Reality Check for Late Gen Xers Public Servants (born in the 70s)

This is a curious phenomenon which ought to be of interest to people who are (i) born in the 1970s and (ii) keen on getting to the top of the corporate ladder, especially in the public service.

So, let's frame the discussion.

• Within the Public Service
• For positions which are mostly filled by promoting people from within the public organisation, i.e. excluding the positions reserved for Administrative Officers (AOs) in general.

If you pay a little attention, you'd realise that many top public service positions, e.g. CEO of a statutory board (or if the CEO position is reserved for AOs, focus on the DCEO position and the senior director positions), have been taken up by individuals born in the 1940s/early 50s for extended periods of time. Extended means around 10 years and more. People born in the 1940s/early 1950s are called the 'Early Baby Boomers' (EBBs).

Remember, we are not talking about all EBBs, but those EBBs who have made it to the top. These are the few EBBs who got themselves a university education (relatively rare during their younger days) and found their way to the top using that degree, hard work and/or connections.

Because these EBBs hung onto their top seats for such long periods, their presence deprived quite a few of those born in the next decade to move into these positions. These are the Late Baby Boomers (LBBs), i.e. those born in the 1950s to early 1960s. By the time these EBB leaders are ready to vacate their seats, the time has passed for LBBs who have the potential to take over, but were given no or little chance to prove themselves.

Instead, the leadership baton skips the LBBs and is passed onto those who are born in the 1960s, i.e. the Early Gen X. Just look around in the Public Service: More and more Early Gen Xers at the helm of public agencies in these few years as the EBB leaders have reached the retirement age.

Here comes the interesting bit.

These Early Gen Xers must feel rather special to be entrusted with the baton that has been the exclusive right of the EBBs for eons. It's like the Grand Master telling you that you are the chosen one to receive the secret manual and precious sabre... and that you are much more special than your seniors, the LBBs. Ego points inflated by infinite times. Hence, it is unlikely for Early Gen X leaders to relinquish their 'hard-won' authority easily.

Furthermore, if these Early Gen Xers have only been specialising in 1 job area for decades, it's difficult for them to generate much value at their leadership salary bands outside of their respective public agencies' domains. Hence, they are gonna try to hang onto their seats, hopefully as long as their predecessors did... or maybe even longer.

To further exacerbate this situation, the mandatory retirement age keeps increasing. If Early Gen Xers had to relinquish their top seats before their retirement age, it would suggest that they had to downgrade to less prestigious/ influential positions. That's not something these accomplished individuals can stomach, especially not in their 50s/60s. Hence, it's more likely that the Early Gen X leaders will try to hang onto their seats very firmly.

What's the Same & Repeating Itself
And so, because history is repeating itself, the Late Gen Xers (born in the 1970s) find themselves in position similar to the LBBs. With the Early Gen Xers still going on strong and for longer periods, the late Gen Xers will be deprived of opportunities at the top when they get to their 40s and 50s.

Also, like how LBBs are facing intense competition from the younger Early Gen Xers for leadership positions, the Late Gen Xers would also face direct competition from the Gen Yers in due time. Gen Yers are considered to have been born into and are more 'connected' in the digital age. Just like how relative to LBBs, Early Gen Xers are more 'tech-savvy'.

Of course, the natural advantage of the younger generation is always the attraction of youth. And somehow, being younger is often associated with being more current and open-minded.

What's Worse This Time Round
Even if some top positions open up for Late Gen Xers, these are highly competitive as a university education (even an ivy league/ oxbridge education) is as common as foreign accents are in the service frontline these days.

Even if one is a scholarship holder, the stratification of scholarships further complicates the competition. There are so many 'scholars' these days, and some scholarships are obviously more prestigious than others.
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So, is there a solution to this?
Let's focus on ruminating on the above-mentioned phenomenon thoroughly, before we attempt to work our way out of it.