Author: Lynda Smith

Retirementor, Lynda Smith, notes that the world is changing, driven by technology, and it’s impacting all of us. What does this mean for you in this season of life?

The personal computer, smart phones and the internet were the bright stars on the horizon in the last 20 years of the 20th century, changing the way we work and live. The changes were slow but are now centre stage and impacting all of us.

Knowledge workers – once powerful contributors to society and the workplace – are no longer needed because information is readily available. The skills needed now are using the resources and knowledge and producing solutions.

This new era calls for wisdom workers. What skills do you need to engage?

• The first step is to be clear about your identity in this season. In moving from your professional CAREER to a personal career that fits into your life plan, be clear about your skills, passion and what you want to engage in.
• COMMUNICATE to be heard if you want to be noticed. The tools where communication happens is also changing. Take the time to understand the tools and become visible.
• CONNECTIONS are key. The more diverse your networks, the better chance you have of connecting the dots and having the right CONVERSATIONS with the right people.
• Become an expert in your field and be clear about how you want to engage. The opportunities often come through COLLABORATION with others. The collective of a few diverse people working together to complete a project may open more doors than trying to fit yourself into a problem that needs solving.
• CO-CREATION of ideas can also be a way to bring your skills to market. Several pieces together create what you cannot do on your own.

These skills and the process can be applied across paid/unpaid work and volunteering. Here are a few examples to help you gain perspective on the process.

1. A financial company wants to write a series of articles on wealth, health and life planning. They do not have the skills in-house and cannot find one expert across all three categories. Three experts collectively combine their skills for the project and land the job.
2. You are an engineer and would love to give back to your industry through mentoring. You join an organisation called 50plus-skills that lands a contract looking for 30 mining mentors. You have part-time work for 18 months and still have time to do all the other activities on your bucket wheel.
3. You love to sew/crochet/counsel and enjoy being involved in projects helping others. You join a group that has this as a vision and become involved.
4. There is a large group of unemployed youth in your area. A group who care bring their collective skills together and start an incubator type program. Find a sponsor for the project and make a difference.

The scenarios are endless. The secret lies in CONNECTING the dots and watching the magic unfold. It starts with you. Start the year with this mindset and watch the plan unfold.

The news and social media channels continue to tell us that many of our jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence (AI). That may be true 10-20 years from now, but right now there is a positive aspect to these shifts that we should be aware of.

The fifty-plus generation has worked in a world where learning the steps and processes of operations were crucial to remaining relevant and effective. We understood and managed the steps. Computers started to track these and assist us along the way. In an AI world, they will be doing the work.

I am optimistic that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) should create new jobs. Artificial intelligence is, ironically, a technology that could provide unique opportunities in attractive new work roles and may have the impact of allowing people to work longer and more flexibly across life stages in the future.

What is our human edge?

One of the greatest skills sets of baby boomers is emotional intelligence (EQ). This is not an easily transferable skill for coding into machines. The algorithms can do part of the work but will struggle with the empathy and other emotional skills needed to help humans feel heard and appreciated.

Imagine yourself as an AI Tutor, guiding and parenting the process to ensure that it embodies the human touch. This may sound weird but is already happening and industries will search for older, skilled industry specialists to do this work. Imagine the motor industry. Most of the work is done now by robots, but skilled people work alongside the process to tweak and align the work that humans once did.

I look forward to the day that business employs older people to be present when needed for those that need human input. It will be the older generation that is able to listen and help solve particular problems when the only other presence in the room are machines who do the work. Think over the last 10 years, how booking movies has changed. Yes, automated, but what about that someone to help when you stand outside a theatre and are not sure how to book through the terminal in front of you.

Imagine call centres that ask this question first: How old are you? If you are over 60, push 1. You are put through to a human, who can guide you and understands the questions you need answers to. These small changes to the process of AI and change can make a massive difference to a group of customers who will leave the process feeling valued and heard rather than frustrated and confused.

The world is ready for a demand economy where certain skills will be in high demand across different industries. Technology is being set up to manage the marketing and finance and offering opportunities for skilled people to choose projects to do right from home. A new platform called One Circle HR is opening later this year and is focused on people with HR talent.

Technology and a changing workplace are real. The challenge for older adults is to learn as much as we can to engage and to look for the opportunities on the horizon that offer this generation opportunities due to our wisdom and experience.

It’s a rollercoaster and it’s scary!

This is what the rapidly changing world of work can be for those of us whose careers have been in an office from eight-to-five.

For younger people, this technology-driven world is familiar and offers an opportunity to work as a nomad or remotely.

