In The Perennials, Mauro F. Guillen explored the new trends that occurring in the different generations and how times are changing. He defined the term perennials as, “people who are not characterized by the decade in which they were born but rather by the way they work, learn, and interact with others.” He explained how creativity boosts on their twenties and again in their fifties. In their 20’s they rely more on cognitive abilities and when their brain slows down, they rely more on their experience. He looked at BMW’s pioneering and how they choose to approach mutigenerational workplace. They strive to mix over fix generations where they can all collaborate together with their own perspectives and this led to greater productivity and higher job satisfaction. In the book, he also looked at how the common trend is having three careers in a lifetime, how retirement is changing, inheriting, consumer market, and longevity and health.


The book explored the role of the nuclear family structure and how it has changed and fallen. Children used to always move out of their parents’ homes and they would get married and raise their own children. He looked at the history and how divorce and separation is causing more single parent households. There is also an increasing happening of being choosing to live alone all together. They are being described as singletons and some choose to never marry or have children. It also means that living alone is becoming more expensive. There is a trend of seeing the breakdown of the sequential model and the nuclear family. Some of this is related to independence and more self-reliance. He shared how young adults without a college degree are living with their parents. In the past, we believed that parents at some point in life would be empty nesters and this is greatly changing.


I would recommend this wonderful book on the mutigenerational workplace and family dynamic to anyone who is wanting to earn more about what is occurring right now. I loved how he did tons of research for this book and included a number of different studies to clarify the message of this book. I was shocked by reading about the benefits of flex work and how this helped people to feel less stressed and this in fact prevent job burnout. People are also less likely to retire or quit their jobs. I wonder if companies would provide this key feature how much more happiness, we would in turn witness. There should be a fine line balance between work and living your life. Companies could also see less turn over and not waste their times in training someone who doesn’t want to stay. This book is an incredible resource for us to use to learn more about the mutigenerational and the changes that are happening.










"I received this book free from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press for my honest review.”

A decent look at the future. This seems like a reasonable approach to predicting future trends based on generational trends and aging. Probably best for businesses, managers, and marketers.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

Virtually every country in the world has embraced the idea that life proceeds in the following four sequential stages;

Play
Study
Work
Retirement
The author believes the trend of sequential stages is coming to an end and we are entering an era where the perennials will thrive. Perennials are defined as "people who are not characterized by the decade in which they were born but rather by the way they work, learn, and interact with others."

My Thoughts
People are living longer and having fewer children. Multi-generational households are becoming more common.
The demand for social skills in the workplace is increasing. The future will require more soft skills, self-awareness, empathy, networked thinking, and lifelong learning.
The ability to adapt to changes will be crucial in the workplace, in social interactions, and at home. People will be required to adapt, learn, unlearn, and relearn.
This is a fascinating book designed to predict the future trends of the worldwide economy and way of life. This book represents many years of research by the author and his team. The writing style is appropriate for the lay reader as well as professionals in the fields of business, sociology and economics.
I found this book insightful and inspiring.
The world will be a better place if these trends come to pass. Long live the perennials!

In "The Perennials," Mauro Guillen unpacks a sweeping societal shift triggered by demographic and technological transformation. Arguing that terms like "Boomers," "Gen X," "Millennials," and "Gen Z" are divisive and preventing people from truly reaching their full potential, Guillén identifies a new post-generational workforce he terms "perennials" - individuals who are not pitted against each other by age or experience - and how this way of living makes it possible to liberate ourselves from the sequential model of life to level the playing field.

This, in turn, will give everyone a chance at living a rewarding life.

With "The Perennials," the author identifies that this "multi-generational revolution" is already happening and he puts forth specific cultural, organizational, and policy changes needed to be made in order to switch to a new template and promote a new era of innovation.

For those familiar with the author's "2030," "The Perennials" will be familiar with Guillen's extensively researched documentation dominating his argument. Those looking for an "entertaining" read would do well to look elsewhere. This book leans heavily into academia. Guillen is a professor of management at the Wharton School and "The Perennials" continues his long-standing interest in social change and its impact on society.

Guillen has touched on these ideas before, however, with "The Perennials" he expands greatly. There's no question there's some challenging concepts here - for example, Guillen argues that concepts like retirement are now doing more harm than good. However, he constructs his arguments well and it's hard not to be intrigued by them.

I found myself most enthusiastic about "The Perennials" in its closing chapters when Guillen turns toward the specific changes necessary to bring these concepts to life. There's a passion, I'd dare say, to these chapters that is largely absent from the rest of his writing.

I also found myself a bit troubled by basic assumptions that are easily argued against. For example, in early chapters Guillen repeatedly talks about increased life expectancy. Yet, it is well documented that life expectancy in the U.S. is actually falling - yes, it has greatly increased from years ago, however, it would have been nice to explore a possible correlation between this sequential transformation and life expectancy. Has the way we've been living in society impacted our life expectancy?

Overall, I appreciated "The Perennials" even if I didn't always completely resonate with it. Likely to appeal more to those particularly invested in sociological and cultural trends and their impact on business and social change along with those who can appreciate Guillen's extensive research documentation.

I felt like the book was pointing out and elaborating on things I already know, and the writing itself is very dry. It's all references to studies and research, and very little is being added that has actual tangible value for me. Stopped at 8%. I don't quite understand what the goal for the book is.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.