> last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35

ah yes, the formative years of 5-15 spent in 1-1 with my manager has drastically shaped my life & experience /s

I gave it a pass for those decades being in "recent memory" even if the experience wasn't first hand.

Easy now, I think it's pretty easy to see that he's talking about "three decades" generally, a decade in his own experience and two or more generalized out. You can know about things that you don't directly experience.