The wisdom of elders

I have just finished reading a new book by Chip Conley called Wisdom @ Work. Chip was invited as a 50-year-old to mentor the young “tech” team who were starting Airbnb several years ago. This book captures lessons he learnt about equipping both young and old for this new environment.

Chip says: “As we’ve moved from grains to brains, many of us have lost appreciation for the value of the expertise and experience that only comes with age.”

Chip mentored these young entrepreneurs on leadership, hospitality expertise and emotional challenges faced when building and leading teams. When he attended their strategy sessions, he found their “tech” speak confusing and new to him.

At the same time, he needed to acquire a range of digital literacy skills. He labelled himself a MENTERN. He mentored them privately, and he interned with them publicly to fast-forward his learning on this evolving work environment.

Know yourself

This new world calls for us to examine our own lives, to identify possible gaps we have and where we can find the help we need. The best-case scenario is where we each learn from the other.

You may need help with technology skills and, at the same time, offer guidance as a mentor to a younger person. Trade with each other; this may be a family member or someone in your community. It may be trading your industry expertise for help with new developments in your industry, say, an older engineer with a younger engineer.

There are wonderful ways in which young entrepreneurs can be matched with older experts in their fields, and this combination takes the business thinking and success to a much higher level. The greatest challenge lies in respecting and understanding each other at the start of this process. The older mentor needs to be humble and open to learning, and the younger person needs to be willing to be teachable, open to sharing and growth. The right dynamic from the beginning can have remarkable results and form a strong partnership.

I love Chip’s reflection on this kind of partnership. “We know what a mentor relationship looks like as, historically, wisdom flowed downhill. But, today, for the first time, we are seeing the power of an intergenerational transfer of wisdom that flows in both directions. This offers the elder the opportunity to be raw again by being receptive to learning in a new way.”

His book is a great read and a chance to challenge our thinking and make a difference. We certainly need one another. The human factor is key. You are unique and have a valuable contribution to make. You may need to adjust your mind-set somewhat. An exciting adventure awaits.

Lynda Smith is a Retire Successfully Retirementor, and CEO of the Refirement Network (“Don’t retire, refire!”). She recently introduced her innovative Fifty Plus-Skills to the South African retired community – and it is proving to be a popular way for retirees to seek work and for companies to hire experienced personnel.

Our generation has been gifted with an extra season of life.

In her book, The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, Professor Lynda Gratton explains why longevity is something we need to understand; then, we need to shift some of our current thinking.

She writes that, on average, we are living 30 years longer than our great grandparents and that many of our grandchildren will celebrate their 100^th birthdays.

Let’s use this visual to explore what this may mean for each of us:

Formerly, life was more linear: 25 years of education, 35 years of work, and then a few years of retirement before one died. Technology and longevity have disrupted this progression, and this shift requires us to step back and consider new possibilities.

I like to call this the gift of an extra season.

For each of us, this gift may look different – money, health and family are variables that play an important factor.

Let’s examine some scenarios.

Meet Mary and Dave who have worked and saved over the last 40 years and feel that now it is time to enjoy life, visit their three children and travel. They would like to volunteer and help when available and want to have some fun and relax. They know that they can survive on what they have saved and have a plan.

Our second scenario features Annie; she is divorced, and her children live overseas. She has not managed to save enough and needs to continue working as long as possible. She has a great set of skills and can offer her services as a virtual assistant to several clients. Working remotely also allows her the time to travel and visit her children.

Next is Anton. He had a great corporate career and now, in retirement, finds himself wanting to add value and have a reason to get out of bed every day. He is healthy and is working with a group of start-up businesses where he uses his skills two days a week to mentor and coach young entrepreneurs.

Finally, Christine, having retired from formal work as a qualified nurse, decided to work on one of the global cruise liners.  She had lost her husband when she was 50. She has been doing that now for more than 10 years. Her children join her on cruises from time to time, so she gets to see the world and still spends time with her family.

What is the clear common denominator?  Each person exercised a choice regarding what they wanted their future to look like.

The gift of choice is part of this legacy season.

Take the time to look at your life. Think out of the box and design a framework that works for you. Technology and better health give us options that were not available to our parents and grandparents.

If ill health starts to impact our life, we may have to slow down and accept that some of the options are no longer available to us. The challenge I see too often is people slowing down too soon, not looking after their health and not opening themselves up to new experiences and opportunities. A legacy season is one where we can give back and reflect on the journey. Use the time wisely. It is a gift.

Live long and die short is my motto. I hope to live in my legacy season until my last day. If this is not possible, I will accept that life can slow down, that I have lived life to the full and will live with grace and peace in this last season.

We cannot control all the circumstances but we sure can make the most of the gifts we have been given.