Digital Post

Susan Wilner Golden, a very warm welcome to Washington Post Live. DR. WILNER GOLDEN: Thank you so much for inviting me. MS. STEAD SELLERS: Well, we ...

This was part of the objective to democratize this field and to really diversity the backgrounds and the talents that we would see in this space. And we wanted to make sure they have the latest skills so that they will stay with us and we will also get the skills that we needed as a company. DR. WALSH: There have been a lot of companies that have gotten in touch with us, certainly companies in retail, and we want to help everyone. It's one of the greatest experiments of my career, but we were very happy to see this kind of interest, and we wanted to make sure that we selected people who really not only would benefit from this but could actually make it. So it was very important to have the buy‑in, and we did have it. And the specific impetus for this particular boot camp was that we wanted to make sure that we trained people, that we get people with digital skills not just from outside but also from within the company. People are living longer and, as a result, either want to or need to continue working, and in many cases, employers are having to and are seeing that their workforce or multi‑generational. When you think about older workers, you want to think about some of the skills that older workers actually bring into the workplace, whether that is institutional knowledge, whether that is creativity, whether that is experience with problem solving, innovation, mentoring, and training, or critical thinking skills. We also know that if you are a woman and if you are a person of color, you are disproportionately impacted as well. DR. WILNER GOLDEN: I think that they're‑‑everybody thinks they're declining rather than thriving, and I think the people I know that are 60 and plus are in their happiest stages of life, and older adults tend to look for positivity. MS. STEAD SELLERS: I want to talk a little bit more about this concept of ageism and the notion that there's sort of bias against older people. So some of the terms that I float around are "renaissance." I think that's a really great way to capture that period, and instead of thinking about older‑hood or senior‑hood, I think about it as further‑hood. If people are living to 100 and somebody wants to work through their 90s, you can imagine the 20‑year‑old working with a 90‑year‑old. I mean, made most‑‑you know, the famous movie, "The Intern," was a preview of that going forward, but yes, I think we're going to see that.