Abstract
Recent events in the US Presidential race have focused people around the world on the topic of leadership and age. When is a leader, whether of a country or a business, too old to do the job? When should this aging leader recognize that he or she must make way for a like-minded and competent younger person -- as outgoing President Joe Biden did when he dropped out of the race for re-election and anointed his younger vice president, Kamala Harris, in his place? As a family business professor, working in Italy but internationally oriented, I’ve seen family firms grappling with this question too. I always noticed that in my own country CEOs looks particularly old. The latest report of the AUB observatory, the Italian official family business monitor by the Association of Italian Family Firms (AIDAF), Unicredit and Bocconi, confirms that 27% of Italian family businesses are led by people over 70. You may think, as I have thought, that people should retire by age 70. However, if so many companies are led by relatively old people, there must be good reasons. And indeed, there are many advantages related to having an older leader.