The Value of Modern Elders in the Workplace.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I groaned at 49 and a half when I found my AARP membership card in the mail just two years before I joined Airbnb. AARP, Airbnb. They sound a lot alike, but they couldn’t be more different.
But then Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP, wrote a book called “Disrupt Aging,” and the old-school organization started to think a little more disruptively. Recently, one of my senior colleagues at MEA, Kari Henley, introduced me to this new AARP initiative with the World Economic Forum and OECD called "Growing with Age: Unlocking the Power of the Multigenerational Workforce." There’s a 156-page report for my fellow geeks, where they also outline the benefits of an age-diverse workplace:
- Strengthens resilience
- Elevates productivity
- Unlocks markets
- Sparks innovation
- Boosts GDP
Occasionally, some of you ask me, "Where can I make the case to my company that age-inclusivity makes competitive sense?" Well, you can start by checking out this website linked above. Unfortunately, this kind of persuasive, institutional message didn’t exist five years ago, when I was researching and writing my book "Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder." Today, you’re in luck—intergen collaboration has gone mainstream.
