How old is too old to lead
There have been many news headlines referring to the age of the current president of the United States Joe Biden, since he took office. During a recent congressional hearing, the secretary of transport of the US was questioned by representative Troy Nelhs about the mental state of the president. The age and mental ability of the US president is a topic of many debates.
President Joe Biden is currently 79 years of age. He is the oldest person to assume the office at age 78, and he would be 81 (15 days from being 82) at the end of his first term and, if re-elected, will be 86 at the end of his second term. As such, Republican opposition talking points have focused on the president and his age, asking if he is mentally fit to serve.
In contrast, the most likely Republican candidate in the next election, former President Donald Trump will be 77 years of age. In 2024, all accusations, Republicans are currently directing at Joe Biden would be levied at Donald Trump, by the Democratic party and by the left-wing media.
It is reasonable to make the argument, that accusations of mental fitness levied against by both party leaders are not sound or difficult to believe unless there is reasonable confirmation by trained medical professionals.
This article is not attempting to make a judgement with regards to President Biden’s age or mental ability. Rather, I would like to ask the general question does age matter when leading a nation?.
Let’s start with leading an organisation
To add some context lets see how things happen in the world of commerce. According to research carried out, focusing on mental abilities, the capability to learn and understand new information peaks at the age of 50[1]. The average age of CEOs across S&P 500 companies is 58. On the face of it, 58 sounds like a reasonable age to lead a company. However, the oldest person to lead an organisation was 79 years of age and the youngest was 26 years of age [2].
Even if the increase and decline of mental abilities are assumed to be linear, 26 seems to be far from the optimum age. However, Mark Zuckerberg was able to start and build a very successful company and remained the CEO of Facebook/Meta. You might consider this as an anomaly, yet, the average age of CEOs of most successful companies is decreasing year over year.
What about a religion
Both Pope Francis and Dalai Lama are over 85 years of age and spend time travelling around the world, engaging with the public.
In contrast to the CEO group, both Pope Francis and Dalai Lama, may be less prone to be in situations that demand a high level of mental taxing, as the devotees are maybe more forgiving.
The CEOs face constant pressure from various stakeholders. As such high level of mental agility and thought leadership is required to stay on top of the game.
Then there is politics
In most countries around the world head of state is an elderly man. The average age of a head state is about 62 years of age. Save specific instances, the typical path of a head of state is to be in politics for a long period, to win the hearts and minds of party members and the population to win an election.
As stated earlier, the optimum age for learning and understanding new information peaks at 50. By age 62, those mental powers may not have waned significantly. However, it is inevitable that as a person gets older mental abilities tend to decline and heads of state are not immune to this fact.
This leads to constant yet convenient criticisms about the lack of mental ability in the western world when the leaders are advanced in age.
In contrast to the western world, in certain regions of the world such as Africa or south-east Asia, age is a sign of being wise and knowledgable. Elders are typically considered leaders of the village and take decisions that affect the entire village. In western society age not be viewed in the same light..
Conclusion
How important is the age where you are in the world when choosing a political leader? Old age may be a sign of experience. Yet, in politics, old age may be an exploitable weakness.
The age of a candidate may be a factor to consider before an election by the electorate.
Once an election is concluded the argument that they are too old to lead is meaningless and counterproductive. Unless there is clear evidence to suggest a head of state is not functioning adequately, the question of age should be considered a topic of distraction rather than productive.
