There has been an awful lot of content written over the past few years about the generational differences in the workplace, whether that’s a perception of millennials as being more innovative, or a reluctance of baby boomers to share their knowledge before retiring.

One interesting topic that hasn’t received a huge amount of attention however is around that of intelligence, and in particular the changing nature of intelligence as we get older.

It was a topic I touched briefly upon last year with an exploration of why so few young people are in board level positions.  After all, the average age of an executive is around the 50 mark.  Figures such as Warren Bennis have advocated greater responsibility for younger people in how our organizations operate.

He suggests that the virtues of youth are that you have often boundless energy, combined with a lack of weariness in knowing what is ‘not’ possible.  It makes for a heady cocktail.

What about age however?  A recent study suggests that there are two distinct forms of intelligence.  The fluid kind is typified by our ability to think logically and process information.  The crystallized type however is gained through our accumulated knowledge and experience, and it’s this form of intelligence that the study suggests is most important.
It’s an important finding because past research has shown that our fluid intelligence tends to decline with age, whereas the crystallized kind tends to increase.The theory was tested via a financial analysis examination.  It emerged that one standard deviation increase in fluid intelligence (equivalent to around 15 IQ points) was worth 22 more points on the test.

An increase of one standard deviation in crystallized intelligence however was worth over twice as much, earning participants an extra 47 points.

“The research shows that despite cognitive graying, older people’s financial decision making may be more ‘golden’ than a slowing brain might otherwise suggest,” the researchers claim.

With the baby boomer generation on the cusp of retirement, this has serious implications for knowledge retention and transfer, especially as few organizations seem to be trying to capture this crystallized knowledge before it’s too late.