Who is a better agent of change? The ambitious young managers trying to prove themselves or the experienced managers trying to improve the company and leave their mark behind?
The young leaders might be less biased by legacy practices, better trained on the latest tools, and more willing to accept the risk that comes with change. The older leaders might avoid repeating old mistakes and provide better judgment about the level of risk the organization can take. However, older leaders can also be overly cautious and more subject to accept the status quo as the best possible path. After all, they were part of the team that developed the current practices, so they are apt to believe that these practices are as good as they could possibly be. Do your leaders feel your business practices are already optimized? Do they feel that problems are due to people just not following the prescribed practices? Then perhaps they suffer of “old thinking” but this can happen to both younger and older managers.
I believe that Maslow’s pyramid of motivation is applicable in this discussion. It is true that different people can be in different places at different stages at their lives, but in general I believe that as leaders move up the corporate ladder they are also moving up in Maslow’s pyramid and are motivated to action in different ways. Some older leaders might be frustrated by the past, ready to “throw the towel”, and not willing to make waves as retirement nears. But other older leaders might be looking for self-fulfillment and ready to take the organization to a new level. Younger leaders might in general be more socially motivated looking for recognition and still building their self-confidence.
The best management team for change would be a perfectly balanced group of leaders with diverse backgrounds and motivations sharing a common vision to lead the organization to new levels of productivity and quality. But younger or older we must salute all leaders that embrace change as a necessary part of today’s business environment. Much is changing at an unprecedented pace and the tools available today are so much better than the tools we had ten or even five years ago.
Paraphrasing what I heard from Alan Mullaly a couple of years ago, “if the organization is not improving it must be falling behind.” I think it is true that leaders of different ages are motivated in different ways, but I also believe that leaders of any age are motivated in general, recognizing that change is necessary and that risk can be managed to guarantee successful process improvement.
Am I avoiding answering the original question? Perhaps. I have seen both older and younger managers as good agents for change. Some balance of maturity and urgency is needed to be a good agent of successful change. How do you feel about it?