Rethinking Training

Good piece in the HBR,   this needs to be done much better than it is.   With emphasis on retaining key knowledge.

Rethinking Training
Willy C. Shih, Howard Rudnick, Coleen Tapen

“When I graduated, I was 56. I was surprised that there were people who were not worried about my age and who believed I was still a valuable member of the workforce. You start to worry when you get close to retirement whether anybody wants to hire you…I was made to feel valued there regardless of what my age was or where I came from. It gave me back my self-confidence after losing my job.” —Darlene Mickelson

"... The conventional wisdom on retraining older workers is they are too old or set in their ways to learn new things and update their skills. We don’t agree. We think this is a narrow view that overlooks the significant value these people can bring to the economy. As a recent report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers suggests, investment in skill development in the United States is largely “front-loaded” during the first 25 years of life, after which public contributions to formal education are substantially smaller. Yet we live in a time when both demographics and the very nature of work are undergoing a dramatic shift. Rapid technological change, automation, globalization, and offshoring all serve to shrink industries and spawn new ones at what feels like an ever-quickening pace. The booming job market and the evolving nature of work are altering the skills American employers need in their employees, and we believe that reskilling should play a vital role in meeting these needs. We should not ignore the tremendous value that older workers can bring. And with life-spans increasing across the globe, many people need or want to continue to work to help fund their eventual retirement or just to stay active.      ... "