Bridge the Intergenerational Leadership Gap

Today’s workforce spans five generations, with millennials and Generation Z together accounting for over 60% of workers globally — a share projected to reach 74% by 2030. Yet there’s a widening intergenerational gap in business leadership. While age diversity in the workplace is growing, decision-making power increasingly rests with more senior generations.

The average age of CEOs at S&P 1500-listed companies has risen significantly over the past several years, from 54 in 2008 to nearly 59 in 2023. Only 5% of directors on S&P 500 boards are under 50. Similar dynamics can be observed worldwide. The average age of board members across major markets such as Brazil, the European Union, and India ranges from 58 to 64 years old — around 20 years older than the median age (about 39) of the global workforce.

Why Age-Diverse Leadership Drives Better Decision-Making

While experience is undoubtedly important for effective leadership, it also comes with the risk of relying on the same mental models that have underpinned past successes. When the context of business changes rapidly, maintaining the same strategy can hinder adaptability exactly when new thinking is required.

Enter younger leaders. More age-diverse leadership teams have been found to excel at ambidextrous learning: They’re better at communicating important tacit know-how from one generation to the next. This helps organizations retain critical expertise over time. Simultaneously, younger leaders help counterbalance experience with curiosity and a willingness to question the status quo, which supports a continuous update of organizational knowledge.

Such ambidextrous learning and a diversity of ideas can also unlock innovation. Age diversity has been found to accelerate product innovation and foster creative problem-solving, particularly in times of crisis, such as international conflict or the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has found that intergenerational leadership teams perform particularly strongly in the realms of sustainable business model innovation and eco-innovation.

Importantly, this does not in any way suggest that older managers are less capable or willing to innovate; rather, analyses emphasize the potential of a greater diversity of generational perspectives. Recent research highlights the positive effects that “grey entrepreneurs” on age-diverse teams of founders can have on measures of innovation performance and business growth.1

Three Ways to Advance Intergenerational Leadership

The case for intergenerational leadership is increasingly clear.