At What Age Are You Too Old To Be A Working Expert Anymore?

Would you accept medical advice from a 100 year old doctor? What about strategic advertising advice from a 55 year old ad agency executive? Or board a flight with a 66 year old pilot? In many industries, there are either cultural or mandatory ages of retirement after which professionals usually stop practicing. Some people accept these age limits as a necessary safety policy. Others see it as a form of lingering ageism from a time when people expected to have shorter careers and died earlier.

As our world ages, the hard earned expertise in every sector that remains in the minds of older workers will continue to shift our perceptions around what age is "too old" to be useful anymore. It's time we stopped imagining the elderly as a rambling joke the way Grandpa Simpson is portrayed on the long-running animated series. Instead, businesses who are able to retain the institutional knowledge and experiences of these older workers will be stronger and the experts themselves will enjoy a new era of professional purpose. That's a win for everyone.