Do you have a career identity crisis?

By Marcia LaReau

Today, entire industries are collapsing at record speed. Trusted skill sets have become obsolete and new skills are in demand. In the midst of this unparalleled scope and speed of change, our future rests in our ability to sustain a credible career identity that is flexible, adaptable and embraces an inclusive, multi-cultural and global awareness.

How many times can one person experience an identity crisis?

Yes, that’s right…there have been several. When I finished high school I knew that I would major in music. There was no question in my mind that I was a headed for a music career. After college, I landed a job teaching at a state university and for over 15 years worked my way up through the ranks. Then came the first identity crisis—the “all too real” glass ceiling.

Over time I retooled my skills and conducted a semi-professional orchestra. My job was unexpectedly terminated— identity crisis Number 2. I went back to school for a performance degree and studied with a world-class conductor and pedagogue. After graduation while applying for new positions— 9/11. My entire industry took a hit***—identity crisis Number 3. I had to scramble.

I landed a corporate position as a Quality Control Analyst, then as a Training Director, but I was laid off after 15 months. With the help of some excellent career coaching I reinvented myself as a project manager and after 8 months re-entered the corporate landscape. Did you catch identity crisis Number 4?

Five years later, after I had transitioned to Human Resources, most of my division was laid off and the human resource labor pool hit market saturation. Meet identity crisis Number 5. I started my own business a year later in 2007. This is the sixth year of operations and I realize I’m going to make it.

As odd as it seems, I have already planned my next career identity and hope to achieve it within seven years. I’m no longer a victim. I’ve taken charge.





What is Career Identity?

My definition:

Career identity is the distinction given to ourselves or by an outside entity that defines the nature of the value that we bring to the work place. For example, Project Manager, Receptionist, Customer Service Representative, and Curriculum Designer.

Are people simply ambivalent about their careers?

Dr. Judith Sherven, PhD (who has over 6,400 followers on LinkedIn!), wrote the article: Why People Are So Afraid to Own Their Careers.

The primary reasons people gave were:

• Self-promotion is uncomfortable, 
• Office politics are “demeaning” and, 
• Reducing one’s career to a 90 second elevator speech is unreasonable and they didn’t know where to start. 

All these reasons are truly valid and they are all personal. The career crises in my career were a combination of individual crises and global and systemic changes that were completely out of my ability to influence.

NOTE: Dr. Sherven gives excellent tips on how to mentally process the primary reasons people gave for their personal career identity. She also brings action steps to manage those challenges. If you relate, please read the article.

New causes of a career identity crisis:

There are probably as many reasons for a career identity crisis as there are people who have experienced them. With the speed of change that is affecting commerce, I believe there are critical components that factors into the equation. Failure to do so is to be left on the side of the road.

The Great Recession, new advancements in technology, and demographic changes in our labor pool have, in my opinion, brought about identity crises for segments of the working population.

Here are a few examples:

• In the U.S. in 2012, college grads faced a combined unemployment and underemployment rate of 52 percent. This is partially a result of the high number of Millennials entering the workforce. 

• Tablets and other technologies have brought changes to the printing industry, especially newsprint. 

• Global communications have, in part, laid the foundation for countless technology jobs to migrate offshore to India and beyond. 

• With the emergence of social media, the marketing industry has changed dramatically and new skill sets have emerged as the former trusted skillsets have become obsolete.

• These and other change-agents have brought to the fore, the need to hone the skills to be able to change career identities throughout our work-life.

Gone are the days of the gold watch!

That’s right. There was a time when a person started their career with one specific job. Perhaps they processed orders, sold products, or analyzed business needs. They expected to stay with “their” company for the duration of their career. They looked forward, “with great pride” to the day they received a gold watch.

Not anymore.

Today, we are expected to change jobs every three or four years. The very work we perform at the workplace will not likely be there in four years (so thirty-five years…?). And finally, the gold watch. It too has become a relic.

