Bridging the gap: How mid-career professionals can lead technology adoption
By Amber Fessler, Contributing Editor | TLT Shop Floor September 2026
As multi-generational teams navigate ever-accelerating change, the colleagues in the middle may be the most valuable asset organizations have.
Author Douglas Adams categorized the human reaction to technology as follows: “1.) Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2.) Anything that's invented between when you're 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3.) Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things.”
The further new technologies get (chronologically or otherwise) from our baseline understanding of how the world works, the more challenging it can be to embrace them. This is especially relevant in view of an aging workforce colliding with ever-accelerating technology. A recent industry talent report found that a significant portion of lubricants professionals are over 55, consistent with general trends projecting that the over-55 portion of the workforce will continue rising globally.
Adoption of new technology can be uneven across multi-generational teams, but this challenge is an opportunity for collaboration and growth among the members. Experienced, late-career professionals have much to teach about established methods and processes but find that new technology demands new habits and workflows as well. Those who are mid-career may find themselves helping to bridge the technology gap between early- and late-career colleagues.
Over the past several years I have been involved in significant changes and technological upgrades to a popular, established monthly webinar program, and the generational differences across the team have been easy to see with each evolution of the program. Early-career participants need minimal instruction to harness the tools provided, and they pivot easily to new ones. They imagine unexpected ways to incorporate resources and shift focus as needed; their questions tend to be not about how to accomplish things, but where the boundaries are. Late-career participants often stick with techniques and topics that have worked for them in the past, drawing from previous experience and occasionally questioning the need to change something that has worked many times. Mid-career individuals also bring their own style and ideas but seem especially well suited to helping the other two demographics find middle ground that creates a strong final product. They often ask questions that expose the value of both perspectives.
As in the webinar example, implementation of technological changes is often the point where early-career professionals (and others with extraordinary comfort with technology) will be off to the races, their late-career colleagues become hesitant, and mid-career professionals can help identify and work through obstacles, ensuring no one is left behind. Hesitancy to change is usually a practical response, an indicator not of intransigence but of rational questions. Will this change increase the time I spend on this task? Does this extra effort benefit me? How is this better than what we did before?
This issue extends to our customers' workplaces, too, where hesitancy to adopt new technology is one way they can end up missing the full benefit of tools we have encouraged them to use. Perhaps an extensive contamination-prevention system has been implemented by a tech-savvy young engineer, but procedures aren't being followed because experienced operators have worked successfully for decades without such a system; a mid-career lubrication expert with fewer years of experience but a broader view of the impacts of cross-contamination may be the right person to frame the proposition. Or maybe oil analysis data hasn't been integrated with a fleet's existing telematics and computerized maintenance management system because the operations manager is already comfortable manually reviewing individual analyses and isn't sure they trust the computer to take over. The mid-career colleague with the agility to demonstrate the integration capability and the experience to review the resulting data together can help the fleet reach the next level of implementation.
An investment in technological advancement can become a waste of capital when the workforce can't collectively see what they stand to gain in time and effectiveness. Organizations should lean on employees in the middle of their careers who can create alignment between those who are comfortable embracing new systems and those with deep experience in established methods. Whether supporting a customer or an internal team, these individuals are often best positioned to translate concepts into familiar terms, gather feedback about concerns and adjust expectations in ways that help processes move from “new” to “new and improved.”
Amber Fessler is senior sector manager, lubricants for CITGO Petroleum Corp. in Houston, Texas. You can reach her at afessle@citgo.com.