Too Old, or Merely Stale (a qualitative risk variable)

What is the risk associated with so many leaders over 70 years old (even over 80) in both politics and institutions. This is not the era of Reagan, when that job allowed obligatory naps and delegation to staff. This is the era of layer upon layer of data and risk assessment and multiple stakeholders demanding clear thinking and very long tedious hours.

Public and social media treat it with a light hand out of respect (even Jon Stewart) that may or may not be due. Arguments in the UK (too young) and India (too old) miss the point; because chronological age has too many variable components. We can all agree that seasoning and reason are admirable attributes that hopefully come with experience.  Birth date, although easily benchmarked, is not the issue.

Searching for a different concept, I add the rigors of the hours without a break, the physical requirements of travel when necessary, the decision skills to sort information flows, and of course the acuity factors.  Leaders have to work hard and think well.  They need a level of toughness and rusticité (as in the ability to withstand all of the elements) that, IMHO, appear to diminish among many with chronological age.

Citing individual examples merely demonstrates the heterogeneity of humans.  For every Zuckerberg there is a Bloomberg.  For every Lagarde there is a Mayer. For every inexperienced firebrand politician we could cite Pope Francis. It is not the age but the characteristics leading to the judgements of the decision maker that matters.  It seems organic…..the seasoning and continuous refreshing of an intellect until time leaves it stale. Stale, in thought and in action, can be a characteristic of an individual no matter what their age. So the risk question is ‘Is there evidence that leadership has become stale?’

Looking at stale leadership (what an offensive criteria) is the recognition of mostly ideas and actions we have seen (many times) before; but more importantly the lack of evidence of new ideas.  The very stale fail to even exhibit a desire to refresh their information or their views. Shame that many are just too old.