Tips on creating your career identity:

Whether you are a recent graduate trying to establish your career identity, or you already have career experience:

• Be selective in your networking activities so there is time to establish real relationships and genuinely demonstrate your value to select members in your network. Choose carefully. 

• Routinely and intentionally find people that you respect and can serve as accountability partners. These are people you get to know well and connect with on a regular basis. Choose thoughtfully.

• Identify quality leaders and visionaries in your industry and follow them. Choose broadly. When an opportunity arises to connect with them, do so. 

• Especially if you are in your early career, find mentors who will challenge you and champion you on your career path. Choose wisely. 

• If you are in your mid or late career, select and mentor individuals who are finding their way. Choose liberally. 

• Make a commitment to your industry, to be informed and aware of the factors that may cause a change in direction. 

• Remain flexible, keep a global perspective, and be willing to embrace new cultures and new technologies. 

A four and eight year plan:

1. Think about the kind of positions or roles you would like to fill in eight years. 
2. Ask, “What kind of people are selected for these positions?” These become your target positions in four years. (Search for job postings and check out the Requirements to find the needed skills, experience, and training.) 
3. Now ask what kind of position you need now to be ready for the next step in four years. 
4. These are the positions you should apply for now. 
5. Once you land a job, watch for changes in your industry and adjust your four and eight year goals to change with the future forecast. 

*** Since 9/11 an orchestra has closed its doors every week. That’s approximately 630 orchestras.

Called a Creative Thinker, Career Futurist, and a person of unusual solution, Marcia LaReau founded Forward Motion, LLC in 2007. Since that time, she has become a recognized leader in the employment industry, and Forward Motion has spread across the United States and abroad to help jobseekers find jobs that fit.

Website: http://forwardmotioncareers.com/
Blog: http://forwardmotioncareers.com/category/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ForwardMotionUS

The spurious historical origins of how we think about retirement

By Neil Patrick

My father retired 25 years ago. He wasn’t an especially high earner. He taught at a University, but he was offered a big financial incentive to retire early. He took the money and settled into a life of golf, gardening, tennis and socialising. A quarter of a century more or less doing what he felt like and more or less worry-free.

That sort of outcome seems a remote possibility for most of my generation.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released this week found unsurprisingly that the majority of older workers are delaying their retirement plans. They also report that reaching 65 won’t necessarily mean they exit from the workforce.

Some 82% of workers aged 50 and older say it is likely they will work for pay in retirement. And 47% of them now expect to retire later than they previously thought - on average nearly three years beyond their estimate when they were 40.

At first I envied my father. All that time. Endless days to spend doing whatever he wanted. But then I thought again. As he became more and more removed from the world of work, I saw how he also became more and more disconnected from how the world was evolving. The biggest change that passed him by was the endless rise of technology and digital media.

He knows how to browse the web with his iPad, but he still cannot send an email. He finds it extremely difficult to interact with web pages to do even simple things like getting his groceries delivered.

And keeping in touch with friends and family is becoming harder too since he refuses to dial a mobile phone number because he’s paranoid about the risk of being charged more for the call than he would be on a landline.

The world is slowly but steadily becoming a more and more alien place for him. And so I’m not so sure anymore that my father’s experience was such a dream ticket after all.

In the beginning, there was no retirement. Because there were no old people. In the Stone Age, everyone was fully employed until age 20, by which time nearly everyone was dead, usually of unnatural causes. An early man who lived long enough to turn grey was either worshiped or eaten as a sign of respect.

By Biblical times, when a fair number of people made it into old age, retirement still had not been invented and respect for old people remained high. In those days, it was customary to carry on until you dropped, regardless of your age group. When a patriarch could no longer farm, herd cattle or pitch a tent, he opted for more specialized, less labor-intensive work, like prophesying and handing down commandments. Or he moved in with his kids.

