Many people have attempted to understand the traits of a good leader. Entrepreneurs and executives globally have a distinct view of the mechanisms and traits needed for successful leadership. Some of these traits include knowledge of the industry, commitment and experience. Past occurrences indicate great leaders come from different ethnicities, cultures, genders and backgrounds. Nevertheless, one aspect that many have questioned involves how age affects leadership. It is natural to say that age is just a number, so it does not impact leadership. Human beings evolve as they grow and so do leadership skills. Mainly, leadership crafts take time to harness. For this reason, managers need to nurture employees who depict leadership skills by guiding them on how to become influential leaders. Leadership does not acknowledge gender, race or gender since they shine when offered the appropriate chance. However, there are both benefits and disadvantages for elderly and young leaders. The following discussion demonstrates how age impacts leadership by identifying the benefits and disadvantages of elderly and young leaders and why it should be the least considered standard when choosing a leader.
Elderly leaders who are of age and mature bring various benefits and disadvantages to an organization. Some benefits they bring as leaders include wisdom, loyalty and firmness. Older leaders have the wisdom to make firm, sound and excellent decisions. This is because they are knowledgeable and understand the market and industry better. Therefore, they easily forecast the result of various decisions because of their experience in the industry. The second attribute that makes older leaders the perfect choice is the ability to be firm. Older leaders are not easily influenced by unexpected shifts and trends in the marketplace (Megheirkouni & Mejheirkouni, 2020). The mature leader relies on effective measures to run and tackle the company. Older leaders are loyal, and this makes them excellent leaders. Older leaders are most employees who have stayed with the company for years, and moving from one rank to another demonstrates their loyalty. Therefore, they make good role models for the younger employees in the company.
The negative implications of older leaders include their trend of refusing change, adapting to challenges and having a tough time letting go. When reform is suggested, older leaders have a hard time agreeing to this change, making the convincing process difficult. This is because they take time to accept the prospect of altering procedures and protocols. The next disadvantage of having older leaders is the possibility of adapting to challenges (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). When older leaders choose to accept change, they face the problem of adapting to the reform. Senior leaders have a difficult time accepting every aspect of the change process. The third disadvantage of older leaders is that they have difficulty letting go. Senior leaders maintain a position because they are comfortable playing that role and not prepared to change jobs. Besides, older adults may find it difficult to pass the obligations of the position to a younger leader, supposing that a young leader has the inadequate experience to handle the position’s responsibilities.
Young leaders are characterized as courageous and bold, and most of the time, they amaze the organization, board and staff. This is because they are outstanding in their work, either meeting expectations or failing. Some of the benefits of young leaders include having fresh ideas, being informed and being very competitive. Young leaders develop innovative ideas since they think outside the box (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). Young leaders seldom settle for practical and functional approaches; instead, they monitor and evaluate processes regularly to monitor performance (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). The second attribute that makes young leaders excellent is keeping up with trends. Younger leaders keep up with the latest trends and talk about these trends with others. The discussion enables young leaders to discern possible reactions and develop new ideas and action plans. Young leaders are primarily hopeful and energetic and are usually motivated to develop programs and assessments to collect data that may promote the company, bringing the firm closer to success. The last benefit of having younger leaders is their competitive nature. The competitive aspect drives young leaders to succeed, enabling them to grow the company.
The disadvantage of having younger leaders include credibility, aggressiveness and competitiveness. In most cases, young leaders are competitive and undervalue employee loyalty and experience. This is because they forget that senior leaders have had experience and are senior leaders because of their skills, knowledge and know-how perspectives (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). Young leaders are too aggressive and this poses a problem for the company. Although their aggressiveness enables them to provide hope for their company, their tendency to make rushed decisions may cause tremendous risks and costs. The last disadvantage of young leaders is that their credibility will always be cherished (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). Therefore, their proposals and projects would be hard to approve or accept. In other words, young leaders will face the problem of proving themselves because they are considered incompetent as they lack experience, measured in years of experience.
Age should not be considered when selecting a qualified leader; other attributes such as competence and experience should lead the selection criteria. Past occurrences have shown that people with experience and industry knowledge are better positioned for leadership roles. This experience develops as a person who works for a company and understands the operations in that industry. Therefore, from this direction, it is evident that older adults make better leaders because they have first-hand experience and knowledge about the company’s functions (Hart, 2021). Therefore, they can easily make sound and reasonable decisions, ensuring the company’s proper and effective functionality. Older leaders are practical and logical during their decision-making process because they consider all aspects before making a final decision. This is to say that leaders should possess competence and experience to be qualified to direct staff toward achieving the company’s goals and objectives.
In conclusion, the question of whether age should matter when selecting a leader should be amended to understand the key traits necessary for a leader. Rephrasing the question quickly settles the debate by indicating that age does not affect leadership. Leaders need to have crucial traits to become excellent in their roles and accomplish goals in the company. That is why older leaders on the scene make the most suitable candidates because they understand how the business and industry work. Older leaders must nurture young employees and train them to become influential leaders. This is an excellent way to retain talent by ensuring leaders who take on the role after another retires understand everything about the business. Therefore, they can easily navigate problems and make sound decisions that ensure the company excels in its functions.
References
Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E., & Zampieri, R. (2019). The role of leadership in a digitalized world: A review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1938. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01938
Hart, B. (2021). Ethnicity, Leadership Cultural Competence, and Career Development: a Quantitative Study (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University). https://www.proquest.com/openview/0c8d3c95c9b2f49e9c3e6882b59b40f4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Megheirkouni, M., & Mejheirkouni, A. (2020). Leadership development trends and challenges in the twenty-first century: rethinking the priorities. Journal of Management Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-04-2019-0114
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