Summary of The Perennials by Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society

By GP SUMMARY

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

 

Summary of The Perennials by Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society

 

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Mauro Guillén's book, The Perennials, explores the societal shift triggered by demographic and technological changes. He argues that outdated terms like Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z prevent people from reaching their full potential. Guillén proposes a new postgenerational workforce called "perennials" who are not pitted against each other by age or experience. This generational revolution will impact young people entering the workforce and those living and working longer. He identifies cultural, organizational, and policy changes needed to transition to a new era of innovation powered by perennials.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9783755451600

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Summary of

The Perennials

A

Summary of Mauro F. Guillén’s book

The Megatrends Creating a

Postgenerational Society

GP SUMMARY

Summary of Zero Days by Mauro F. Guillén: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society

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This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Mauro F. Guillén’s The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society designed to enrich your reading experience.

DISCLAIMER

The contents of the summary are not intended to replace the original book. It is meant as a supplement to enhance the reader's understanding. The contents within can neither be stored electronically, transferred, nor kept in a database. Neither part nor full can the document be copied, scanned, faxed, or retained without the approval from the publisher or creator.

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INTRODUCTION

BMW, a recognizable brand, is pioneering a multigenerational workplace where up to five generations of people collaborate and bring their unique skills and perspectives to the table. The company has redesigned factories and sections within them to make several generations feel comfortable toiling together, leading to productivity increases and higher job satisfaction. BMW's parent plant in Munich, located north of Munich, employs around 8,000 employees from over 50 countries.

The multigenerational workplace may seem like a recipe for cultural misunderstanding and conflict, as many people believe that generations are motivated by different aspects of the job, such as satisfaction, money, or employee benefits. However, there are distinct advantages to having several generations collaborate with one another. Researchers at the Ohio State University discovered that creativity peaks when people are in their twenties and again in their fifties, as cognitive ability alone is not enough to compensate for the decline.

The growing potential of the multigenerational workplace challenges the traditional way we think about people of different ages and what we can do and accomplish at various points in life. The sequential model of life, which has been organized into a rigid series of distinct stages, is becoming obsolete due to long-standing demographic transformations. As a result, we now live much longer lives than ever before, with Americans living an average of another twenty-three years, Western Europeans of 25 years, Asians of 20 additional years, and Africans of 16 years. This means that a seventy-year-old today can pursue the active lifestyle of a sixty-year-old from two generations ago.

The definitions of old and young have shifted over time due to the lengthening of both life spans and health spans. The Friendly Societies Act of the United Kingdom defined old age as above fifty years, while the World Health Organization moves between sixty and sixty-five. The World Economic Forum defines old as the prospective age at which life expectancy is fifteen years, or when the average person has a decade and a half of life left. However, not everything in this trend looks rosy. Frictions are proliferating between younger, taxpaying generations and those in retirement enjoying healthcare and pension benefits.

Many people struggle with transitioning from one stage to another, such as adolescence, midlife crisis, loneliness during retirement, or getting derailed due to a teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school, a family tragedy, a divorce, or substance abuse. Many mothers find it difficult to balance family and work, and most are far from being treated equitably in terms of career advancement and pay.

The postgenerational revolution is a social and political construction built on conceptions of patriarchy and bureaucracy that classify people into age groups and roles. The confluence of rising life expectancy, enhanced physical and mental fitness, and technology-driven knowledge obsolescence fundamentally alters the dynamics over the entire life course, redefining what we can do at different ages and how generations live, learn, work, and consume together. As longevity continues to soar, nine or ten generations may end up living together before midcentury.

Greater longevity has positive implications not just for retirees but for everyone at every stage of life. A longer life span creates more opportunities and wiggle room for their grandchildren to change course, take gap years, and reinvent themselves, no matter their age. However, this is only possible if governments, companies, and other organizations move away from the sequential model of life. If people could liberate themselves from the tyranny of age-appropriate activities, they might be able to pursue multiple careers, occupations, or professions, finding different kinds of personal fulfillment in each.

The author argues that the more decades of life people have ahead of them, the more important it is to keep their options open and the less useful making big decisions becomes. In a truly postgenerational society driven by the perennial mindset, teenagers will no longer have to agonize over the best path for them to pursue in terms of their studies or future jobs, knowing that a longer life span will afford plenty of opportunities for course correcting, learning new skills, and switching careers, depending on how the circumstances evolve. This could lead to a world where we can engage in more multigenerational activities and experience a more diverse array of opportunities over time. Technology may render our knowledge and experience outdated, but it also enables more flexible and iterative modes of learning and working.

In a truly postgenerational society, we will