As the centuries passed, the elderly population increased. By early medieval times, their numbers had reached critical mass. It was no longer just a matter of respecting the occasional white-bearded patriarch. Old people were everywhere, giving advice, repeating themselves, complaining about rheumatism, trying to help, getting in the way and making younger people feel guilty.

To the annoyance of their offspring, they also tended to hang on to their wealth and property. This made them very unpopular with their middle-aged sons, who were driven to earn their inheritances the old-fashioned way, by committing patricide. Even as late as the mid-18th century, there was a spate of such killings in France.

Clearly aging and what to do about it was a becoming a problem.

Otto Von Bismarck

In 1883, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck of Germany inadvertently created a solution. Marxists were threatening to take control of Europe. To help his countrymen resist this threat, Bismarck announced that he would pay a pension to any nonworking German over age 65. Bismarck was no dummy. Hardly anyone lived to be 65 at the time, given that penicillin would not be available for another half century. Bismarck not only co-opted the Marxists, he set the arbitrary world standard for the exact year at which old age begins and established the precedent that government should pay people for growing old.

It was the physician William Osler who put forward the ‘scientific’ argument that, when combined with a compelling economic rationale, would eventually make retirement seem to be acceptable. In his 1905 valedictory address at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Osler said it was a matter of ‘fact’ that the years between 25 and 40 in a worker's career are the ''15 golden years of plenty.'' He called that span ''the anabolic or constructive period.'' Workers between ages 40 and 60 were merely uncreative and therefore tolerable. He hated to say it, because he was getting on, but after age 60 the average worker was in his view ''useless'' and should be put out to pasture.

Retirement came in very handy in the United States, where large numbers of aging factory workers were wandering around the Industrial Revolution, slowing down assembly lines, taking too many personal days and usurping the places of younger, more productive men with families to support. It was one thing when an occasional superannuated farmer leaned on his hoe in an agrarian culture -- a few bales of hay more or less didn't matter. But it was quite another when lots of old people caused great unemployment among younger workers by refusing to retire.

The Great Depression made the situation even worse. Retirement was a necessary adaptation and everybody knew it, but the old guys were not going quietly. The toughest among them refused to quit, even when plant managers turned up the conveyor belts to Chaplinesque speeds.

Francis Townsend (right)

By 1935, it became evident that the only way to get old people to stop working for pay was to pay them enough to stop working. A Californian, Francis Townsend, initiated a popular movement by proposing mandatory retirement at age 60. In exchange, the Government would pay pensions of up to $200 a month, an amount equivalent at the time to a full salary for a middle-income worker. Horrified at the prospect of Townsend's radical generosity, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the Social Security Act of 1935, which made workers pay for their own old-age insurance.

So these ideas about how and when we participate in work have clear historical origins. But are these rationales still valid today, when life expectancy and health care continues to advance and the world has a whole new set of economic and social challenges at both the macro and micro levels?

Should we accept the norms that have become accepted even though they came about more or less by chance and expediency and are founded on pseudoscientific arguments from the 19th and early 20th centuries?

Personally, I am choosing to adjust my life plan to one that isn’t headed towards a shutdown when I reach 65. Assuming my health permits, I intend to work for the whole of my life.

Even if that doesn’t suit the government.



Some parts of this post have been adapted from an original article by Mary-Lou Weisman form the New York Times March 21, 1999:
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/21/jobs/the-history-of-retirement-from-early-man-to-aarp.html

How employers are wrecking lives

By Linda McSweeny

Spring is upon us, Australia's collective well-being is booming, and our economy is the envy of the world. Yet far from enjoying the fruits of their labours, many workers - even those in well-paying professional jobs - are living in fear that their livelihoods may disappear.

Whether it be the post-Global Financial Crisis unemployment horror stories filtering through from overseas; the rapid rate of technological change that has meant workers can be "on tap" 24 hours a day, or the rapid pursuit of material benefits, many workers fear that the only way they can stay afloat is to work harder and longer - often at the expense of their health.

