Fifty is the new thirtysomething…

All I have done before the age of seventy is not worth bothering with…. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvellous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. 

I love this quote from the Japanese artist Hokusai. I’m not saying wait until you are 110 until you get going but there’s no reason to think your best years are behind you – you may have not yet peaked. (I don’t think I have!)

A lot of ‘getting old’ is a mindset issue, although now there is data to back it up. Research from reputable bodies like the IMF show us what we once thought of as old, or what our parents might think is, isn’t any more. One study this year from the IMF suggested a 70-year-old today has the same cognitive capacity as a 53-year-old in 2000. That’s 2000, not 1950, where everyone lived in permanent smog and only ate a vegetable if it had the absolute living daylights boiled out of it.

Today’s fiftysomethings are not just mentally sharper but physically stronger. A sub-three hour marathon for someone aged 50 to 54 used to be considered elite in 2000. Now you’ll find plenty of 50 to 54-year-old men running 2:20 - 40minutes faster. Fifty really is the new 40… maybe even thirtysomething if you’ve been looking after yourself – exercise, diet and sleep!

We live in a world with a massively ageing population. Birth rates are falling globally - significantly faster in developed countries - and people are living longer. There are now two million more fiftysomethings in the UK than in 2000 although over the next two decades, the UK’s working-age population is expected to shrink by 25% because fewer young workers are coming through. (Legal & General, 2021)

This leaves us with a major productivity challenge. Many over-50s are vastly underrepresented in the workforce and are economically inactive- at a time when their contribution is needed more than ever.

Some forward-looking employers like B&Q (who have done this for a long time) but also Unilever, Aviva and Amazon are looking at the over-50s to address talent shortages and ensure they are resourced for growth and innovation. For them, this isn’t a ‘nice to have’ but essential to help them remain competitive.

Over-50s can bring enormous advantages to the workplace - a wealth of experience, a strong work ethic and resilience. They stay longer in roles and often bring much higher levels of emotional intelligence and empathy that only comes with this experience.

Yet despite this, they still face a persistent workplace bias.

· ‘They’re just waiting to retire’

· ‘They’re resistant to new ideas’

· ‘They’re tech-luddites’

Let me address just these three.

Ambition. Your average 55-year-old may not be aiming for the CEO role but ambition isn’t only about sharp elbows and climbing ladders. It can be about making a meaningful contribution and positive impact. Many over-50s channel their ambition into mentoring and supporting younger colleagues, lifting the whole team to success and achieving goals.

Creativity. New ideas are rarely found sitting in a dark room waiting for inspiration; instead they come from combining the old with the new. No one wants to hear, ‘We tried that before and it didn’t work,’ but someone who can say, ‘We tried something similar, but with the right timing and if we did this tweak, it could work…’ 

Adaptability. This generation has lived through the arrival of email, the internet, search, social media, and now AI. They’re adaptable by necessity but they also have the sense to double-check whatever ChatGPT gives them!

In an AI driven world, the workforce will change although not necessarily in the way the doom-mongers predict. We’ll increasingly need people with skills that AI can’t replicate. People with human qualities and interpersonal skills, like empathy, creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and adaptability. And there are millions of them out there – you just need to know where to look