Older men force you to mute your emotions. My experience working with older men professionally has allowed me to develop tact and secrecy. Same-aged contemporaries are easily excitable. You want to infect each other with optimism and daydream about the future. The older folk are a lot more realistic, measure their words carefully, and have a finely-tuned BS detector. It’s also easy to mistake younger folks’ cheery attitude and eagerness to build rapport for intent to collaborate. The older guys speak less, do napkin math, and follow-through without the excess enthusiasm. I kind of like it.