Baby Boomers Exit

Global Industry gets ready to counter the challenges of Baby Boomer exit.

Industry globally, for that matter any industry looks to recruit and retain the best talented personnel, as quality human resources are the only guarantee for corporate success in a rather ruthless and cut-throat competitive environment. A good HR policy in place means that the company or firm is half-way through with ensuring its business success. Quite recently there have been concerns of cataclysmic proportions regarding the demographic shift, which will see the 76 million strong baby boomers retiring by the end of the next decade.  

Ok, so what, what is the big deal if an old man retires, won't the youngsters take over to replace and occupy reasonably responsible positions with global corporate? The answer to this argument can never be simple, and demands an understanding of what happened in the 20th century, and what caused enormous economic developments in the bygone century.  

For that matter, in any country, it is only the baby boomers that are in charge of economic, scientific, social and political organizations. Baby boomers belong to the age group of 46 and 62. They are seen as top executives, project leaders, and policy makers with strong and established beliefs, convictions, vision, mission, principles and values in thought and action. They have built a large network of values and connected minds with similar thoughts of development. They are the transformers nurtured and groomed by the earlier century, and desperate to turn perennial the established order of things.   

Baby boomers have brought about improvement, distinction, or change in almost all trades and sectors of human activity. Many of the modern societies and global nations that emerged as economic powers owe their success to the focused and sustained efforts of baby boomers. By nature, the boomer executive tend to be either egalitarian consensus-seeking or of authoritarian kind. Those leaders, who have accommodated both, have emerged as excellent leaders. The global industry's 24/7 dedication enhance business processes, and passion to serve the customer for greater market share is the legacy of the baby boomers. 

With most of the baby boomers confronting retirement, the generation X which is between 25 – 45 are troubling themselves to fit into their seniors' shoes. Mostly concentrated in the high-tech industry and entrepreneurial ventures, the generation X'ers are highly pragmatic, focused at work, and action-oriented. They have concentrated in high-tech, for it is the only domain that allows for high levels of creativity, innovation, and practical problem solving.  Being intensively technology savvy and self-reliant this generation includes whiz kids, competent and good at learning on the fly. With no defined idealistic beliefs this gen X looks towards realizing absolute freedom. By nature, this generation has little patience, intolerable of inaction, and perfectly ok with deliverables and project management. Transient in professional outlook, the generation X are restless to move to new places of work. On an average, no youngster works with one organization for more than 2-3 years. Loyalty is a rare commodity, which may be a fall out of the environment, where downsizing, mergers and lay-offs are the order of the day. There is no dedication to build a career, it is only a frenzy for short term results and instant rewards.  

In a symbolic sense, generation X are mere protagonists, and never heroes. Leadership is not inherent to them. They are perennially in search of their identities, and leadership is too remote possibility for any average generation X individual. It is this that worries most of the global industry managers. With little or no awareness of the collective strength of the generation, lack the networks and connections that are needful to influence institutions and the power to bring about beneficial changes, generation X suffers from a huge void of leadership crises.  

According to authoritative sources, the baby boomers fuelled by over anxiety for early economic development have downsized and marginalized training and development programs and left little focus on the transfer of hard knowledge, institutional knowledge, relationships and networks — all key factors in preparing leaders and building leadership. The untrained and un-mentored generation X is yet able to maneuver and survive in the workplace. No institutionalized grooming or mentoring helped them do this, but their own creative energies motivated them to action. It is true that the world is soon to witness an open generation conflict. The boomers cannot and will neither transfer knowledge and leadership traits to the generation X, nor will the younger generation will ask for the same. One blames the other for contradicting in beliefs and values. Meanwhile, the much younger generation, the school going to graduation completed 6 to 24 age groups emerge as Millennial(s).   

Borne of the self-esteem movement of 90's this new generation is habituated to frequent and appreciative feedback. Though considered to be technically sophisticated they are dependent on someone to give them oversight. This situation throws out immense challenges for employers who will confront a complex, and chaotic workplace. At the workplace, they display enthusiasm and curiosity to grow and develop, and expect career track provisioning, supervisory oversight, and regular appreciative acknowledgment. They tend to be civically minded and want to work towards defined goals and objectives. The millennial(s) are different from generation X by lacking in self-reliance skills and the baby boomers by not being self-absorbed.  

The demographic shift and its cataclysmic fall-out is prominently seen in US and other developed nations. In the developing world, prominent differences are emerging in terms of technology impact, and the rising urban-rural divide. Global organizations and industry can adequately counter the challenges of demographic shift by identifying the importance of leadership training, and by creating avenues for network and relationship building among the younger generation of employees. A better strategy would be to run focus groups with younger Boomers, generation X and incoming millennial(s) to determine the required knowledge, skills, and support in the coming years.  

Training is vital, and training is inevitable to save global industry from the fall out of demographic shift. The trainers are none other than experienced personnel that are highly motivated to take youngsters under the wing, help them, and share with them contact and network information and provide gainful and knowledgeable inputs. It is to be understood that, it is only leaders who can train youngsters and turn them into leaders. Any invest in the long-term future of global industry means investing sizably in training. The unintentional mistakes made by the baby boomers by neglecting and marginalizing training and development need to be addressed and redressed, the earlier the better.