I came across a promotional excerpt for the book Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life:(1)
'Early in life, we have a lot of what psychologists call “fluid intelligence.” That increases through your 20s and 30s—it increases faster if you work harder on it—but it decreases in your 40s and 50s. Fluid intelligence is your ability to work hard with focus and solve problems, your analytic capacity, what makes you a superstar—the hot lawyer, the good surgeon, maybe the incredibly inventive and intelligent electrician. In almost every job, fluid intelligence early on in your life makes you good at what you do, but it decreases as you age.
However, there’s another kind of intelligence that you get later in life called “crystallized intelligence.” That increases through your 40s and 50s. It stays high through your 60s and 70s, and even beyond. Crystallized intelligence is not all about working hard and focusing—it’s about wisdom and passing on knowledge. You get wiser as you get older, which means you know a lot, and you know how to use the information. It also means you’re a much better teacher—the best teachers are older people. So early on, you have fluid intelligence, and later on, you have crystallized intelligence. The trick is to go from fluid to crystallized, to go from innovator to instructor.'
This made sense to me. Obviously that's partly because I'd rather be seen as wise than redundant. So there's a deal of confirmation bias involved. But still.
I think it also explains some of the satisfactions of recent years. I tend to work with people younger than myself. I enjoy it. I think of it as 'they supply the energy, I supply the doubt'. But you could also see it as combining the fluid and the crystalised.(2) Some of my favourite work experiences have been the odd hours spent as an advisor to young businesses or as a mentor to, well, people. (I was going to write 'young people' but thats become a phrase only a politician would use.)
Both of which normally boil down to a cup of tea and a chat.
If anyone would like such a cuppa please let me know.
- I like the subtlety of that formulation, 'the second half of life'.
- Like a damp lump of salt.