Table Of ContentThe 100-Year Life
To Nigel and Diane
The 100-Year Life
Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Bloomsbury Information
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Praise for the 100-Year Life
This playfully original book goes well beyond existing single-dimensional
discussions of the major demographic transformations of our age, arguing how a
different, exciting and challenging new world might be awaiting us. Blending
economics, psychology and sociology, it makes a compelling case that as our
lives become longer and healthier, the future might just be very very different
from what we have known until now.
Daron Acemoglu, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics,
Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A lifetime that lasts a century is a gift that few of us are prepared for. It will
force all of us to change the way we plan and live every facet of life. Societies
will have to transform and this thought-provoking book by Professors Gratton
and Scott will compel leaders to think hard about how organizations can adapt to
this change and make the most of it.
N. Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Consultancy Services
This is a timely, fascinating and thought-provoking book, full of wonderful
information about the potential of a 100-year life. A brilliant read for
individuals, but it should be mandatory reading for our politicians and those
responsible for planning in health and social care.
Shirley Cramer CBE,Chief Executive, Royal Society for Public Health
Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott have written an important and highly readable
analysis of the problem that most governments and corporations would prefer to
ignore. A lot of us are going to live a lot longer than our grandparents – indeed,
more than half of today’s kids will live to be 100. This has implications for much
more than just our personal finances. Our entire lives, they argue convincingly,
will need to be reconfigured to deal with the unprecedented lifespans we are
being granted. Required reading for baby boomers and millennials alike.
Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard
University
Gratton and Scott’s must-read treatise helps us see crucial patterns in modern
life, where we’re headed, and what we can and must do now – in both our
private and public worlds – to create pathways for greater human freedom during
our expanding time on earth.
Stewart Friedman, Director, Wharton Work/Life Integration Project,
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Getting the right investment of assets across a long life is not straightforward.
The 100-Year Life presents a provocative and sophisticated analysis of both
tangible and intangible assets and, in a series of fascinating scenarios, shows
how it can be done. In doing so, Gratton and Scott have created a classic.
Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer, Aberdeen Asset Management
This timely, important, easy-to-read and intriguing book will make you pause
and think, as well as better plan your life. The lengthening of life is a very real
phenomenon, bringing with it unpredictable changes and challenges, but also
significant opportunities. With increased life expectancy, how do you get the
most from your life? How do you leverage your abilities while at the same time
taking advantage of life’s opportunities? Gratton and Scott’s book is a wake-up
call for individuals, organizations, governments and societies. Relevant to young
professionals as well as seasoned leaders, this book introduces readers to a new
reality: multi-stage professional and personal lives that encompass different
careers and transitions. Full of practical insights, this book helps readers to build
and live a life worth living.
Boris Groysberg, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business
School
Longevity has been rising in rich countries at a continuing remarkable rate. How
having a lot more time will affect our lives – as workers, consumers and family
members – is a fundamental social, economic and psychological question that
has received far too little thought. The authors discuss the implications of rising
longevity for all these aspects of our lives, making sensible predictions and, at
least as important, forcing all of us to think about these crucial issues.
Daniel S. Hamermesh, Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway
University of London and Sue Killam Professor Emeritus, University of
Texas at Austin
I found hundreds of insights in this book about the 100-year life. The authors
understand implicitly that not only is the world as we know it changing beyond
all recognition but the way we lead our lives is too. This book could not be more
timely or necessary.
Julia Hobsbawm, Founder and CEO, Editorial Intelligence Ltd and
Honorary Visiting Professor in Networking, Cass Business School
Living 100 years and working productively for the greater part of them will soon
be a reality. That means that life stages as we know them have to be reinvented.
Gratton and Scott’s wonderful book prepares us – individuals, organizations and
societies – for the possibilities of this brave new world of longevity and teaches
us what it will take to thrive in it.
Herminia Ibarra,The Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning,
INSEAD
With The 100-Year Life Gratton and Scott have accomplished the near
impossible: a book that admirably provides both incredibly important personal
advice and a public policy primer. The book delivers sound, straightforward and
vital advice on both the risks and rewards of living much longer than we ever
imagined would happen to us, and on how to make better decisions so that we
are happier at each life stage. It also lays a strong foundation for policy makers
to reconsider the unintended consequences of policies and regulations that both
enable and inhibit our ability to live a century-long life to its fullest.
Alec Levenson, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Effective
Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern
California
Too many books bemoan the economic problems facing ageing societies. This
splendid book is quite different. It rightly sees increased rising life expectancy as
a wonderful gift, but explores the multiple ways in which individuals, companies
and societies must adapt if we are to seize the opportunities before us. Well
written and combining insights from psychology and economics, it should be
read by anyone who wants to understand how life chances and choices will be
transformed in a world where living beyond 100 will become the norm.
Lord Adair Turner, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for New Economic
Thinking; formerly Chairman of UK Pensions Commission
What happens when working lives extend to 80 years? In this provocative and
insightful book the economist Andrew Scott and psychologist Lynda Gratton
show what it takes to make this a gift rather than a curse. This book is destined
to fundamentally change the way we think about long lives.
Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children
The lengthening of life is set to have just as profound an impact on our lives as
did the explosion in female employment and the transformation of the nuclear
family which marked the late twentieth century. To understand how and why
things may change, there can be nowhere better to start than with the fascinating
100-Year Life.
Baroness Alison Wolf, Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector
Management, King’s College London
Contents
Introduction
1 Living: The gift of a long life
2 Financing: Working for longer
3 Working: The employment landscape
4 Intangibles: Focusing on the priceless
5 Scenarios: Possible selves
6 Stages: New building blocks
7 Money: Financing a long life
8 Time: From recreation to recreation
9 Relationships: The transformation of personal lives
Agenda for Change
Engaging with the 100-Year Life
Notes
Index
