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That's a valid point, but I would find issue about the "serving it well" part. Some of these Jurassic-scale disasters we read about, all the time (unprofitable -yet huge- companies, imploding, ponzi schemes galore, falsified data, megahacks, etc.), are often of the "Didn't anybody even think about the ramifications?" type of things. Many of these were almost entirely predictable. I think the tech industry is experiencing sort of a reboot, right now, with a significant coefficient being decisions (or indecisions) made by people way too inexperienced (not always young. I have watched older folks that retire, jump into a new career, and make the same kinds of mistakes younger folks make, or that try to jump onto the latest buzzword, without understanding) to be in positions to make those decisions. I agree that older folks are often "killjoys," and can be too damn cautious, but they are also a great resource, if you want your "impossible" projects to succeed. I suspect that a lot of these failures would have been successes, if the principals had simply proceeded in a more disciplined fashion. The best team, is one made up of a mix of older and younger; with mutual respect, cooperation, and shared values. The one that comes to mind is SpaceX. Despite their rather ... colorful ... CEO, they have a team made of many younger folks, but also a great many older folks in leadership positions (Gwynne Shotwell is nearly my age). At the Japanese corporation, where I worked, many employment positions were not available, until the employee had reached a certain age (probably would be illegal, in the US). The company was run by older folks. In fact, they had to carve out exceptions to the mandatory retirement age, to allow the most senior executives to remain. I'm really big on hybrid/heterogenous teams. I worked on many, in my career. We don't always get along. A real creative team is always battling and arguing, but they also come together, and pitch in for the finish line. When I was at my last job, I worked with some of the top engineers and scientists in their field. We often wanted to strangle each other, but did great work. In my experience, the really sick teams tended to be almost preternaturally quiet and "smooth-running." A real productive, creative, team can give the appearance of chaos. It's almost impossible to throw together a bunch of high-functioning, self-confident, ego-driven folks, without friction. Good management prevents the friction from becoming destructive. |