Hachette UK: Rupert Lancaster reflects on catching new stuff at any age

Reverse Engineering

‘So you’ve qualified?’ said the Middlesex Seniors Cricket organiser when I turned up for an Over 60s training session last week. I like that word, qualified. Made it, at last. There’s a nice circle here because my beloved Uncle Doug (who died aged 101 five years ago) played proper county cricket for Middlesex before World War 2. What he achieved as a young man has taken me a very long time and is a shadow of the level he played at, but I still feel proud for ‘qualifying’. 

 

Rupert Lancaster

 

Being driven by ambition is not something that anyone needs to leave behind at any age. And nor should we abandon the desire for knowledge or learning new skills. There are several phrases in common use that I would tow out and sink into the Atlantic, especially ‘I don’t understand how to [insert digital skill] ’. 

Why not? Why shackle ourselves with ignorance? Our determination at Hachette UK to create a truly intergenerational workforce depends as much on us all actively embracing new technologies, and innovative ways of doing things, as it does on any vision and values statement of intent. Take Artificial Intelligence. Why shouldn’t we, who’ve decades of experience, get deeply involved in seeing how AI might change our working lives for the better? Not just the shiny, ‘Write me a sonnet' or ‘Draw me a picture’ stuff, but AI to do mundane tasks that will enable us to spend more time doing the creative stuff better. Let’s not allow AI to be the exclusive preserve of the cliché of a young demographic. It belongs to us as much as them, and boy is it important for us all to know how it works and what the impact will be. 

So, returning to the cricket, in my first senior game I hit the ball in the air towards a fielder who I hadn’t seen move any part of his body in any direction. Two runs at least, I thought. But then he swooped and caught it rather easily. That’s my metaphor and my message: let’s swoop and catch the new stuff and make it ours. 

Rupert Lancaster

 

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