Dan Pontefract

Award-winning author Dan Pontefract invites you to take the Age Awareness Organizational Assessment—a free 10-minute reflection that measures how you believe age is being treated in your workplace.

Is Your Organization Age Positive?

Based on research from The Future of Work Is Grey: The Untapped Value of Age in the Workforce, this assessment examines how your organization is preparing for demographic disruption and managing experience across career stages.

Through fifteen diagnostic questions, you’ll evaluate key dimensions of age inclusion—hiring, learning, leadership, knowledge transfer, and workforce planning—to determine how effectively your culture is addressing both Age Debt and the Experience Dividend.

When complete, you’ll receive a detailed PDF report placing your organization within one of five Age Awareness stages. The result will reflect how systems, policies, and behaviours are interacting with the demographic realities of work today.

You will receive one of five profiles:

🥇 Age Golden – Age inclusion is embedded in structure, leadership, and planning. Experience is circulating effectively across all levels.
🧠 Age Savvy – Awareness is strong and visible steps are being taken, though consistency and readiness vary across teams.
⚖️ Age Neutral – Fairness and respect are present, but strategic preparation for demographic change has not yet begun.
🚧 Age Issue – Pockets of imbalance and bias exist; progress depends on addressing uneven readiness across functions.
🔥 Age Crisis – Age Debt is visible in process and culture, and the organization is unprepared for workforce disruption.

Your responses will remain confidential, your data secure, and your report will include a diagnostic overview of your organization’s current state—highlighting the key indicators shaping its age readiness, based on your responses to the assessment.

Take ten minutes to see where your organization stands on the spectrum between Age Debt and the Experience Dividend. Scroll down to begin your Age Awareness Organizational Assessment.

Take the Assessment

Find out if your organization is either Age Golden, Age Savvy, or Age Neutral or if it is suffering from an Age Issue or Age Crisis through the Age Awareness Organizational Assessment. (It’s free!)

Pre-Order "The Future of Work Is Grey"

Praise for Grey

“I highly recommend Dan Pontefract’s new book as a roadmap for leaders who want to turn demographic headwinds into a competitive advantage. Dan’s witty and engaging writing brings complex ideas to life, making The Future of Work Is Grey as fun to read as it is insightful and important for anyone serious about building organizations where every generation can thrive.”

Amy C Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School; Author, 'Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well'
We’re living longer, healthier lives — but in the workplace, ageism still rules. Companies cast aside the very wisdom they need to thrive. In this insightful and timely book, Dan explores this paradox and shows how leaders can build cultures that value, engage, and celebrate the power of experience.

Lynda Gratton, professor London Business School and author of ‘Living the 100 Year Life’
“The Future of Work Is Grey shows leaders how to confidently navigate the upcoming demographic shift. Design work and teams for longer careers, keep wisdom flowing, and build a culture people are proud to be part of.”

Chip Conley, founder of Modern Elder Academy; New York Times bestselling author of 'Learning to Love Midlife'
“Experience is a superpower at work. With rich insight, practical guidance, and a light touch, Dan Pontefract shows how to design workplaces where everyone can thrive — at every age. If you want to harness the new longevity, The Future of Work Is Grey belongs on your reading list.”

Carl Honoré, international bestselling author of 'Bolder'
“Most leaders are stuck managing Q3 (age 50-75) workers and consumers with Q2 (25-50) assumptions—and the result is a looming age gap no organization can afford. Dan Pontefract brilliantly shows how broadening our longevity lens to the 21st century’s new talent and market realities can contribute to innovation, resilience, and growth. This is a playbook for any leader ready to build a truly all-age, all-stage workforce and market. Plus, it’s a great read.”

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Longevity Strategist & Speaker, 4-Quarter Lives podcast host
“Dan Pontefract is an original, insightful and, above all, practical, thinker. The Future of Work Is Grey sheds powerful new light on one of the most pressing talent issues of our age. Experience it to think differently.”

Stuart Crainer, cofounder Thinkers50
The Future of Work Is Grey reveals pragmatic, forward-looking strategies for doing better business in our aging society. Dan Pontefract replaces outdated generational stereotypes with a developmental framework that redefines career trajectories and turns experience into dividends. Insightful, energizing, and unexpectedly fun—complete with pop-music references that tie it all together—this book is an excellent guide to find opportunity in our changing world.

Dr. Leanne Clark-Shirley, CEO and President, America Society on Aging
“Dan Pontefract masterfully shows how longer lives can lead to better work. He provides clear practices for age-diverse teams. When knowledge flows, continuity is strengthened and cultures evolve. A needed guide for leaders ready to ride the age wave.”

Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., bestselling author of 19 books, including 'Radical Curiosity' and 'What Retirees Want'
Dan Pontefract shines a light on one of the most overlooked blind spots in leadership today—age. In The Future of Work Is Grey, he argues persuasively that thriving organizations will be those that value the wisdom of experience as much as the energy of youth. This is not a book about retirement or nostalgia; it is a call for leaders to balance curiosity, flexibility, and humility across every stage of working life. A timely and necessary guide for anyone serious about leading with both head and heart.

Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM Bestselling author of Head & Heart, Blindspotting, Women Kind; Thinkers 50 Ranking and Thinkers50 Distinguished Award for Leadership
“In a time marked by near-constant change and disruption, it is easy to hear only the voices calling for innovation. But Dan’s book calls us to turn down the chaos and tune into a more subtle disruption that most are not paying attention to: demographic shifts in the workforce. This is not a dry exercise in age-related data and workforce planning; rather, it is a timely call to harness the wisdom and intelligence inherent in every demographic now present in our workplaces.”

Tony Bingham, President and CEO, Association for Talent Development
“A lucid, provocative exploration of the “grey zone” in the future of work. Dan Pontefract reveals how this new reality, the massive demographic age shift amid the disruption of AI blurring roles, skills, and value, is fundamentally rewriting the code of the global economy.”

Hamilton MANN, AI Researcher and Bestselling Author of ARTIFICIAL INTEGRITY
“The Future of Work Is Grey is a powerful call to recognize age as an asset. Dan Pontefract brilliantly shows how wisdom and experience can fuel innovation and resilience.”

Faisal Hoque, Founder, Shadoka and NextChapter, and #1 WSJ bestselling author of REINVENT and TRANSCEND.
With a rapidly aging population, ageism, and outdated models of looking at the workplace, we are quickly heading toward catastrophe. However, let’s not push the panic button yet. Dan Pontefract has found companies that are adjusting, rethinking, and reinventing their workplaces. Pontefract’s quick wit and humour make this not only a very informative read but also an engaging and delightful one.

Harvey Deutschendorf, author of "The Other Kind of Smart" and "Emotional Intelligence Game Changers"