Neil Howe
Neil Howe is the Managing Director of Demography at Hedgeye. An acclaimed author and speaker, he is the nation’s leading thinker of today's generations. He is a recognized authority on global aging, long-term fiscal policy, and migration. He is a historian, economist, and demographer, and a leading authority on generational trends. Howe coined the term "Millennial Generation" and is the bestselling author of over a dozen books. He has served hundreds of clients—from Nike and Fidelity to Disney and the U.S. Marine Corps.
Neil Howe Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Managing Director of Demography
Academic History
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Bachelor of Arts
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MA, Economics
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MPhil, History
- Leading authority on social generations
- Has categorized and tracked them going back hundreds of years
- Coined the term "Millenials"
- Believes that generational cycles drive our world
- Drive values
- Drive politics
- Drive goals, ideals, etc.
- Major Cycles:
- Tend to re-shape the politicical/civic world every 80 years: Founding of colonies, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Great Depression
- Between political/civic changes, tend to revamp social/values
- Proposes a 4 period generational cycle of archetypes
- Repeatable cycle shapes generations in their youth
- Causes generations to behave in a certain way when they are of age leaders
- Series of roughly 20 Year Periods:
- High - Heroes of Leadership Age
- Awakening - Artists of Leadership Age
- Unraveling - Prophets of Leadership Age
- Crisis - Nomads of Leadership Age
- Series of Archetypes
- Hero (ex. GI Generation)
- Leaders during a "High"
- born after an awakening & protectively raises
- comes to age during national emergencies
- shapes the future with new systems and order (new civic life)
- Artist (ex. Silent Generation)
- born during the crisis
- Leadership during an "Awakening"
- Prophet (ex. Boomers)
- born after a crisis
- come to age during an awakening
- Leadership during an unraveling
- Nomad (ex. Gen X)
- born during an awakening
- Leadership during a crisis
- Four Turnings: (From 1997 Fourth Turning Book)
- 1) Post Crisis Era (a high) (Spring Season)
- Ex. 1940s - 1960s Americas
- Institutions are strong
- Focused on mainstream (not minorities
- Individualism is week
- Strong collective consensus
- 2) Awakening (Summer Season)
- People wan't to find themselves: stop conforming
- Become more individualized society
- Ex. Late 60s - 80s
- 3) Fall Season
- Late 80s - 90s - 2000s
- Individualism celebrated: Institutions not supported
- 4) Crisis Era (Winter Season)
- Likely started in 2008-2009
- 1) Post Crisis Era (a high) (Spring Season)
- Found idea to look at cycles in history by accident
- In 80s he and Bill Strauss noticed how generations acted differently after WW2
- Were interested in how generations work to make the future better for future generations
- Started to dig deeper & became obsessed
Appearances:
- Spoke at the 2020 Mauldin Strategic Economics Conference