Some famous writers, painters and musicians have done some of their best work in their later years. The impressionist Claude Monet is a very good example.
In order to be able to work creatively, a “senior” needs a favourable environment – one that is supportive and encouraging. There is too much discouragement of older people today, and the world is so much poorer because of this.
You can practically feel it in the air. There’s a huge tidal wave of a Barry Gibb Renaissance coursing through pop culture these days. And deservedly so—at 67, the founder of legendary singing-sibling trio The Bee Gees is a survivor, both figuratively—he managed to outlast the disco craze his band helped create via its 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which sold 15 million copies but stranded him creatively for years afterward—and literally, as his brothers passed away, one by one, Andy in 1988, Maurice in 2003 and Robin in 2012.
Undaunted, he‘s launched a globe-trotting Mythology the Tour Live, featuring his son Stephen on guitar and Maurice’s daughter Samantha on vocals. He’s also overseen a great box-set reissue Bee Gees – The Warner Bros. Years 1987-1991, featuring the underappreciated efforts “E.S.P.,” “One,” “High Civilization” and “One for All Concert.”
Barry Gibb is not the only creative talent I could name who is over 65. Think of people like Frank Sinatra, Maurice Chevalier, Perry Como, George Burns and Burl Ives to name a few. All were doing great work in their more advanced years. People like the ever green Loretta Lynn are still going strong.
Would these people be hired today if they ventured into the work force? Prejudice is so strong, that I think they might struggle if it wasn’t for their past history.
A pity for two reasons:
- Businesses who won’t hire older people (which is most of them) are denying themselves a rich source of creative talent.
- Due to necessities of living costs, and older person is often forced to work in order to stay alive.
We have to give people a chance in their 60s and early 70s to continue to work. We must have different opportunities for them to expand their talents and to make the best use of their talents. As populations age in places like Europe and Japan — a country that boasts the highest percentage of elderly in the world — society turns top heavy, with young workers supporting the masses of retirees. Of course, economists have been warning of this for decades.
It’s time for companies to take it upon themselves to craft a solution — and to do for their own self interest. It’s a matter of “demographic risk management” – looking at your current employment picture and mapping out where the chasms are going to open up in a few years. There are a huge volume of skills that go out the window when workers leave or are fired. Some aging workers leave with knowledge and training that will never be replaced – because schools aren’t preparing students for the kind of jobs that are being cut.
Like any kind of risk management, the key is gaming out how certain decisions could bring unintended consequences. It is important for hiring managers to not just consider cheap, young labor, but workers who bring a lifetime’s worth of skills.
This belief has to go beyond the human resources chief. We need a bolder version of the flexible workplace. We need aging workers who are being passed by to be shifted to essential training jobs or to have their hours cut slowly over a decade — a “gliding path” to retirement. Most of all he wants we need to spot creative uses for current workers.
Of course, part of the problem will be changing the perception of retirement. It is time for a global rebranding of the concept: “You can see this in a negative way: ‘I have to work and slug away for the rest of your life.’ or you can say ‘I’m still productive and can continue to contribute.’”
Please read my blog on Retirement.
The solution is to quit making retirement seem like a brass ring worth grasping at: Not working is not a merit in itself.
At some point, the conversation in the developed world will shift away from just getting people employed to making sure the right people are employed the right way. This will mean creatively and analytically looking at all heads – even those that have gone gray.