Chip Conley's first hand experiences were fascinating and fun to read. He skillfully intertwines his observations with information from readings on happiness, aging, workplace engagement and success and accounts from other professionals who also reinvented themselves after mid-life.
Keeping a beginner's mind, or attitude of lifelong learning, is key to successfully aging. As Chip points out - we have more older people than ever before - people are living longer PLUS the Boomers were a pretty big cohort. We no longer have an entire generation retiring at once and leaving homogenous generations in control of workplaces and government.
We do still have outdated cultural perspectives on the value of elders and the work they do. I'm not even 50 and have already felt this in my job search process where many Millennials are barely able to disguise their disgust/hostility toward me.
Older workers have valuable skills that can help younger workers, and vice versa. Younger workers are "digital natives" while older workers have a lifetime of knowledge and experiences that have given them stronger EQ, and as neuroscience is demonstrating, subconsciously stored information allows elders to tap into a "gut" instinct.
In addition to recommendations for "Becoming an Age-Friendly Employer" - Chip also provides an excellent appendix with lists of books, articles, videos and even step-by-step instructions for figuring out your next transition as a modern elder.
While we make an adjustment to figure out how to integrate multiple generations in the workplace, and the increasing demand for meaningfulness in work - perhaps this will result in workplaces that better support the people who make any business possible -- dare we wish for a 4 day work week, or shorter, more focused workdays (aside from retail or food service - what white collar workers really spend 8 focused hours on work?). The days of pretending that there's a separation between work life and personal life are nearing an end -- and we all need to understand how to better integrate our values, talents and time across everything we do in a way that supports our income-generating and life-supporting activities. Tapping into the wisdom of elders is a great initial phase!
REVIEW: Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder by Chip Conley
RATING: 5-stars
© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.
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