Over the past few months, I’ve found myself thinking quite a lot about the shape of working life — particularly what the next 20 or 30 years might look like for many of us.

Part of that reflection was prompted by reading The Hundred-Year Life by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott. Their central idea is simple but powerful: if people increasingly live into their 90s or beyond, the traditional model of education, career, and retirement starts to look increasingly outdated.

For most of the twentieth century, the model was fairly linear:

But several forces are starting to challenge that structure.

Demographics are shifting

Across most developed economies, people are living longer and birth rates are falling. The result is an ageing population and a smaller proportion of working-age people supporting a larger retired population.

This has some obvious economic implications. Pension systems come under pressure, and governments begin encouraging — or requiring — people to remain economically active for longer.

But the more interesting question is what that means for individuals.

If we are realistically going to be working into our seventies — and possibly beyond — then the idea of a single, continuous 40-year career becomes much less appealing.

People will work for longer — but differently

The idea of “retirement” itself may start to blur.

Instead of a sharp stop at a fixed age, many people will likely move into different forms of work later in life: advisory roles, part-time projects, mentoring, consulting, or portfolio careers.

For many professionals, the final phase of work may look less like climbing a ladder and more like deploying accumulated experience in flexible ways.

In that sense, later-stage careers could become some of the most interesting ones.

The workplace itself is changing

At the same time, the workplace itself is evolving quickly.

Technology, remote work, global collaboration and the rise of project-based teams are reshaping how organisations operate. In many sectors, the idea of staying with one employer for decades already feels outdated.

Instead, careers increasingly look like a series of chapters — moving between organisations, industries, and even entirely new skill sets.

This trend was already underway before the pandemic, but the last few years have accelerated it.

The decline of the traditional career ladder

For much of the last century, careers were structured around clear hierarchies. You joined a company, progressed through a sequence of roles, and eventually reached a senior position — if you stayed long enough.

That structure still exists in some organisations, but it’s becoming less universal.

Today, many professionals move sideways as much as upwards. Some step out of corporate roles to start businesses or take interim leadership positions. Others take deliberate pauses for education, family, or new ventures.

Careers are becoming less like ladders and more like journeys with multiple phases.

A different way of thinking about careers

If working lives are indeed becoming longer and more fluid, then the key challenge for individuals is not simply “progression” but adaptability.

That means periodically investing in new skills, being open to reinvention, and recognising that different stages of life may call for different types of work.

For organisations, it raises equally interesting questions. How do you integrate teams where employees may span five decades of age? How do you retain experienced people who no longer want a traditional full-time executive role?

We may still be in the early stages of this shift. But it feels increasingly clear that the traditional, linear model of career progression is becoming less common.

The next generation of working lives may be longer — but also more varied, flexible and unpredictable.

And perhaps that’s not a bad thing.

The Long View Scenario Builder was developed by Starling as a practical companion to navigating through these issues. It’s a short, guided tool that helps you explore how your working life might unfold across multiple stages — and think more deliberately about the choices ahead. Try it here