It’s your favorite chair or a spot on the couch. It’s your trusty, old baseball glove. If you like to cook, it could be your old cutting board or cast-iron pan. In the Fall, it’s a well-worn pair of jeans or, in my case, an increasingly frayed but still unbelievably comfortable pair of NY Giants branded pajama bottoms. (Probably TMI, sorry, no more talk about PJs.)
Some things get better when they’re worn in good. Denim becomes more flexible. Leather becomes more supple. Guitars develop a richer tone and more character.
Worn in good is another way of saying that new doesn’t necessarily mean better. The same is true with people. Time and use are not always the enemy.
I write all the time about the importance of embracing new challenges as we get older. Age is not a barrier. One is never too old to change. We are never more primed to take risks and explore new horizons than during our peak years.
But at the same time there’s something to be said for the habits and rituals we’ve worn in good over a long period of time. After all, we didn’t get to this point in our careers without doing a number of things right.
Yet all too often, we, and the companies we work for, pursue the shiny new object: the new technology, process or product that will supposedly “change everything.”
The obvious example in today’s world is AI. Chat GPT and other AI-driven tools have permeated our work cultures faster than any other new technology in history. Look up the adoption curves for computers, cell phones and email; the pace at which AI reached critical mass compared to earlier technologies will astound you.
If you’ve reached the peak years of your career, this is not the first time you’ve been confronted with new technology that will shake up the world. Many of us entered the workforce when fax machines, Xerox copiers and messenger services were indispensable. Teleport a middle-aged executive from the 1980s into today’s work environment and they would feel so lost and befuddled that they’d walk out before lunch.
But you don’t have to be a yuppie version of Marty McFly who just stepped out of a DeLorean time machine to feel disoriented these days. (That’s a 1980s movie reference for the younger readers – Google it if you don’t get it.)
Because the world is evolving so quickly, it’s incumbent on every professional to keep pace. I think peak years executives feel this more acutely because of the generally accepted mindset in corporate America that older workers are less adaptable to change, and therefore more expendable.
Employers out there will say they don’t discriminate based on age, but the fact is many of them do. I’ve talked to recruiters at major companies who admit that at times they push resumes of older candidates to the bottom of the pile.
I saw a video recently that showed side-by-side the Olympic 100-meter final races from 2020 and 1932. The gold medal time in 2020 was 11 seconds faster. Many peak years executives searching for their next opportunity often feel like hiring managers view them like those 1932 Olympians; someone who could really perform back in the day, but not fit to keep pace with today’s workforce.
The problem with this mindset is it devalues skills and capabilities that require time and experience to develop, many of which are in short supply in corporate America today and urgently needed more than ever.
There are reminders everywhere you look, especially when it comes to how we communicate. In many work cultures we see a disturbing reliance on messaging and video platforms for communication at the expense of in person contact. We hear more and more about managers who routinely hide behind screens to give feedback. Or particularly horrifying, layoff notifications delivered through email.
Let’s talk about AI for a moment. It’s already seen by many as a substitute for writing. As someone who writes regularly, I find the willingness of professionals to offload writing to ChatGPT especially concerning. To be clear, if I was sitting in a CMO chair today I would be looking for ways to use AI to streamline and accelerate my campaigns, including writing briefs, social media copy, data analysis and customer email campaigns. The job is to deliver results as productively as possible. AI is unquestionably a game-changer.
However, I wouldn’t want to have a team staffed with people whose best skill is writing prompts for Claude or Chat GPT. Not to say that isn’t an important skill, because it is. All of us should be experimenting with prompt writing. But you won’t get very far if you never learn to write independently, without the help of AI.
Writing is an essential part of reasoning. There’s no substitute for writing to pressure test an idea, insight or opinion. It’s the best way to get out of your head and figure out what you really think about something.
The well-worn practices I’m talking about – writing, investing time in relationships, delivering useful coaching and feedback, communicating more effectively face-to-face – share a common trait. They require time, effort and sacrifice to develop. As much as some may tell us otherwise, they can’t be replaced by a swipe, tap or push of a button.
To be fair, older workers don’t have a monopoly on these well-worn skills. They can be found in workers of all ages. And plenty of older workers struggle with the mistakes I noted earlier. The advantage peak years people do have is the perspective that can only come with time and experience. We’ve had more chances to live and learn.
Make no mistake, I’m in no way suggesting to reject new technologies. If you aren’t learning more about AI or other innovations, you’re only accelerating your own obsolescence. In the end however, no matter your age, the danger of falling in love with the shiny new object is we succumb to the temptation to overestimate it’s capabilities and, as a result, discard yesterday’s methods. Just like those favorite jeans or that six string in the corner got better with use, there are no short cuts to putting in the work necessary to refine the timeless set of skills all of us need to achieve our full potential.
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