By Brent Green
Two years ago I spoke at the Florida
Boomer Lifestyle Conference in Clearwater, Florida. I entitled my presentation
"The Mission, The Man, The Money: Marketing to Baby Boomer Men." My
goal was to inspire this audience about business possibilities revolving around
Boomer male aging in a society that has often marginalized aging men.
I wanted my audience to understand
why and how Boomer men will challenge the stereotypes and social strictures of
aging. This is a generation that has never settled for outdated traditions, and
collectively men over 50 will create new images of male aging: concepts that
are humanistic, individualistic and empowered. The sociology of Boomer male
aging has vast implications for business, from edgy new products to inspired
services.
On a concurrent track I happened to
be reading Existentialism for Beginners, a concise book written by
David Cogswell, one of my high school classmates and a friend from our college
years. Although I once designed and taught a university course entitled
"Topics and Problems on Humanistic and Existential Psychology," it is
lamentable how much I had forgotten about existentialism and how extensively
this philosophy pervades contemporary thinking and culture. It's a philosophy
for today as all Americans struggle to discover how to redefine and reinvent
themselves in a time of much economic uncertainty and global unrest, a time
when traditional institutions seem to be faltering.
David Cogswell brilliantly grapples
with the complexities of existential philosophy and all the major writers
contributing to this revolution in thought that emerged into popular culture
following dark years of fascism and World War II (although he correctly traces
the roots of existentialism back to the mid-19th century).
As Cogswell writes,
"Existentialism focuses attention and concern on the individual over the
group..." And he conveys a liberating idea: "To achieve an authentic
life, an individual must direct oneself and resist the pressure of mass society
to create standardized human beings."
With Boomer men sensing the end of
their primary careers and a future rife with uncertainties - economic, social
and medical - many are now considering how to avoid becoming standardized aging
humans. Many realize that to resist society's impositions - stereotypes of
aging males, lack of clear purpose that can accompany retirement, and wrenching
searches for deeper meaning, for relevance, for a sense of legacy - they must
do as existentialists intone.
"There is not fixed definition
of a human being," Cogswell clarifies. "We define ourselves through
our choices and actions. We find ourselves in the world, existing in a
particular situation, but must go forward from there to create ourselves."
This is the power and perplexity of
a life-stage so bereft of clear-cut paths. Living beyond 50 and 60 compels most
men to understand their fundamental values and then ascertain how those values
can best be expressed for personal enrichment and enduring benefits for others.
In my Florida speech I presented
some interesting new research about happiness. According to researchers, humans
seem to find greatest happiness early in adulthood and then again late in life,
beyond 50 and 60. Between those bookends looms a mid-life slump when we feel
least happy with our situation.
For American men, that deep trough
arrives around age 56, a chronological anniversary that so many men are now
experiencing. The low point for American women arrives nearly a decade earlier,
possibly in tandem with menopause and empty nesting.
Roughly 12,273,000 American men are
now between 55 and 59, so, according to this research, millions are struggling
with depression and futility that robs us of our sense of life satisfaction,
our happiness. It's not too much of a leap to conclude that many of these men
are grappling with the potential wasteland of an aging life, a sunset not fully
validated with continuing engagement, enrichment and purpose.
Individual men may feel powerless
against external forces of unemployment, layoffs, downsizing and chronic
diseases. But when a generation of men known to challenge authority confronts
this evolving life-stage, transformative beliefs and actions can emerge. A
generation of men that embraced feminism and racial inclusiveness can create
new constructs for male aging, conceptions that are engaging, uplifting and
liberating.
Author Cogswell identifies
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) as the "soul of existentialism," a
thinker who has influenced contemporary psychology, literature, spirituality,
art and music. Nietzsche wrote that "society everywhere is a conspiracy
against the manhood of every one of its members." And it seems true today
that millions of Boomer men, vital and engaged as many now are, must
nevertheless consider how traditional habits in western society could conspire
to strip them of their opportunities to thrive beyond 60 and into bonus years
promised to so many.
I concluded my Florida speech by
resurrecting words written more than a century ago by Walt Whitman:
"I celebrate myself, and
sing myself,
"And what I assume you shall assume,
"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
"And what I assume you shall assume,
"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
"I too am not a bit tamed,
"I too am untranslatable,
"I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
"I too am untranslatable,
"I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world."
Whitman's thoughts are a metaphor,
reflective of the heart of a generation of men looking into the mirror and
seeing the face of male aging. They will not be tamed in the sense of outdated
traditions around aging, and collectively they will bring new meaning to this
life-stage while stimulating reinvention of the businesses and brands that
serve them.
As the great writers about
existentialism would urge, Boomer men must resist all forces compelling them to
become standardized old men. YAWP!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-green/how-baby-boomer-males-wil_b_1326714.html?goback=.gde_4667519_member_221669684
No comments:
Post a Comment