Editor | On 16, Oct 2007

James Todhunter

Well, it’s official.  Yesterday, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby-boomer, filed for Social Security benefits.  She becomes the first of as many as 80 million individuals who will qualify for benefits in the coming years.

This should be a major wake up call for corporations.  With many of their most experienced and capable workers moving ineluctably towards retirement, companies must consider what this means to their capacity to innovate.  Don’t fool yourself by thinking that these are stodgy old geezers who have passed their prime.  These people are many of your most creative and valuable resources.

Have you thought of how you will capture their expertise and pass it on to the next generation of innovation workers?  What does your enterprise know, and how can you mobilize that knowledge?  Are your innovation systems capable of feeding the ideation engine in real time, or will your product pipelines run dry just when you need revenue stimulation most?

Are you addressing these questions?  Or, are you getting ready to hit the beach and go fishing?

[Crossposted from www.InnovatingToWin.com]