Have you ever thought how much of business is horizontal? We carefully set up teams: The Executive Leadership Team, the Levels -1, -2, -3 (levels below the ELT, the Board.  It’s a ladder and people struggle up it.  I have heard “I want to be on the ELT” so many times.  That is because there is a perception that power lies there, that is where you get the rewards and somewhere you can get things done. (the sub-text is “I can’t get anything done where I am”).

If you look at the age distribution on that ladder it is inevitable that you age as you climb up it.  By the time you get to the top you are in your 50’s or 60’s.

How useful is that in today’s world?  Change is very fast now, and we have (be thankful for this, it may just save the world) young people on that ladder who do not share the values of their elders.  They have a different approach to work that often does not sit well with senior people. They also have different skills, they communicate in different ways. They are the future.

So supposing you abandoned that nice comforting horizontal cut across your business and thought vertically instead?  What if your teams were made up of all ages and levels of experience?  What if your teams had that diversity of thought that comes not from gender or skin colour but from age?

It’s a radical approach but it might just work.