Learning from the Wisdom of the Elders

The working world has many from the millennial generation and even relatively young professionals of my age 38-40 are becoming CEOs today. In our search for talent it is saddening to see that senior citizens or even employees beyond 52+ aren’t looked upon as preferred talent even if they are full of energy. And with better health and longevity there will be a pool of extraordinary talent being ignored across the globe resulting in silver haired tsunami.

Having turned an entrepreneur 6 yrs ago as an executive search consultant I have the skills to work with agility and adaptability in the fast changing VUCA world and adapting but there is one (among others) important skill which I have been learning from my Sr partner Dinesh Arya who is now close to 70 but energetic and enthusiastic as ever. 

Having worked along side him as my partner and father guru in the last 6 years I have learnt there are some skills which can be learnt only from a kind of experience which goes beyond the conventional definition of wisdom.

Assessing and hiring talent is both an art and a science involving looking at multiple parameters of selection. While assessing one aspect which is difficult to learn is the intuition in candidate assessment  which I have been learning through a process similar to induction in the typical Guru Shishya parampara between my guru father and myself.  

This is perhaps an ability to look at conversations from an open and different perspective developed through keen listening, observation and patience. This is something irreplaceable! 

There is no substitute for maturity and experience and no magic remote to fast forward it. 

Also wonder how such wisdom of the elders can be tapped for companies particularly in the SME/MME segment to take India to the next level of outstanding performance.