It depends.
In the wake of facebook's public offering, and with the recent influx of under-40 (and sometimes under-30) CEOs of technology and internet companies, it seems the traditional grey-haired-CEO-in-a-suit is not quite as universal as in years past. This recent article in the Wall Street Journal online talks about the pros and cons of younger vs. older CEOs, and comes to some pretty reasonable and unsurprising conclusions: younger CEOs tend to be more energetic and innovative, and to be willing to take more risks; older CEOs tend to be more skilled at managing both people and processes, to be more balanced and nuanced in their judgement of complex issues, and to bring to bear their wider range of experience in solving problems.
If I substituted the word "people" for the word "CEO" in that sentence, it would still be mostly true: youth specializes in energy, risk-taking, and fresh thinking, while age (one hopes) brings wisdom and the experience to handle the vicissitudes of life with grace and aplomb. And the strengths of each, when taken to an extreme or used inappropriately, become Achilles' heels: young people can over-commit, have unrealistic expectations, or lack the necessary skill to deliver on their energy. And older people can be complacent or change-averse, or make simple things unnecessarily complex.
So maybe, rather than "who wins?," a better question is "How do I, as a leader, balance my age-related strengths and weaknesses?"
The best way I know of to do this (and I see good leaders doing it on a daily basis), is to make sure you have smart, committed people of all ages on your team. Rely upon them for the things you presently lack, and invite them to teach you to be more like them.
For example, today I was facilitating a group of about 50 people from a large organization who were coming up with short and mid-term product ideas for the digital part of their business. There were definitely some folks who had not yet seen their 30th birthday, a few on the sunset side of 60, and everything in between. I noticed a refreshing lack of we've-already-tried-that-and-it-didn't-work type comments from the older contingent, and an equally pleasant absence of eye-rolling and general dismissiveness from the younger folks. The happy outcome: a number of excitingly fresh and yet feasible ideas for the core team to build into their planning cycle.
Fortunately for all of us, the core qualities necessary for learning from others -- curiosity, openness, and intelligence -- aren't age-related. So whether you're navigating your 20s or entertaining your grandkids, as a leader, you can take full advantage of the strengths of people at every stage in life.
