It is a common knowledge that the world is always changing and always evolving. Word ‘generation gap’ is not new and we have been witnessing it all along. Why then this issue sort of found resonance with me and I thought of writing my views on it? Reason is the pace and depth of change today. If we don’t understand it how are we going to successfully respond to it? Let me enumerate below some of the current social trends:

• Though the change was always there, change that we witnessed between 1965 to 1995 in three decades pales in comparison with the change that we witnessed in two decades after that
• We have an energetic, qualified, ambitious, talented, informed younger generation
• As organizations we take pride in saying that we have a young workforce. More than one organization feels happy to say that they have an average age of less than 30 years
• Indeed, we see many people losing their jobs in 30’s and 40’s
• Issue is not only that they lose their jobs, but that they become significantly irrelevant to the organized sector in terms of skill requirement
• On top of this, simple lifestyles have gone. People desire higher quality of life which costs money
• In the previous generation not only there was job security associated with government jobs, even post retirement there was a pension to take care of basic needs
• As if this was not enough, average life expectancy is going up. We are expected to live longer with no assured incomes
• At the retirement age most people have wealth of experience that can be productively harnessed by the society. They are now ready for second innings
• The social structures of past, support of joint families and extended families is vanishing. People are on their own
In my humble view, these are very significant trends that affect us as individuals, organizations, society and nation. People who are unable to appreciate these changes, predict the future, connect the dots and thrive due to these changes run the risk of becoming irrelevant and living a life of long summer. Challenge is not to ‘survive’ but to ‘thrive’.
Today the cauldron of society has become impersonal and does not respect age per se but at the same time gives equal opportunity to all, young and old. We may have many young organizations and millionaires like flipcart & snap deal but we also have continued importance of Tatas, Birlas, Parekhs, Mahindras, Ambanis etc who continue to create wealth year on year for decades. They are also the ones are who able to harness latest trends, thinking, youth and their energy. Not only in business, but in governance too we see the same. Look at our PM who’s in his 60’s but is connected so well with the current psyche. And we have whole lot of people who are contributing to the nation so well in their second innings – Gen. V K Singh, Maj. Gen. Khanduri, Ajit Doval etc. What I’m trying to hint at is that age alone is not important. While the society today gives an opportunity to people of all ages, it is also quite ruthless with people who just grow old without keeping in sync with the trends and rising crest of the wave. A very simple example will suffice. Rahul Gandhi, younger person in mid – 40’s, who was playing the politics of 70’s lost miserably to 2 decades older Modi who played contemporary politics. He rode crest of the wave and now is able to influence it. More important is not your own age, but ability to understand the age and aspirations of people around you.
Issue remains how do we do what needs to be done? After all, aging is a natural process and we all are aging, even the current youngsters. In my view key lies in understanding the situation and ourselves well to ensure that we manage the situation rather than situation overwhelming us. While the youth brings boundless energy, ideas, ambition, newer ways to conduct business, the oldies bring with them wealth of experience, have dirtied their hands, have ability to manage human beings, ability to peep into the future, connect the dots and give a stability to the initiative. They provide mental ability to survive the down turns and setbacks.
Imagine a newer enterprise like flipcart, created largely by youngsters and for youngsters. Can it survive without the experience? It is basically a delivery and payment platform. But goods have to be made to be delivered, books have to be written and printed to be delivered, stock yards and godowns have to be created to deliver the products and then we need experienced hands to manage a large work force. Trust me when I say this, not only this is a tough job but it requires years of hands on experience to do this successfully. Similarly, I was reading about online food portals. These also create delivery and payment models. But the key here also is to manage kitchens. People, recipes, ingredients, hygiene and all Indians still prefer ‘Moms’ food – remember Mother’s recipe pickles? Business fails if the back end is not ‘experienced’. This was about the nextgen business. Now let’s go back to old economy. Cars. With the same engine under the hood of the car, very important thing the buyers today look for in a car are features and looks. Car manufacturers are busy giving a ‘younger’ look to the same cars with same essentials by adding features and changing looks. Can this be done by oldies only? They need youngsters to think for them in some capacity, either as employees or designers or as ad agencies. What is coming out is that success is achieved when there’s a right combo of youth and experience.
The issue that I feel is important to be considered by everybody who is growing old, which means entire mankind, is that we need to use the ‘refresh’ key on ourselves as often as we can. Unlearn, relearn, stumble, fall, get up, steady up, relearn, peep into the future, take chances, stand on your own two feet, confidence, refresh should be the top of the mind buzz words for us.
And for my oldie friends, remember that there is no substitute of experience, provided we don’t confuse aging with experience. At any stage in our lives we can use all the buzz words given above with added flavour of experience. It is sure success mantra.
I wish happy aging to all.