SPOTLIGHT: Ushering in a Postgenerational Workplace With Mauro Guillen

The Gartner Talent Angle

Author and professor Mauro Guillén joins the Talent Angle to explain how generational labels, such as “baby boomers” or “millennials,” can be counterproductive in the workplace. Guillén offers an alternative vision of a postgenerational society and advocates for a workplace in which individuals are not confined by their age. He urges HR leaders to instill a “perennial” mindset in their organizations to foster intergenerational collaboration and engage diverse talent pools. Mauro F. Guillén is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School, where he is a professor of management and vice dean for the MBA for Executives Program. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic and technological developments. He has received Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, was honored with the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award, and was elected to the Macro Organizational Behavior Society and the Sociological Research Association. Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner’s human resources practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams that address clients’ key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now known as Aberystwyth University); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.