5 - Cathedrals versus Shopping malls - Lynda Gratton on the implications of a 100 year life on Career, Health and Choices

Lynda speaks about how we are moving from a 3 stage paradigm (study-work-retire) to a paradigm where we are going to be moving across these three phases in a fluid manner over our lifetime. She speaks about the key insights from her influential book – 100 year life – that she authored with Andrew Scott (Professor of Economics and former Deputy Dean at London Business School).

Lynda speaks about the kinds of issues that show up in mid-life. She speaks about how individuals at mid-life are grappling with two transitions – one is the mid-life itself. The other is the fundamental social change driven by technology. She speaks about how individuals in mid-life can navigate this passage of play.

Lynda says that in the earlier paradigm, people made two transitions. Study to work and work to retire. And they made it in lock step, with the herd (peer cohort). In a multi-stage life, she says that we all make transitions at different points in time and that can be unnerving. She also speaks about the need to focus on recreation to ensure re-creation of our professional journeys.

Lynda speaks about how she thinks about specialization and generalization. Earlier, we would think that being a generalist but with a deep spike in a specific area would be valuable. Now value is being added more and more at the intersection of two disciplines (often one left brain heavy and the other right brain heavy). She speaks about how this trend is playing out.

Lynda speaks about having a mind set for building something tangible and substantial over the long term which means something than solving for the here and now. She uses the metaphor of cathedrals versus shopping malls to make the point. She also speaks about the tension between building for the long term and staying agile as we try different pathways during transitions.

Lynda speaks about the distinction between entrepreneurship and independent producers. She speaks about people pursuing something because they enjoy it and not because they want to grow it and scale it up. She also goes on to speak about how independent producers should think about signaling.

Lynda speaks about how our understanding of ageing is based on what we see with our parents but says that we might experience ageing very differently. She speaks about the need for us to think actively about how we would allocate time if we lived 100 years and urges us to take sabbaticals and breaks to recharge and rejuvenate.

Lynda refers to the notion of options (as economists think about it) and speaks about the criticality of having multiple pursuits and adapt based on the waxing and waning of intensity levels of the various things we pursue. She also urges us to listen to the head and the heart when we go about making choices around careers.