Why Gen X Might Be the Workplace Superpower No One Talks About

Is youth wasted on the young? Maybe. But what’s truly wasted is the wisdom that companies overlook when they chase "younger and cheaper" at the expense of experience.

If you're Gen X, you’ve probably felt the quiet sidelining. You’re not old, but you’re not the shiny new thing either. Some companies act like your best work is behind you.

If you’ve felt this quiet sidelining, you’re not imagining it. And you’re definitely not alone.

Here’s what I want you to know: your talent didn’t come on the cheap. You earned it through hard knocks, twists of fate, and the relentless, often thankless work of showing up, even when the plan went sideways.

You’ve worked jobs that paid the bills, even when they didn’t feed the soul. You’ve navigated pivots, layoffs, family shifts, and moments when your passion had to take a back seat. And through all of it, you gathered something the spreadsheet crowd often misses: perspective; resilience; judgment; long-term thinking.

You don’t have to stay silent when the market tries to pass you over. In fact, your most meaningful work may still be ahead of you.

Your Best Work Might Still Be Ahead

Take Warren Buffett, for example. He’s known today as one of the world’s greatest investors. But he didn’t truly hit his stride until his late 40s and 50s. That’s when the foundation he’d spent decades building started bearing fruit.

And let’s look at Toni Morrison. She published her first novel at 39, but didn’t win the Nobel Prize in Literature until she was in her 60s. Her career reminds us that our most powerful work often comes after we’ve lived enough life to know what really matters.

Many of us spend our 20s, 30s, and even 40s figuring things out. Paying the bills. Taking in the opportunities that came our way. And in the process, we gained something there are no shortcuts for: lived experience.

So where does that leave you now? If companies are too focused on chasing the new shiny thing, how do you help them recognize the real value you bring?

You can’t change your age, frankly, and you shouldn’t want to. But what you can do is make sure your experience doesn’t stay invisible. Your wisdom, adaptability, and knowledge are competitive advantages. The key is knowing how to frame them.

Here are three ways to start doing exactly that.

Tell better stories about your experience

Most résumés can read like a checklist. Job titles. Responsibilities. Skills. But if you want people to see the real value of your experience, you’re going to have to go a little deeper.

You’re not just someone who’s been around. You’re someone who’s made things better, steadier, smarter. So when you talk about your career, don’t just list what you did. Tell the story of how your presence changed the outcome. What did your team gain because you were there? What did you see that others didn’t? What judgment call did you make that kept a project on track?

You’ve seen enough to know that outcomes aren’t just about effort—they’re about timing, nuance, and knowing which battles to fight. That’s the wisdom companies don’t realize they need—until they’re missing it.

Make your adaptability visible

Gen Xers are no strangers to change. We’ve lived through industry disruptions, economic upheavals, tech revolutions, and we’ve managed to stay in the game through all of it. That speaks to our adaptability as everything changes.

The trick now is making sure others see that as a strength, not a weakness. Talk openly about the pivots you’ve made; how you transitioned into different industries, led through uncertainty, or reimagined your role when circumstances shifted. Frame it as leadership, and not as survival.

Change didn’t sideline you; instead, it sharpened you. And when a company is facing its next round of disruption, you are exactly the kind of steady hand they’ll wish they had in the room.

Shift the conversation from age to advantage

If the room starts whispering about age, don’t engage in that debate. This is your opportunity to change the conversation and talk about what really matters: the value you bring.

You’ve got strategic insight built from years of pattern recognition. Emotional intelligence forged through real relationships. Judgment that doesn’t come from a book, but from weathering real storms. It’s an asset companies would be wise to plug into.

You’ve led people, built trust, delivered under pressure, and made decisions that stuck. Those aren’t soft skills. They’re core competencies. And when you frame them that way—with clarity and confidence—you make it clear: experience isn’t a liability. It’s your edge.

This is what I want you to do: Take a step back and look at your story. Not just your job history, but the moments that shaped you. The pivots you pulled off. The people you led. The values you held onto when things got hard. All of it. That’s the edge that you possess, and no one can replicate it.

This is more than convincing companies of your worth. It’s about seeing it in yourself. The more you own the value of your journey, the more powerfully you’ll show up—for the next chapter, and the ones that follow.

I’m Richard Taliaferro. I’m a certified career and health coach specializing in helping mid-stage professionals gain clarity on their career journey. I’ve written a guide on how to escape the work hamster wheel. Click here to download yours.