As Baby Boomers Near Retirement, Companies Risk a Leadership Shortage

With the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting 41 percent of the American workforce will be older than 55 and 33 percent older than 65 by 2024, the Department of Labor expects baby boomers to be entirely unemployed within a decade, reports Forbes . Erosion of corporate leadership is likely, as the Korn Ferry Institute in 2017 found the average age of a CEO, across all industries, is 58. The oldest CEOs are 60 while the youngest are 55. The absence of a formalized leadership development process is endemic to most enterprises, and business leaders should prepare for their industries to change dramatically in the next several decades. Among the factors impacting leaders is the stunting of leadership development and opportunities in Generation X employees, who also are a much smaller demographic than boomers. Meanwhile, the cultivation of millennial leaders through experience is still a work a progress. Strategies for remedying this situation include leaders contacting industry professional associations to see if they've developed or are developing a process to strengthen younger generations' leadership skills.