How would you structure your life if you knew that you would live to 100?

How long would you have to work? What competencies would you have to acquire in order to work longer?

If you had to work longer, would a 100-year life be a GIFT or a CURSE?

These and other questions are discussed in the book The 100-YEAR LIFE, written by professors Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott from London Business School, a book which has changed the way I look at my life journey, how I plan to fulfil my purpose, and my lifelong-learning plan. It has also helped me to understand how the future of work and education should look like to turn our increased life expectancy (longevity) into a gift and not a curse, neither for us, nor for future generations. 

I read the book The 100-Year Life last year, just after turning forty. It may be a coincidence, but this is usually a period when we start thinking about our purpose and how to structure the second half of our life. Some people call this a mid-life crisis, while psychoanalysts call this a process of self-actualization and self-awareness (Jung) or the stage when adults begin to understand their commitment to creating a better world for future generations (Erickson). 

I have been considering these questions since I can remember, but the tendency and urge to start realizing my purpose and to start living, working, educating myself in my own way, and start improving the systems and the lives of generations to come, became stronger at the beginning of my forties. Now, this tendency is knocking on the door of my consciousness every single day. 

I’m not planning to buy a mid-life crisis car, or start getting tattoos. Not yet. What I will do instead, is to reflect on the insights that I got from this book and to consider how we could reinvent the current structures in our life, work, and education that are not appropriate for coping with a 100-year life and which would help us and support future generations?

Taking into consideration the fact that we will live longer than the generations before, and that the current retirement systems do not respond these simulations, it is a fact that we will have to work longer, and for that start reinventing ourselves constantly throughout our life journey, not only in terms of career and competencies, but also in terms of our mental and psychical health.

I am not promoting here that we should work longer, but I am just aware that the current retirement systems are not aligned with the negative demographic trends and “graying society” relevant for Europe. Therefore, it is on us to structure our life in the way to reach a good and healthy retirement.

What do I mean by reinventing ourselves? And how is this connected with longevity?

If we are doomed to work longer, then we will have to, according to the book, constantly work on our portfolio of skills, knowledge, competencies, professional reputation and assets (such as vitality: health, work-life balance, regenerative relationships; transformational ability and financial assets) in order to turn longevity into a gift and avoid it becoming a curse. The latter could inflict harm on us, in the sense of being not healthy enough, not having the relevant skills and competencies, or not having enough financial resources to have a good and healthy retirement.  

However, the current THREE-STAGE LIFE of education, work, and retirement, where we follow one dream, one career, belong to a narrow network of “same-minded people”, and work on a certain set of skills, does not support the process of constant reinvention.

According to Professors Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott the current THREE-STAGE LIFE should be replaced by a MULTI-STAGE LIFE.

What are the implications of a 100-year life for governments?

My observation is that governments have a Ostrich syndrome and are still not aware that they will have to completely reinvent the current retirement systems, labour legislation and educational policies in order to support the phenomenon of a 100-year life.

What are the implications of a 100-year life for educational institutions?

My opinion is that educational institutions will also have to reconsider their current business models and education offerings. Instead of focusing on education and knowledge, educators should become facilitators of the lifelong-learning journey of each individual in terms of skills, competencies and mindset, and support people in making various career transitions. In the light of a 100-year life, educators should become facilitators, mentors and coaches focused on each individual’s journey and purpose. 

What are the implications of a 100-year life for corporate organizations and current HR policies?

According to the book The 100-YEAR LIFE, corporate organizations will have to reconsider current recruitment practices, learning and development policies, pay and performance assessment, and take into consideration different career paths, as well as more frequent career transitions. In the light of a 100-year life, current practices around the work-life balance should be reconsidered as well.

If I go back to my story and the period in life when we start thinking about how to realize ourselves, and how to structure the second half of our life, the book has taught me 5 major lessons in the light of a 100-year life:

1. CAREER AGILITY: career transitions in the light of longevity is “a must” in order to broaden our horizons in terms of opportunities, choices, competencies, experience and networks. We should think and work like entrepreneurs; having different careers at different stages of life; constantly seizing for new opportunities;

2. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE to make a career transition;

3. LEARNING AGILITY: lifelong learning and constant curiosity are the most important competencies that have to be developed by each individual, and must be enhanced constantly throughout the lifespan. We should develop T-shaped skills where we are broad across a diverse set of skills and deep in a narrow discipline;

4. DIVERSE NETWORKS AND MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEM enables us to broaden our mind-set, perspectives, and experiences, and enable career transitions while having a regenerative impact the quality of life. It is very comfortable to belong to a personal “tribe”, but is even more rewarding to go out of our comfortable zone and to connect with people who belong to networks outside of our personal network (culture, science, philanthropy, etc.);

5. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH on one side, and the right WORK-LIFE BALANCE on the other, have to be maintained throughout the lifespan to enable a good and healthy retirement and to support longevity.

I would like to finish my personal reflection on the 100-year life phenomenon by challenging you with some questions that you might reflect on:

Read more about the 100-year life challenge and share your ideas (below) on how could we reinvent our society (governments, corporate organizations, educational institutions) to support the 100-year life phenomenon - for us and for the future generations?