Psychologist Dr Tim Sharp says work-related angst in Australia is very real. He says the GFC has shaken the confidence of many workers, particularly in industries such as banking, but he also says the modernisation of the workplace means we no longer have "jobs for life" and people are struggling to adjust to this new reality.

Edward* is 40. He has two university degrees, a loving family, and what appears to be the textbook life he craved as a young boy. But beneath the rosy surface lies a man sweating about job security. The operations manager for a global company rarely switches off from work, toiling from home at night and on weekends, juggling his smartphone and laptop and waking in the small hours to answer phone calls from clients. He often can't sleep because work issues pull him from his slumber.

Edward rarely engages in social activities or sport but tries to spend any spare time interacting with his two young children and partner, who works part time. He contemplates scrambling out of his work-heavy hole but can't fathom an exit plan. He says he has already made one career switch and doesn't fancy another.

"I know it's not sustainable for myself or my family to keep working around the clock and fixating on the fear that I could lose my job, but if I say no to my boss when he needs me, he'll find somebody who will do it," Edward says. He admits his fears were heightened after he watched three of his close work colleagues made to move on from their jobs in recent months.

The fear of job loss is real, even in Australia's reasonable economic climate, and researchers say there's mounting evidence of mental health issues arising from organisational downsizing and global economic crises.

Tony*, a 30-something finance worker, says he works about 70 hours a week to ensure he maintains his "high performer" status. He's also responsible for implementing downsizing operations and sees firsthand scores of colleagues increasing their work hours and input and/or turning to alcohol to cope with the fear of being the next worker asked to leave.

"I know that if I overperform and stay ahead of the pack, I'll be reasonably safe, though you can never really be sure of these things," Tony says.

But he feels battered by the consistently long hours, work-related travel and reliance on alcohol to alleviate stress. "I'm in my mid-30s but I feel like I'm 50 actually, I honestly do."

Those employees left standing in organisations or industries facing cuts often start to show signs of mental and physical stress as they fear being the next one to find themselves unemployed, according to studies cited by University of NSW psychiatrist and Black Dog Institute researcher Dr Samuel Harvey. Some push themselves into productivity overdrive simply out of fear of job loss.

Downsizing may increase sick leave and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in employees who keep their job, according to a paper in BMJ (the former British Medical Journal). The results of the study, conducted in four towns in Finland during a severe economic decline from 1991 to 1996, were so stark, the authors called on policymakers, employers and occupational health professionals to recognise that downsizing may pose a "severe risk to health".

There was a clear rise in suicides after the GFC of 2008, with almost 5000 more suicides - primarily men - across 54 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia in 2009, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

"We know that just being in fear of losing your job is also associated with poorer mental health. Those people who feel less secure in their job have higher rates of mental health symptoms and lower rates of mental well-being," Harvey says.

Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein recently highlighted what he saw as a mismatch between Australia's economic status and the attitude of its workforce.

"I've been coming here for a long, long time and during the past two decades of growth, growth, growth, people are always distraught, overwrought, wringing their hands about how horrible things are and, to my observation, they don't look that bad."

Real or imagined, a perception of job losses affects productivity, stress levels and family life, and researchers are trying to find evidence on which tools are best to help people deal with their fears, such as e-health and resilience programs supported by employers.

"What drives that perception is sometimes reality, but it's sometimes more about that individual and their way of viewing the world and their place within it. Some people are just worriers and we know that's a risk for mental health problems. But there's a lot of work going on now about whether you can help people build their levels of resilience and teach them techniques to alter the way they view some of these risks and the extent to which they ruminate on them," Harvey says.

Employers are being urged to help with the mental health of workers via the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance partnership between business, community and government. One of its aims is to find out what works and what doesn't when it comes to a mentally healthy workplace.

"Sometimes [job losses] have to happen, but certainly if people pause and think about the way they happen and the support given to individuals, we might be able to prevent some of these problems," Harvey says.

