One of the things about life past 40 is that you start
to think about getting old. Its like this, when you’re 20, 40 is a long way
away. However, one you reach 40, you realise that 60 isn’t that far off.
Modern science has made getting old quite common. Back
in the dark ages, being an “Old Man” was something that got you venerated.
Think of the Arab monarchs who call themselves “Sheikh,” which roughly
translates as “Old Man.” Why were old people venerated thus? It was simple – it
meant that you had the ability to survive. This was a venerated skill in an era
where many didn’t survive past adolescence.
However, its different in today’s world. If you live
in a country with a reasonable amount of peace and stability, its almost a
given that you’re to see your 80th birthday at the very least. Think
about it, around two hundred years ago, anyone over 50 was considered an antique.
Today, life effectively begins at 50, when the body is still functioning and
you have developed enough experience to be confident about most things.
Modern science is has done a great job at preserving
our functionality. As an example, I used to do the PR for Alcon, which sold “Intra-Ocular
Lenses” (IOL), which had the ability to give a 60-year-old better vision than
they had in their 20s. There are more examples of the miracle of modern
science.
So, getting “Old” isn’t the deteriorating experience
that it used to be. However, as the withdrawal of US President Joe Biden from
the 2024 election shows, there’s such a thing known as “Too Old.” Throughout
the campaign, Mr. Trump’s team hammered Mr. Biden for being “too old” and “too
frail,” to run things. Now that Mr. Biden’s most likely successor in the 59-year-old
Kamala Haris, the same is likely to be done to the 78-year-old Mr. Trump.
The two grandpas who were running for the most
powerful office on the planet have been caught looking old and doddery. They’ve
showed us that getting old doesn’t just mean physically weaker but there’s also
a mental decline. Whatever is said of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Lee
Kuan Yew, one has to credit him for acknowledging his facilities would
eventually decline and stepping aside whilst he still had his marbles with him.
However, as my Neurotic Angel likes to point out, “What
is the cut off point for Old?” If Biden and Trump are “old” at 81 and 78
respectively, what does that make Dr. Mohamad Mahathir, Malaysia’s never ending
political leader who is 99 and showing no signs of frailty. Dr. Mahathir first
became Prime Minister in 1981 at the age of 56. He remained there for 22 years
and left office at 78. Instead of retiring quietly, he continued to be active
and was back in his old job at the age of 93. So, whenever a politician around
the world says they are old, there’s an inevitably a meme involving Dr. Mahathir.
You have the example of the frail Mr. Biden at 81 and
the sprightly Dr. Mahathir at 99 and it remains a challenge to come up with a
cut off point for what defines “Too Old.” Age in many ways is a number but its arbitrary.
As someone who had to take up regular exercise in his
late forties, I would say that there are two aspects of aging that we need to acknowledge.
The first is that aging involves a physical and mental
decline. Generally speaking, once you reach a certain age, you get set in your
ways and somehow more resistant to change. You fail to realise that the things
that made you successful are now the things that are bringing you down.
The second point is the counter to the first, which is
the fact that one can has depository of knowledge and experience, which can be utilized.
Whenever I tell Kiddo that I’d love for her to support me instead of me
supporting her by my 50th, her inevitable reply is “Oi, people at 50
are still strong.”
So, how do you get the second from happening without
the risk of the first? There are organisations, like General Electric (GE),
what pair up the old and young in teams. The idea being that junior gets wisdom
from senior but senior also stays active and gets new trends from junior.
There are also “mandatory” retirement ages for top
people, which usually around 65. However, at an age where people still have
their wits about them in their 70s and 80s, one might say this is a waste of
talent.
In Singapore politics, the way of managing this has
been for every Prime Minister to become a “Senior” Minister in their successor’s
cabinet. A case of letting making sure the old man has no actual power to screw
things up but still able to contribute the benefits of experience. There is,
however, one major problem. Everyone assumes that the Prime Minister takes orders
from the Senior Minister. Lee Kuan Yew, who was both Senior Minister and
Minister Mentor would keep telling people he was no longer in charge and the
more he said it, the less we believed him. Now that Lee Hsien Loong is “Senior
Minister,” we all assume that he’s telling Lawrence Wong what to do.
So, how do you make things work? One would be to
ensure that the “retained” old guy is not actually a member of the management committee
or cabinet so that while the Old Guy remains useful, its clear that he or she
is not an “Authority figure”
Then, there’s the possibility of working on the
principle that behavior rather than age should be a trigger point for mandatory
retirement. A case of keep the guy there until he or she start to show signs of
obvious decline.
It’s a challenging issue. However, its an issue worth
addressing, especially if you consider the fact that most advanced countries
are rapidly aging. The obvious point being, if you don’t have a lot of talent,
how do you make the most of what you have?
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