Editors Blog

To give you an example, ‘traditionalists’ (born in 1922 to 1945, egs Bruce Forsythe, Margaret Thatcher) are loyal and hardworking but inept with ambiguity and change. Gen Xers (1965 to 1979, Martha Lane-Fox, Jamie Oliver) are technoliterate and adaptable but cynical and have poor interpersonal skills (well that explains it then). I am a baby boomer (1946-1964, Madonna, Richard Branson) which explains why I am self-centred and overly sensitive to feedback. As for Gen Y (1980-93, Leona Lewis, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook ), you lot are good at multi-tasking but spoilt and disruptive.

At first I thought this was just a lot of pop sociology tosh with a dodgy evidence base. But as Hogbin-Mills went on, I realised that it was a pretty useful way to challenge some of the assumptions we make about age.

She raised serious questions such as whether your organisation has a talent map that is age-neutral. Look at the age profile of the people you promote (are you operating a secret ‘golden age’?). And next time you do someone’s appraisal, try thinking about how somebody in their age group might see the process (remember what I said about baby boomers and feedback, Boss Man, or watch out - I’m still a punk rocker at heart and might spit on you).

Of course these are generalisations and need to be handled with care, but at the very least this might break the ice at your next talent review meeting. (If you’re asking “What’s a talent review meeting?”, then you really do need to catch up). Now excuse me while I get back on to Bebo .