Sharp says the first step for workers is to seek information from their employer if they fear job loss to ensure they know what they're dealing with. Sometimes they can improve their performance, but other times, it may be beyond their control while an organisation seeks to downsize. For employers, they should reassure their workforce as best they can, to give employees a sense of security and stability.

Job loss was real for Sydneysider Nigel Marsh, who found himself "fat, 40 and fired" in 2003 and was so affected by the upheaval, he wrote a book about his experience, which is poised to become a TV series.

"For me, it was absolutely devastating," Marsh says. "I was a 40-year-old man with four children under the age of five and a wife who didn't have a job, so I thought my life was over. I thought I may never work again. It was totally devastating."

Marsh says he had an inkling of impending doom when talk of a merger involving the company that employed him began. Since the release of his book, he has received harrowing emails about people's job-loss stories in a society that he says glorifies overwork.

"You get this thing where people say, for example, 'Oh Amanda, she's so wonderful, she's always the first in, she's always the last to leave, she works every weekend, and she never takes any of her holidays', and you go, 'Well why are we holding that up as heroic when it's moronic or tragic?' It shouldn't be held up as, 'Oh yippee!', it should be seen as sad. Let's give her some help," Marsh says.

While his situation felt disastrous when it happened, the job loss gave him time to change his life. He took a redundancy package, wrote his book, lost weight, got fit, gave up alcohol and became more present in his family's life. He says any anxiety he has about job loss is now manageable.

"I've embraced the fear. I've tried to turn anxiety into anticipation. Until 40, I was taking a conventional approach to work; since then, I've been trying a different route," says Marsh, who now works in the corporate world, as well as being the author of three books, founder of the Sydney Skinny swim event, and a public speaker.

The key for employers to help in the mental health of their workers is to share information and ensure there are no surprises, says the University of Sydney's Workplace Research Centre director, Professor John Buchanan.

"If people get advanced notice, it makes a huge difference to their capacity to adjust and minimise the negative impact," he says.

*Names withheld

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/lifestyle/life/when-the-work-day-never-ends-20130920-2u42c.html#ixzz2fi3gI2Kf

What I know now – 9 lessons from my life

By Jim Langendorf

My last post was about my realization that my life was at half time and that I now knew the things I wish I'd have known when I was 23.

Upon further reflection, I thought a list of those lessons would be helpful.

I have nothing to fear if I am not liked. The most important lesson, which is applicable to business and professional life alike is that I am worthy of respect, if not affection. I don't like everyone and they are as unharmed by my lack of affection for them as I am of theirs for me. 

Time is fleeting but patience is rewarded. One must act with conviction, but be prepared to wait for results. It is often not clear what the consequences of our actions will be, but if you believe you are right, then you should act.

Consistency and diligence beat flashes of brilliance. Some of the brightest students in law school were unable to pass the bar exam. They could bring it to an essay exam for a class, and get As, but they could not maintain their focus and concentration at the big moments in July and February. Better to be regularly competent than only infrequently extraordinary. (See, Thomas Edison).

The front line of any organization is what gets work done. If you want to assure failure and rejection, then treat the waitresses, clerks, cashiers and janitors with disdain and disrespect. Almost everyone has to start somewhere. Some people start and stay lower on the "ladder." But they are mothers, fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. They are important in their own way in their own world. Almost everyone is doing the best that they can. Understand and respect them and thank them for their efforts.

Tip generously when it's deserved. Tip generously in advance to guarantee great service.

Show up and act like you belong where you are. If you believe, then other people are inclined to believe it too. If you believe that you can do anything and be anywhere you want, then you can be. It may be that simple.

There is a virtually infinite amount of money circulating the planet. You can have as much as you want, but you have to make an effort to get it. It will not automatically flow to you. Trillions are flowing all of the time. You only need a small part of that flow to be wildly rich. If I knew exactly how to do it, then I'd be rich too. I'm still working on the mechanics.

