Following on from Sally Bibb’s earlier post on Generational Diversity Strategies.

There have lately been no shortage of articles on the ageing workforce and no shortage of comments on how to employ them either! The Economist got in the on the act with a piece called The Silver Tsunami, the author concludes that it is going to be “Older and Poorer” -

They will have to rethink the traditional model of the career. This will mean breaking the time-honoured link between age and pay—a link which ensures that workers get ever more expensive even as their faculties decline. It will also mean treating retirement as a phased process rather than a sudden event marked by a sentimental speech and a carriage clock.

The Financial Times also reports on The Light of Experience* which relates how retired senior executives are giving their time at no charge to help bring some practical experience to MBA students at some leading business schools

Armed with extensive experience and new-found time after retiring from top company positions, these former executives are eager to offer their battlefront advice where professors and career services administrators are lacking. For business schools, using executives in residence helps add real-life experience to classes that are sometimes steeped in theory. At the same time, it gives the schools readily accessible professionals who have first-hand knowledge of forging career paths in emerging fields such as social enterprise or sustainability.*

Business could also find such schemes useful as it would enable young managers to better navigate the challenges and pitfalls so frequently encountered in the corridors of the corporate world.

However perhaps the most intriguing article that related to this topic was in the latest edition of The Atlantic Monthly in which the author explores the Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead were the ultimate psychedelic rock group in the 1960’s but it seems they understood business as well as many corporations –

They incorporated early on, and established a board of directors (with a rotating CEO position) consisting of the band, road crew, and other members of the Dead organization. They founded a profitable merchandising division and, peace and love notwithstanding, did not hesitate to sue those who violated their copyrights. But they weren’t greedy, and they adapted well. They famously permitted fans to tape their shows, ceding a major revenue source in potential record sales. According to Barnes, the decision was not entirely selfless: it reflected a shrewd assessment that tape sharing would widen their audience, a ban would be unenforceable, and anyone inclined to tape a show would probably spend money elsewhere, such as on merchandise or tickets. The Dead became one of the most profitable bands of all time. It’s precisely this flexibility that Barnes believes holds the greatest lessons for business—he calls it “strategic improvisation.”

…. But here’s the thing: if I give my song away to 20 people, and they give it to 20 people, pretty soon everybody knows me, and my value as a creator is dramatically enhanced. That was the value proposition with the Dead.” The Dead thrived for decades, in good times and bad. In a recession, Barnes says, strategic improvisation is more important then ever. “If you’re going to survive this economic downturn, you better be able to turn on a dime,” he says. “The Dead were exemplars.” It can be only a matter of time until Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead or some similar title is flying off the shelves of airport bookstores everywhere. Recently, Barnes has been lecturing to business leaders about strategic improvisation. He’s been a big hit. “People are just so tired of hearing about GE and Southwest Airlines,” he admits. “They get really excited to hear about the Grateful Dead.”

They have a point there. Businesses are increasingly being thrown off track and in some cases seeing their models destroyed by the unforeseen – technological innovation, software development, extreme weather events, terrorism, overheating financial markets, legislation etc. etc. To survive today businesses need to be able to improvise, and need to have the skills and capabilities to do so – that means having the right kind of people. A business that has the right mix of experience and youthful agility, and knows how to bring it all together is going to be better placed to succeed. That doesn’t necessarily mean we propose that you go straight out and recruit a 60 something “amiable hippie, probably of late-Boomer vintage and wearing a thinning ponytail” onto your senior management team, but it might be worth taking another look at how well balanced your workforce is and the benefits of combining both youth and experience.

• The FT uses a subscription model which is difficult to link up with.