👴🏻 When Grandpas Run The World Like It’s Their Last Week On Earth
Who Let the Boomers Run the Planet? It’s Not Gen Z You Should Be Worried About.
Tl, DR
Over half the world’s population is governed by men in their seventies (Trump (78), Putin (72), Xi (71), Modi (74), Lula (79) and the rest of the global grandpa gang)
The median age of world leaders is 62; nearly 20% are over 70. And all ten of the world’s most populous countries are run by men in legacy mode.
It’s not their health that’s the problem, most of them are alarmingly active - they’re in a rush to be remembered.
Age brings experience, but also urgency, ego, and the freedom to make bold moves without sticking around for the fallout.
While they’re racing toward legacy, we’re still building the future (and that’s kind of cool)
The Geopolitical Boomer Club
A lot of things could explain the messiness of our world right now: geopolitical tensions, economic cycles, social media…
But what if it’s just…the grandpas?
Or more precisely: ✨the septuagenarian strongmen.✨
According to a Financial Times opinion that I red this weekend, over half the world’s population is governed by men in their seventies or older:
Trump (78, 🇺🇸), Putin (72, 🇷🇺), Xi (71, 🇨🇳), Modi (74, 🇮🇳), Erdoğan (71, 🇹🇷), Lula (79, 🇧🇷), Netanyahu (75, 🇮🇱), Ramaphosa (71, 🇿🇦).
A kind of geopolitical retirement club (with nuclear arms).
The median age of national leaders is 62.
The median age of the global population is 30.4.
And the ten most populous countries are all run by men +70.
But the issue isn’t that they’re old:
“Old leaders have an incentive to secure a legacy — a defining achievement — before time runs out for them.”
— Janan Ganesh, FT
Translation: these guys are in a hurry.
It’s bucket list politics. Power as a retirement project. A rushed legacy before the obituary gets written.
Hot Take: It’s Not the 25-Year-Olds We Should Worry About
We like to say age brings wisdom, restraint, perspective. And sure - sometimes it does, but sometimes it does the opposite.
“Age… quite often emboldens people.”
Because when you know you won’t be around for the consequences, your risk appetite goes up.
And while age does bring experience, memory, context - it can also bring ego, and inertia.
And the belief that your story deserves a big finish.
Funny, isn’t it? We’re always told it’s the young people who are too bold, that Gen Z has no respect, that 25-year-olds shouldn’t run companies, let alone countries.
But when you zoom out, it’s not the 30-somethings pushing for world-altering legacy projects.
It’s the 70-somethings. And they’re not doing it with more caution - they’re doing it with less time.
Young Leaders, Long-Term Bets
It’s easy to write off young heads of state as idealistic placeholders.
But leaders like Jacinda Ardern (🇳🇿, took office at 37), Sanna Marin (🇫🇮, became PM at 34), and Gabriel Boric (🇨🇱, elected at 36 and still in office) bring something the legacy-chasing boomers often don’t: a sense of future ownership.
They don’t govern like they’re wrapping things up, but like they’ll still be around when the consequences land.
Which, funnily enough, changes your priorities: turns out the best leadership strategy might just be:
Don’t make huge irreversible decisions if you wouldn’t bet your own future on them.
Old Network, New Money
Last week, Friedrich Merz (69 years old, also not exactly fresh) held a very important, very expensive investment summit in the Kanzleramt with €631 billion on the table.
Dozens of top-tier executives in the room (and two women;)) And yet, this was supposed to be Germany saying: Look! We’re ready for the future!
What it actually showed: a tightly held network, no real interest in representation, and a system still built for men in ties who’ve known each other since the D-Mark.
We’ve Got Time!
Not everyone needs to join a party or crash the next meeting in a red suit. But looking at the status quo - maybe the bar isn’t that high?!
Change is slow, Silence is faster.
Whether that means saying the thing in the meeting you’ve always wanted to say or backing the 22-year-old intern who’s actually right.
Because while the world is being run by old men in a hurry, we’ve got one thing they don’t: Time. Might as well use it :)
In that sense: Happy Monday!
— Constanze
100% agree, and how about this: the young generation is actually way more better connected than the older guys. So a lot of the things we can do probably way faster than them. So leveraging these connections, be faster and be smarter, is key to win over those ego-legacy-driven oldies.