Go big. You can spend an hour digging a ditch, or selling industrial supplies, or learning how to finance a rental property with no money down. The hour digging a ditch pays quickly but only a little bit. The closed sale, or the refinanced rental may take a little longer to actually happen, but the payoff is far greater. Put your time into high return efforts and act on them, consistently.

Be courageous. Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen? Or remind yourself of the worst thing facing you a month, or six months, or even a year ago and recognize that you made it. It passed. Be bold. It pays off.

On that note, I am off to work. I have to litigate, settle and ideate for a while. Check out my website, http://www.langendorflaw.com/


Jim Langendorf is a law firm operator and an entrepreneur who spends much of his time in federal court recovering unpaid overtime wages for his clients. When he isn't practicing law, he is on a mission to self-improvement, wealth and health. He is always looking for opportunities where everyone wins.

Jim authors two blogs, Rashinal Thoughts http://rashinality.blogspot.com/and the more legal industry focused Donning and Doffing, http:// http://donanddoff.blogspot.com/ He welcomes new followers to both.

A Message from Millenials to Boomers – We Want Traditional Values Back

By Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea

When I was invited to speak about leadership at a local high school recently, I found myself looking out into an audience of expectant faces - typical American parents concerned about their kids' future at a time when jobs are scarce, college costs are high and people are debating the value of a liberal arts education.

I have two children, one who recently graduated with a degree in Spanish and English, and another who is studying business... so I know the competition is intense, compounded by the fact that some 78 million members of the Millennial Generation are entering the workforce at a time when some 76 million Baby Boomers don't really want to retire.

The audience was looking for answers. I'm an established businesswoman and a parent. What could I tell them?

"What do you want your kids to be?" I asked. "Doctors? Lawyers? Investment bankers?" And I could see heads nodding in agreement around the room, at least until I threw them a curve ball and asked, "How many of you said in your minds, 'I want my kids to be NICE?'" You could see their eyes open wide.

You see, in my mind, it's of incredible importance, even though, I will admit, "niceness" isn't on any curriculum at any liberal arts college I've visited. Furthermore, "niceness" isn't part of any professional performance evaluation in Corporate America, probably because we sometimes operate under the misguided notion that nice guys, and girls, finish last.

I'm here to dispel that notion. I look for "nice." I need to see "nice," not only in my kids, but also in my employees - all of them.

Yes. I want my kids to be "nice" people, and I don't really care if it's one of the least-discussed values in modern America. But in my opinion, we need to talk about this virtue much more often. These words need to part of our daily lexicon.

A "good" education should make sure it's teaching young people about values, and let's be honest, young people need to focus on these virtues because in many ways, our society has taken kindness, niceness and compassion (things that our parents and grandparents in the Greatest Generation practiced so naturally), for granted.

My list of what I want my kids to be is actually much longer than merely "nice." In no particular order, I want them also to be:

• Caring
• Hard-working
• Balanced
• Fair
• Resilient

I also have a list of what I don't want them to be. I don't want them to feel "entitled" or be disrespectful. And I certainly don't want them to have an "attitude."

And how do I impart this important information to my kids? By "messaging" to them continually (maybe similar to how a company tries to advertise its products). This kind of steady repetition of values is essential in raising our children. "Say please and thank you." "Hold the door." "Be kind to your brother." "Be friendly to the kid who doesn't have any friends." "Tell the truth even when it hurts." "Learn how to say 'I'm sorry.'"

And the good news is it works. I've seen the results.

This is how values were traditionally passed on from generation to generation, back in the era when we talked with our children at the dinner table and didn't spend the time texting.

The crazy thing is that research on the Millennial Generation shows they are looking for values, they crave them, and many are concerned with the direction our country is taking.

There have been many studies of the Millennial Generation, particularly by marketers and retailers who recognize their buying power, not to mention politicians, who recognize their voting power.

Here are some of the relevant characteristics of a generation that is typically defined by its love of technology:

• Some 63 percent of Millennials, as opposed to 55 percent of Baby Boomers, consider it their duty to care for their parents who are aging, according to a study by Focus on the Family. To me, that's great news.

