z tends to be more comfortable with technology more open, to diversity and inclusion and more willing to express their views, expectations and emotions.

Then there is something I notice over and over again in my classrooms:

Their willingness to express.

They tell you when they like something.

They tell you when they don’t.

They celebrate loudly.

They question openly.

They make reels.

They turn classroom discussions into jokes.

They aren’t particularly shy about telling you how they feel about you.

Yesterday they gave me an "admission letter." 

As the Admissions Chair I am usually the person associated with admission letters.This time I was the recipient.

The letter offered me admission, not to XLRI. To the "most prestigious non-transferable and lifetime position of Absolute Favourite Teacher."

My designation?

“Department: Making classes unforgettable.

"My address?

“Wherever you are Sir you live rent free, in our hearts."

 Then came the eligibility criteria:

• Clarifying difficult concepts so we don't panic 
•  Answering "one last question" for the 17th time
•  Staying my favourite teacher status from 2026-2028
•  Remaining patient with Section C
•  Continuing to make class an experience I'll remember I couldn't help but smile. Beneath all of the humour there was a serious message. A way of expressing love, appreciation and gratitude in a form of communication that felt completely natural to them. Yes, Gen Z can be sensitive. Sensitivity is not synonymous with fragility.
• Research continues to show that the things we often dismiss as "oversensitivity" may indicate a generation that is becoming more comfortable acknowledging their feelings; talking about their mental health; and discussing topics that past generations were instructed to remain silent on. That does not mean Gen Z is always correct. They are not. Every generation has its flaws, inconsistencies and excesses. Perhaps we make a mistake when we see their differences only as deficits. This applies to social media as well. Social media is not a place Gen Z goes to afterlife happens. It has become an integral part of life. They use it to think through ideas, create content, connect with others, celebrate milestones and, increasingly, learn through it.

Yesterday, I saw it first-hand. A classroom discussion turned into a joke a framework into a quiz, a cake into a celebration, a classroom into a studio, and an admission letter into a rather beautiful expression of affection. I'd taught them communication skills all day, and in return they taught me a thing or two about communication.

That an expression does not necessarily need to be earnest, that learning does not need to be solemn, that respect and familiarity are not mutually exclusive, that a classroom can foster ideas and laughter, and perhaps, that being sensitive, expressive and digitally fluent doesn't make a generation less durable - but different.

And every generation can learn something from difference perhaps the lesson for the rest of us is not to try and decode Gen Z perhaps the lesson is to simply try and understand them and when we do we can find that they are not as inscrutable as they're made out to be because if anything they've been telling us who they are all along.

The views expressed in this article are of XLRI Xavier School of Management and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.