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Ellis releases first book on millennial leadership

Lacey Klotz | 

Slackers, narcissists, entitled – the infamous cliché known of a generation born around 1980 or so. This special breed of individuals, debunking myths and assumptions, will lead a cultural shift to represent a full 75 percent of the U.S. workforce by the year 2025 and change the face of leadership, says Aerial Ellis, instructor of communication in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Lipscomb University.

In her first book titled “The Original Millennial: Lessons in Leadership for the Millennial Generation,” which was released on Dec. 1, Ellis describes how the millennial generation is creative, innovative, enterprising, influential, bold, unapologetic and ready to solve the world’s problems.

“Over the past year, I interviewed more than 50 millennials who are leading in business and community,” said Ellis. “I took their experiences, including stories from my own personal journey, and wrote a book as part of a thought leadership series that features six key lessons that millennials need for success.

“Original millennials are valuable, loyal, high-performing leaders,” Ellis continued. “In my new book, the reader will learn lessons of leadership for their own life and career, as well as take away inspiration and hope that our futures are in good hands with an original millennial at the helm.”

Ellis says as a result of this project, she has been able to facilitate workshops for communication professionals on generational diversity, as well as has written numerous articles based on the book. One article, titled “Young, Gifted and Not White – How The Millennial Generation Has Redefined Diversity” was featured on Fortune.com.

“This project has been a huge undertaking for me, but has proven its impact on the conversation about generational diversity, thought leadership and organizational culture/communication,” she said.

A Memphis native, Ellis is a graduate of Tennessee State University and Middle Tennessee State University, holds an executive leadership certification in diversity/inclusion and is a fellow of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations.

Ellis has been a speaker for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, US Army Corps of Engineers, National Urban League, National Diversity Council as well as the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communication and Public Relations Society of America.

She has also been nationally recognized by PR News as part of its 15-to-Watch list and was named a gifted strategist by The Huffington Post.

Ellis currently teaches courses in public relations, cross-cultural communication and leadership at Lipscomb University. 

For more information or to purchase “The Original Millennial,” visit: www.theoriginalmillennial.com/.