• Equally important, 52 percent of people in the Focus on the Family study say that "being a good parent" is their most important goal in life. How can you argue with that personal goal?

• At the same time, this is the generation that might just change the face of Corporate America. A poll by the Marist Institute of Public Opinion found that almost two-thirds of Millennials think the nation's moral compass is pointed in the wrong direction.

• In addition, they have a problem with "compartmentalization," and 88 percent of them think people "have a different set of ethical standards in business than in their personal lives," and 66 percent believe there should not be two sets of values governing people at home and in the office.

• When it comes to the traditional juggling act of balancing work and family life, 75 percent of those polled said they believe they can balance the challenges of their careers -- but not at the expense of their families.

What I find so inspiring is that the younger generation is already wired for success and committed to traditional values like kindness and compassion and integrity. We just have to keep reinforcing that message and not let our society's love of professional and material success overshadow the importance of being a good and decent person.

When I finished the presentation I asked the group of parents one more time, "What do you want your kids to be when they grow up?" All of them raised their hands and said "Nice" at the same time. Made my heart warm and put a huge smile on my face!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindi-bigelow/being-nice-an-endangered-virtue_b_3624604.html

Baby boomers reinvent their careers in the art world

inS By Jennifer Forker Associated Press One was a stockbroker, another a computer whiz. There's a therapist and a small-business owner. Each retired from a traditional career and launched into another in the arts.  "Do I still have nightmares about the other (job)? Yes," says Bill Sanders, a Steamboat Springs, Colo., ceramics artist who is retired from the lumber and wood flooring business he owned for 20 years. He says he still wakes up sometimes in a cold sweat worrying about whether some shipment is making it to a job site on time. Then he realizes he doesn't need to worry about that anymore.  These days, Sanders, 64, keeps to the outdoors - he skis during the winter and volunteers for the U.S. Forest Service during the summer - and creates his artwork, which includes dishware, decorative pots and sculptured horses.  He learned the basics of ceramics as a teenager living in Southeast Asia. He kept at it while growing his Honolulu lumber and flooring business to include eight employees and more than $1 million in inventory by the time he sold the company in 1997.  Then, he and his wife, Barbara, also an artist, moved to Colorado, and he turned to his lifelong love of ceramics more intentionally.  "Clay is kind of cool. It's just dirt," says Sanders. "If you don't like what you did, you just throw it back in the bucket and then you can make something else."  Jennifer O'Day, 61, of Austin, Texas, is a former stockbroker who says her mixed-media artwork nourishes all her senses.  "It really sharpens my ability to see visually and perceptively and I think tactilely," says O'Day. "It's not just about my mind and my hand accomplishing something. It engages that whole mind-body-soul thing."  She was born into a business-oriented family, so that was in her blood, she says. The art she nurtured.  "I wanted to do something that was closer to the bone and less about the money," O'Day says about the portraits she now assembles.  It's not just about my mind and my hand accomplishing something. It engages that whole mind-body-soul thing," she says.  There's one aspect of her old stockbroker life that she sometimes misses: engaging with clients.  Geri deGruy, 59, also enjoyed her previous career, as a therapist in private practice, although it was emotionally gruelling working with many of her clients, who were abused women. "Toward the end of my practice, there was a feeling sort of like PTSD," she recalls. She turned from being a therapist to the textile arts, which required that she slow down.  "I started seeing form differently. I started seeing repetitive patterns," says deGruy, who creates small art quilts and mixed-media collages. "My eye was developing, my seeing was changing."  She still works every day.  "Always our time is short - we never know," deGruy says. "I have that urgency every day. I don't want to waste this moment. I don't want to miss this opportunity to play with color."  Judy Hoch, 72, of Salida, Colo., finds parallels between her former career, as a computer engineer, and her current one as a jewellery maker.  "Jewellery making is just engineering on a very small scale," she says.  Hoch spent a dozen years at IBM, where she became a senior engineer and earned two patents, then moved into a computer software job, from which she was laid off in the early 1990s.  "I had to do something after that," she recalls. "Going back to work in high tech when you're 50-something, it wasn't a real good idea. It wasn't going to work."  She took jewellery and metals classes at a Denver-area community college and got hooked. She relies on her mechanical engineering training when fusing metals or cutting stones.  "It's a lot of fairly sophisticated measurements," Hoch says. "There are so many technical things . Engineering is a very useful skill to have."  While she describes her years in high-tech as fun - "like working with puzzles" - jewellery-making taps her creative energy.  "You spend a week away from it and you get terrible withdrawal," she says.

