Who is the author of The 100-Year Life?

Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott are the authors of The 100-Year Life.

Personal Development

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Name: The 100-Year Life
Rating: 4.2 (92 reviews)
Author: Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott

Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott

Living and Working in an Age of Longevity

4.2 (92 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

'The 100-Year Life' by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott explores how we can make the most of a longer life, offering practical guidance on skills and mindsets to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Topics

Aging

Table of Contents

The 100-Year Life
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Prepare to enjoy a life that spans a century.

If you knew you would live past 100, would you live your life differently? This may be a tough concept to grasp, as for most of our lives, living to 80 was the upward limit for aging. But this is changing.

Improved medicine and living conditions in many parts of the world have led scientists to believe that living past 100 years will soon become normal – that is, 100 is becoming the new 80.

This will dramatically change how we live and particularly, how we spend our retirement years. These blinks offer a look at what living longer means practically and how you personally can get ready to rock a longer life with your centenarian friends.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

why living longer has serious consequences for pension plans;
how new technology will change how we view work; and
why you need to know the answers to the “big five questions.”

Medical breakthroughs, better hygiene, better sanitation and education have helped us all live longer.

Modern society is replete with examples of happy, healthy children. Yet historically, this wasn’t always the case. The jump in the world’s birth rate is a result of a dramatic rise in human life expectancy, sparked by advances in the treatment of disease common to different stages of life.

Infancy is the first stage, and here medicine has made huge strides. Not so long ago, it was common for children to die before they reached adolescence.

Thanks to improvements in vaccinations, general hygiene and other breakthroughs in medicine like the discovery of antibiotics, many deadly childhood diseases such as smallpox have been mostly eradicated.

Society at large knows more about good nutrition and proper health care, too. All these elements taken together mean children live healthier, longer lives. A child born in 1914, for example, had a one percent chance of living to 100; a child born in 2014 has a 50 percent chance of living that long.

Middle age is the second life stage, and here, many common diseases are now better understood and treated. In the second half of the twentieth century, for example, medical science was able to develop more sophisticated ways to diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Around the same time, new research pointed to ways people could further improve health, while better education got the word out. Smoking was finally seen for the killer it is, which resulted in regulations over tobacco ads and aggressive public health campaigns addressing the risks of smoking.

Today, science is examining the third life stage – old age. Breakthroughs here are certain to produce yet another increase in human life expectancy.

Old-age diseases such as Alzheimer's affect both the quality and length of a patient’s life. Diligent research into diseases like this mean that we’re seeing results, and elderly people are indeed living longer, healthier lives as well.

In 1950, for example, a 90-year-old man living in England had a 30 percent chance of dying within a year; today, that estimate is now 20 percent. Improved nutrition, advanced medical technology and better sanitation are all to thank for this extension of human life.

Rising life expectancy means standard pension schemes and old-age savings aren’t enough.

You don’t need a doctorate in economics to know that the working world has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Your life at the office is no doubt very different from that of your parents’ generation.

But how do such differences relate to increasing life expectancy?

Artificial intelligence is changing the nature of work, but in some areas, humans remain essential.

Your parents today may not even understand what it is that you do for a living – modern work has changed that much in a short time. And it certainly will continue to change as technology influences the workplace.

Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are certainly changing work as we know it. While this technology is still young, we can expect its influence to grow, with the biggest changes yet to come.

Intangible assets like health and self-knowledge are becoming increasingly important.

Are you someone who spends every free minute at the gym, working out to stay healthy? If so, good for you. Taking care of yourself may be more important than you think.

With life expectancy on the rise, staying healthy is all the more essential. For instance, let’s say you develop back pain at age 50, and you’re expected to live until 70. You’ll have to manage your back pain for some 20 years – already a long period.

Allowing for phases of exploration is becoming more important as our life spans increase.

The world’s economy has changed significantly, offering many different working realities for each successive generation. While your parents may have found a job in their 20s that they stuck with until retirement, today your options as a working individual are much broader.

Since young people today are no longer bound by the three traditional stages of schooling, work and retirement, there’s more room for exploration, which is important. Being an explorer can mean learning more about other countries, but it also means exploring your environment and finding your place in it.

A comfortable retirement relies on financial literacy and smart financial planning.

It’s hard to think about retirement plans without thinking about money. While most people know that a comfortable retirement is built through smart accounting, it doesn’t mean that putting your finances in order is an easy process.

In fact, planning for retirement is complex, as it’s hard to anticipate future prices or needs. Yet there are a few tricks to help you plan a path toward a stress-free retirement.

To get the most out of your life, you need to know who you are and develop plans that work for you.

When you meet someone at a party, it’s common to want to know all sorts of things about that person, from where they work to what music they like.

Oddly enough, we show considerably less curiosity when we turn that same lens on ourselves.

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What is The 100-Year Life about?

The 100-Year Life (2016) is your guide to thriving in a world in which people are living longer. These blinks explain how the working world has changed, what it means for your retirement and which adjustments you need to make to enjoy life into the triple digits.

The 100-Year Life Review

The 100-Year Life (2016) is a thought-provoking exploration of the challenges and opportunities presented by living longer. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With its insightful analysis and extensive research, it reveals the shifting dynamics of work, relationships, and retirement in the face of increased lifespans.
The book offers practical strategies for adapting and thriving in a world where traditional life stages are being redefined, empowering readers to make the most of their extended lives.
Through compelling stories and compelling stories and relatable examples, it successfully examines the profound impact of longevity on personal and societal levels, ensuring that the topic never feels dull or mundane.

Best quote from The 100-Year Life

The value creation is the innovation, not the manufacture.

—Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott

Who should read The 100-Year Life?

Anyone born in the 1990s or early 2000s
Employees who feel stuck in a thankless job
Parents worried about the future in which their children will live

About the Author

Lynda Gratton is a professor of management practice at the London Business School. She founded the Future of Work Consortium, a networking event for business executives.

Andrew Scott is a professor of economics at the London Business School. He has served as an adviser to the Bank of England, the HM Treasury and the House of Commons. He holds a PhD from Oxford University and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

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Personal Development Health & Nutrition

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