Age, skill, and management

Although laboratory-based studies would suggest that most human attributes decay with age, almost all organizations and communities appoint individuals aged about fifty-five years as their policy-makers and leaders. Some human attributes which may improve with age are described from a series of skills analyses of managers. The older manager is more acceptable because he or she is less personally competitive, more capable of taking a global view concentrating on essentials, more veridical, more tolerant, more directional, and more aware of his or her own assets, limitations, and biases.