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Back in 1900, the life expectancy for someone living in the United States was forty-seven years old; today it is seventy-eight. An interesting thing is happening in America today, Baby Boomers are retiring, only to start another career. They are hard-workers, and many of them like working, but they want a new challenge, and many have NO intention of retiring.
The average age for an employee working at Apple is 31, Goggle is 30, and Facebook is 28. There are 132,000 employees at Apple, 85,000 at Google, and 25,000 at Facebook. Taking all these numbers into consideration, there is now … and there is soon to be, more younger people in management positions. The young people who are working for you are smart, clever, creative, innovative and some even brilliant, but few are wise.
Here is an interesting thought: Good decisions are made by wise people. Their wisdom comes from experience. Where does their experience come from? Their experience comes from making bad decisions. Wouldn’t it be WISE to be able to learn from some of those bad decisions’ others have experienced?
But we live in a world where “software” is changing everything in virtually all industries. More and more companies are relentlessly pursuing young people who have exceptional digital intelligence. These young people are being thrust into positions of power with little experience in guiding, leading, and helping other people; they have digital intelligence, but no clue how to manage people. I don’t care if they are a digital genius, companies are an emotional enterprise. So, having people around who have high Emotional Intelligence can serve well for companies.
Here are a few signs that someone has excellent Emotionally “Mature” Intelligence:
I heard a new expression the other day that I thought made a lot of sense. The term comes from combining the words MENTOR and INTERN … “MENTERN.” These Boomers who are searching for a new challenge and applying at your company should be looked upon as “Menterns.” They have learned things over the years that can be invaluable to your millennials, so they can prove to be a “Mentor” for your young people. AND, they are also an “INTERN,” because they are new to the job, industry, profession, and company.
A recent study showed that 71% of human resource directors value emotional intelligence over aptitude tests. Companies are really starting to see the light and changing the way they hire. If your company is going to be successful, it needs a healthy, diverse mix of people. If a 65-year old wants to work for your company as an intern … count that as a blessing. You might just be getting a lot more than you expected.