My Next Thirty Years: Age Diversity in the Workplace

I turned 30 last week.

Writing that sentence and talking about my age on a professional platform feels like I am breaking the rules – even if they are just my own construct – considering I spent the first 10 years of my career trying to hide it.

Here are just a few of the tactics I used:

• I negotiated any title that wasn't "intern" while still in college
• I scrubbed my graduation year from my LinkedIn profile and any resume I sent out
• I proactively brought up my husband, remodeling my home and any other "adult" commitments that might indicate I was older than I was
• I spent hours styling hair, makeup and outfits to be perceived as "mature"

Why?

Colleagues, leaders and even mentors, at times, were subtly but constantly pointing out my age in the workplace.

Here are just a few of the comments:

• "Are you even old enough to drink?" -Male peer in front of other colleagues
• "You are a very young and newly promoted director... [insert implied reason why my input wasn't as valuable]" -Former department leader during our first 1:1
• "This is a lot of money to make at your age." -Former manager while sharing a salary increase well under the role's pay band
• "You aren't old enough to... [insert cliché: remember this, understand this reference, etc.]" -Too many colleagues to count
• "You think you can be an executive by what age? 'Scoff'... that's ambitious. You might need to temper your expectations." -Executive at a former company

You would think (I certainly did) that every year I got older, these comments would be less frequent. If anything, they got worse with every promotion to a more senior position; more seniority often meant a new group of peers and an even wider age gap between us.

This became a major insecurity for me and I am still working to control how I choose to respond. A trusted mentor and friend of mine (and a "young" executive herself) once told me, "you just have to remember that those types of comments are a reflection of their own insecurities, not a reflection of you."

Phew, at least I wasn't alone in my mood-altering, behavior-changing insecurities.

But, it made me question why my age -- or anyone's age, for that matter -- was relevant to capabilities or how well I would execute my job? Why did colleagues point to a young age (whether perceived or accurate) as some type of character flaw?

Take a look back at the example comments I included above and imagine replacing age with race or gender... suddenly those comments seem really inappropriate (if they didn't already).

The counter argument? "Years of experience" is why age is relevant in the workplace.

I would never diminish the value of years of experience and those with 10, 20... 50 more years in the same workforce, industry or craft can offer employers what junior employees will never be able to -- learnings and lessons that can only be accumulated over time.

Just the same, younger workers can offer employers what older employees cannot -- they grew up in a different world, they aren't married to the way things have been done, they have direct intel from emerging audiences and age groups, and the list goes on.

And, we've all experienced the senior leader that is so incompetent and/or immature that you question how they ever made it this far, just as we've all experienced the junior employee or young entrepreneur that brings forward a world-changing, revenue-generating idea or more commonly, demonstrates an incredible work ethic and aptitude for leadership.

This is not a new idea or concept but it begs repeating: Can we start treating age as a critical (and beneficial) component of fostering diversity in the workplace?

I, for one, would like to see a world where:

• Twenty-somethings have a seat on public company executive teams and even board of directors;
• We measure required experience in comprehension or demonstrated ability vs. years and start rejecting "years of experience" as an acceptable justification for paying certain groups less than others; and
• For every "30 Under 30" article, there is a "60 Over 60" article showcasing achievements that are just as valuable and impressive earned later in life

...just to name a few.

I spent a lot of time on my birthday thinking about this and listening to Tim McGraw's song "My Next Thirty Years" more times than I care to admit. In the song, he reflects on his first 30 years on this earth and makes new commitments to his next 30.

I am committing myself, in "my next thirty years," to championing this change in the workplace and doing what I can to create space for all ages at the proverbial boardroom table.

What are your thoughts on this? What lived experiences can you share? When has lack of age diversity (in either direction) impacted you or your company??