en they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things th

Next time you've got a bunch of senior managers in a room together, ask those who are eligible to retire within five years to leave the room. Then figure out how you're going to replace them.

That's an exercise I've done with senior management in a client company. A full third of the senior people in that room were eligible to take their pension and go within five years.

This is not just a problem in the executive suite. Check out the senior people in sales. Check out the team leaders for key craft functions, the people who usually came up through union apprentice programs.

There are several definitions of the Baby Boom and they all vary a little. But you're safe if you assume that it's people born between 1946 and 1964. In America, that's about 79 million people.

The oldest boomers hit sixty in 2006. In 2011 they'll start hitting sixty-five.

I call their exit "The Boomer Brain Drain." It's not likely that they'll all retire when they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things tha

gement in a client company. A full third of the senior people in that room were eligible to take their pension and go within five years.

This is not just a problem in the executive suite. Check out the senior people in sales. Check out the team leaders for key craft functions, the people who usually came up through union apprentice programs.

There are several definitions of the Baby Boom and they all vary a little. But you're safe if you assume that it's people born between 1946 and 1964. In America, that's about 79 million people.

The oldest boomers hit sixty in 2006. In 2011 they'll start hitting sixty-five.

I call their exit "The Boomer Brain Drain." It's not likely that they'll all retire when they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things th

the team leaders for key craft functions, the people who usually came up through union apprentice programs.

There are several definitions of the Baby Boom and they all vary a little. But you're safe if you assume that it's people born between 1946 and 1964. In America, that's about 79 million people.

The oldest boomers hit sixty in 2006. In 2011 they'll start hitting sixty-five.

I call their exit "The Boomer Brain Drain." It's not likely that they'll all retire when they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things th

tween 1946 and 1964. In America, that's about 79 million people.

The oldest boomers hit sixty in 2006. In 2011 they'll start hitting sixty-five.

I call their exit "The Boomer Brain Drain." It's not likely that they'll all retire when they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things th

en they can and they certainly won't retire all at once, but enough of them could start heading for the exits soon enough that you'd better know how you're going to deal with the Brain Drain in your organization.

There are three things that make this a difficult problem for you. They are lead times, pipelines, and human complexity.

If you need a graduate engineer to fill an entry level position in 2011, when a senior Boomer engineer retires and people bump up the pipeline, that graduate engineer needs to be in college today. The same is true for skilled craft positions where people come through an apprenticeship program.

The people in the pipeline now constrain what you can do with people replenishment in the short term. In the long term, finding enough engineers and craft workers will be a problem that needs to be tackled by the whole industry or country.

Note, though that the overall number of people in the pipeline is less than the number of people who could be retiring. That's because the generations following the Baby Boom are smaller.

This shortage is even greater in several key kinds of work. The number of people getting engineering degrees has been falling for ye