Do you know how a herd of elephants reduces the threat of violence in its “workplace”? Here’s the short version, when young men reach puberty (new, upcoming employees) they emit a particular odor. Older elephants (seasoned employees, managers, and leaders) recognize that smell, mentor the younger elephants to get rid of the smell quickly and move on out of puberty. If older elephants are removed from the environment (all our seasoned employees and executives are encouraged to take early retirement), the young are never corrected and abnormal violence in ranks of “newbies” reigns (unproductive workplaces as a bare minimum). See anything familiar in what we are doing to our culture at home and at work? The strongest organization (or family) is one that respects all its age levels and levels of expertise regardless of the chronological age of the holder of that expertise. “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When experience is not retained, infancy is perpetual.” — George Santayana

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