Here’s a statistic that should scare the crap out of you: According to the US GAO, “50% of the US Workforce will leave in the next 5 to 10 years.” Think about that. And that 50% knows a heck of a lot…about your industry, where the bodies are buried, what not to do and how to do things some think are impossible.
That’s not to say you only need seasoned insight. There needs to be a balance of young blood, insights, creativity, radical idealism, fresh vision and experience. They rely on one another.
So what happens, when 50% of the workforce retires? You get a cottage industry of grey haired gurus. For an interesting article on the role of the aging professional, check out this article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
