Navigating ageism, management capability, and succession preparation.
July 16, 2024, Updated July 16, 2024
HBR Staff/Dimitri Otis/belterz/Sergey Ryumin; Unsplash
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How old is too old to lead? This concern is both soaked in ageism and likewise raises essential concerns about how to examine when it’s time to hand off power to the next generation. Using the continuous discussion surrounding a June 2024 governmental argument inbetween Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the author checksout why our fixation on age clouds more crucial concerns about what it indicates to be an reliable leader. The sound and concerns around the Biden and Trump election contest, he argues, must not color our judgment about the requirements and associates this type of management involves — and, at the verysame time, opposition to ageist policies and practices must not mean opposition to sincere evaluations around generational management modification.
Talk about Joe Biden’s age reached fever pitch in the wake of his current governmental dispute efficiency, and the attention is not unexpected offered the stakes. Bombarded with speculation about the president’s physical and cognitive health, and about the health and age of Donald Trump, observers desire responses. Are they too old to lead? Are they cognitively undamaged? Do they absence the capability to be efficient?
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Paul Irving is a Senior Advisor at the Milken Institute and a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.