CAREERS IN THE AGE OF DEMOGRAPHIC UPHEAVAL

Abstract The author is a globally recognized leadership and corporate culture strategist. He describes important demographic shifts in his home country of Canada, and worldwide, with implications for leaders and managers now and in the future. Life expectancy is rising and people are contributing at much later ages. He cites the example of Leader to Leader Founder Frances Hesselbein, who lived and worked until the age of 107. People are working longer and birthrates are plummeting; as cited in the article’s statistics. He proposes a “new workforce age model: Rivers, Rocks, and Rubies.” Each is described in detail, but briefly Rivers are “early‐career contributors,” Rocks are “mid‐career stewards,” and Rubies are “seasoned contributors, those who carry hard‐earned wisdom, panoramic insight, and long‐view decision‐making.” Rather than a traditional and linear career ladder, he describes moves within a “career canvas,” which in his words are: stay put, move up, move down, move lateral, move out, spark up, slow down, phased out, and boom in. As he notes, a “team member’s role can shift in nine different ways, depending not only on their era, but also on their life stage, career aspirations, and performance profile.”