This blog is part one of a blog series culminating in the release of a white paper on the subject to our subscribers. Please stay tuned as we continue this series.
The brain economy has replaced the brawn. There is a monetary value that can and should be assigned to mentoring and wisdom. And you can have older and younger generations working together productively. It’s all about respect.
-- Eileen Marcus
"For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog"
For the first time in our country’s history, four generations are at work in the American workplace, vying for recognition, compensation and power. The Ikes, those born between 1932 and 1945, are finishing up the work of their Greatest Generation. Generations X (1965 – 1979) and Y (1980 and beyond) are claiming their places and carving out their niches.
But it’s the Boom Generation—the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964; the healthiest, wealthiest and most educated generation in history—that will dominate for the next 18 years.
For business, this unprecedented confluence of four generations signals challenges never before faced. Central among them is the “gray ceiling” that those of Generations X and Y feel they’re bumping up against because of the baby boomers.
But ceilings can be raised. Instead of intergenerational conflict, there can be cross-generational cooperation. It’s possible to have a win/win/win/win among the four generations in the workplace, and it is the baby boomers, themselves, who hold the key. As they have in all phases of their lives, the boomers will redefine the future of the life cycle of work—and in the process, continue to redefine the dynamics of the workplace, now and for decades to come.
Eileen Marcus and Carol Orsborn