My Dad, at 77 is facing extreme ageism at his work - quite shocking really because he is extremely knowledgeable in his industry and they should be coveting that knowledge not shaming him for being in his 70s and still working.
And then last night we had a mortgage salesperson meet with my husband and I (we are in our early 50s) and he asked us when we were planning to retire - I almost laughed out loud. Obviously he doesn't know who we are and he could do with reading this article because retirement for me will come the day I die. I'm living life, mixing money generation and parenting and everything else and will continue to do this. Why would I need to "retire" from this? I enjoy what I'm doing currently and setting things up for a new path in a few years.
Interesting read, Brian. The one question I have, as a boomer attempting to reinvent myself as a novelist, is what about the impact of AI? Will it be able to take up the slack in the shrinking labor market, or will we still see more knowledge (and other) workers losing their jobs to the algorithm? Would love your thoughts on this.
That's a good question with an involved answer, which is why I didn't tackle it in this article. Based on what we know now I don't think generative AI will replace older workers. It tends to make entry level workers more productive, and it can't replace the experience, wisdom, and creativity at upper levels. If anything I think the mid level workers are in the most danger, but we'll see. We still don't know what new jobs will be created by advanced AI compared with those that are lost.
We're only going to see more of this as Boomers and GenX still need to work.
Scientific evidence shows that knowledge and expertise — the main predictors of job performance — keep increasing even beyond the age of 80.
There's another word for that: wisdom.
What would you give to have access to more wisdom? Wisdom beyond your own experience?
And let's be clear: being older doesn't mean being technology-averse or resistant to change. As you say, curiosity and drive cause us to acquire new skills and knowledge, and those are life-long traits.
But it's imperative that companies take steps to eliminate age discrimination, such as:
- Give older people titles and roles that let them contribute their expertise
- Offer accommodations for flexible work
- Look at pay equity by job and level, not tenure
- Bring age diversity into your DEI programs
- Give older workers managerial roles, supervisor roles, and mentor roles
- Recruit older people
- Coach and teach recruiters not to discriminate by age
Yep. It’s true that our mental processors slow down a bit as we age. This is a diminishing of fluid intelligence, which is the abstract problem-solving ability we relied on when we were younger.
But what we gain is called crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is defined as the ability to use the vast set of knowledge and experience you’ve acquired over the years, and it tends to increase with age through one’s forties, fifties, and sixties. Plus, it doesn’t diminish until quite late in life, if ever.
Interesting question. Younger generations are always deemed to be "different" or "difficult" in the workplace. We Gen Xers were called slackers and now we're the hardest working and most dependable cohort. For now, we don't have to worry about it, but it will be interesting to see what happens once Millennials start turning 50 in 2030.
This is interesting to read and I feel similarly.
My Dad, at 77 is facing extreme ageism at his work - quite shocking really because he is extremely knowledgeable in his industry and they should be coveting that knowledge not shaming him for being in his 70s and still working.
And then last night we had a mortgage salesperson meet with my husband and I (we are in our early 50s) and he asked us when we were planning to retire - I almost laughed out loud. Obviously he doesn't know who we are and he could do with reading this article because retirement for me will come the day I die. I'm living life, mixing money generation and parenting and everything else and will continue to do this. Why would I need to "retire" from this? I enjoy what I'm doing currently and setting things up for a new path in a few years.
Interesting read, Brian. The one question I have, as a boomer attempting to reinvent myself as a novelist, is what about the impact of AI? Will it be able to take up the slack in the shrinking labor market, or will we still see more knowledge (and other) workers losing their jobs to the algorithm? Would love your thoughts on this.
That's a good question with an involved answer, which is why I didn't tackle it in this article. Based on what we know now I don't think generative AI will replace older workers. It tends to make entry level workers more productive, and it can't replace the experience, wisdom, and creativity at upper levels. If anything I think the mid level workers are in the most danger, but we'll see. We still don't know what new jobs will be created by advanced AI compared with those that are lost.
We're only going to see more of this as Boomers and GenX still need to work.
Scientific evidence shows that knowledge and expertise — the main predictors of job performance — keep increasing even beyond the age of 80.
There's another word for that: wisdom.
What would you give to have access to more wisdom? Wisdom beyond your own experience?
And let's be clear: being older doesn't mean being technology-averse or resistant to change. As you say, curiosity and drive cause us to acquire new skills and knowledge, and those are life-long traits.
But it's imperative that companies take steps to eliminate age discrimination, such as:
- Give older people titles and roles that let them contribute their expertise
- Offer accommodations for flexible work
- Look at pay equity by job and level, not tenure
- Bring age diversity into your DEI programs
- Give older workers managerial roles, supervisor roles, and mentor roles
- Recruit older people
- Coach and teach recruiters not to discriminate by age
- Teach younger leaders about reverse mentoring
So much opportunity lies ahead.
Yep. It’s true that our mental processors slow down a bit as we age. This is a diminishing of fluid intelligence, which is the abstract problem-solving ability we relied on when we were younger.
But what we gain is called crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is defined as the ability to use the vast set of knowledge and experience you’ve acquired over the years, and it tends to increase with age through one’s forties, fifties, and sixties. Plus, it doesn’t diminish until quite late in life, if ever.
I wondered why I suddenly seemed to insightful to myself. So it's not just my imagination...
Interesting question. Younger generations are always deemed to be "different" or "difficult" in the workplace. We Gen Xers were called slackers and now we're the hardest working and most dependable cohort. For now, we don't have to worry about it, but it will be interesting to see what happens once Millennials start turning 50 in 2030.