Age is not an excuse.
The stages of life change and that means breaking down obstacles.
But who determines when one is too young or too old to take on a challenge?
A century ago, someone decided that at 65 a person was already old.
Since 1919 we have not noticed it again.
It is true that cognitive biases help us to think faster, but in this case they not only lead us to think worse, but also risk the healthy construction of a society.
Let's restart our mind with new data.
Spain is the second oldest country on the planet.
In 2040 it will be the first, overtaking Japan.
Our life expectancy reaches 83 years.
A figure that grows six minutes every hour.
At the moment, one in four Spaniards is 65 years old.
The good news is that we are a healthy aging society, with a healthy life expectancy of 74 years.
That is,
we are young for more years
.
However, Spaniards have a low fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The replacement rate is much higher, at 2.1 children per woman.
This means that we have crossed the threshold of the
Lowest Low Fertility Rate
(or "lowest fertility rate"), which leads to a dangerous population loss.
Every time we have fewer young people and more adults.
Against this background, we
need to rethink certain beliefs, both of people who select talent in organizations and those of seniors who aspire to a job
.
And, be careful, remember that many organizations place the border to be considered senior at 45 years.
In difficult times like the ones we live in, companies need
important skills such as temperance and strategic capacity, something that is gained over the years
.
In addition, in circumstances in which teams need greater innovation and the ability to reinvent themselves, it
is essential that there be diversity, not only gender, but generational
.
The wealth of those who have lived through difficult times helps to find better solutions.
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To rethink our beliefs we can rely on other elements of comparison.
For example, let's take a look at the median age of the last candidates in the presidential elections in Spain or the United States.
In the American country, age does not act as a brake.
What's more, here
it is not required to include the age information or the photo in the curriculum.
Their absence is not equivalent to being excluded from a selective process.
It may be a learned trend.
For example, in the United States, in the years before 1992, the expiration of pension plans withdrew millions of senior professionals from the labor market.
That caused a drop in productivity by six points.
Therefore,
not having senior professionals substantially affects national productivity.
On the part of the professionals there
is
also
a challenge: that of the most veteran workers, with beliefs that limit their potential
.
We know that companies must improve in generational diversity, in people management policies, but candidates also have to value their background, their experience and their ability to learn.
What's more, there is no scientific evidence that prevents a senior from learning everything that the job market demands.
According to an article published in the journal
Neuroscience
in 1999,
"aging by itself does not affect the brain's learning and memory systems
.
"
Simply, the senior learns in a different way, in pace, adaptability, context and autonomy.
As stated by cardiologist Valentín Fuster: "Creativity, values, experience and stability have a great weight as one advances in age".
Changing the beliefs of a society involves changing them in oneself.
There are data to encourage you to do so both personally and professionally.
Age is simply a piece of information that does not correlate with commitment, or with enthusiasm, or with the desire to learn.
Or as the poet Antonio Machado said: "Only the fool confuses value and price."
That's what it's about.
Tomás Pereda
is deputy director general of the MasHumano Foundation.
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