Age Discrimination in the Workplace?
Is age discrimination warranted in leadership roles? How do you deal with a leader much younger than you?
When someone is much younger than you in a leadership role the opportunity is two-fold. Hooray for youth – the energy, new-ideas, unstuck in old patterns and beliefs and the willingness to learn. Second the opportunity to contribute your own experience, knowledge and ideas.
Erik Erikson, reflecting on adult development, says that in midlife we face a choice between “stagnation” and “generativity.” The way of renewal, according to Erik Erikson, is called generatively…it suggests two related dimensions…
“On one hand, it suggests creativity, the ongoing possibility that no matter our age, we can help co-create the world. On the other hand, it suggests the endless emergence of the generations, with its implied imperative that the elders look back toward the young and help them find a future that the elders will not see…generatively becomes ‘creativity in the service of the young’.”
One more thing…the fun factor. Do you know what OMG, LOL, WTF, LMAO, FML mean? If you don’t you are not working with enough young people.
Written by: Bix Bickson, Director of Mojofication