This post originally appeared here: 

http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate/ci_23387850/start-new-career-an-artist-these-baby-boomers

Job-Hunting Tips For Mid-lifers You Haven't Seen A Million Times Before

By Ann Brenoff Senior Writer, The Huffington Post

A few years ago during a job interview, a young recruiter asked what I hoped to be doing in five years. I suppressed a guffaw. It's a question recruiters have been asking for decades with the goal of learning about an applicant's career ambitions. The fact that I was pushing 60 at the time was what made it funny to me.

In my head, I said "In five years I hope to be collecting Social Security and laying on a beach in Hawaii, you little Pipsqueak" but out of my mouth came something like "I want to be working in a vibrant newsroom like yours, teaching younger journalists how to maintain professional standards by my example."

Midlifers get lots of advice about how to compete with younger applicants on job interviews. I'd like to throw out a few tips of my own based on nothing but personal experience. I'd point out to skeptics that I landed a job here at Huffington Post and will share that I had other offers before taking this one.

1. Emphasize your experience -- and yes that means acknowledging your age.
Lots of people tell you to make your resume age-neutral, meaning remove the years you graduated school. To those people I have to ask: Really? You think I'm going to pass for someone right out of college?

I would respectfully suggest that instead you emphasize the skills you acquired because of your experience -- your wisdom about workplace dynamics, your maturity at dealing with conflict, your grace under pressure and track record of success.

2. For those who lost their last job in the recession and remain unemployed in the corporate world, add what you learned from that experience as well.
Unemployment is a humbling thing -- and something we can grow from. Talk about it bluntly, calmly, objectively. You were laid off because of a contraction in the economy, not because you weren't competent.

If you are still eating and sleeping under a roof, chances are you have strung together enough gigs to eek by. In today's parlance, that makes you an entrepreneur. At the very least it speaks to your determination to plow through adversity. I think it's fine to let recruiters know that you suffered some hard times but also that you are someone who gets down to business and gets the job done. Just say it all with a smile.

And if you were smart enough to get some retraining so that you have a skills set that matches up with today's jobs market, discuss that too. Not even Millennials were born knowing how to figure out Facebook's privacy settings. Someone taught them, just like someone taught you.

3. Learn today's lingo but be true to yourself.
If you want to be hired by that insanely awesome company, you need to be confident about your place in it. But be yourself. If they wanted another 20-something hipster for the job, you wouldn't be sitting in the room with the interviewer.

Don't dress like a college student and don't talk like one either. Be yourself.

4. Don't act like a parent.
Nobody wants to work with their mother. This one was the hardest thing for me during interviews. I'm outgoing and personable. It's a trait that made me a good journalist. I make people comfortable when we talk.

But I also nurture by nature. I notice things like the absence of a wedding band on the hand of a 30-something and have to bite my tongue. The point is, I bit my tongue. You are there to discuss a job, not offer personal life advice.

A friend relates the story of being interviewed by a 20-something for a job working on a large travel website. The interviewer actually remarked that my friend was older than his father. Instead of lecturing the interviewer on the inappropriateness of his comment, my friend turned it around and started talking about what he was doing when he was the interviewer's age -- which was traveling the world hitching rides on barges throughout Asia and eventually working in management on a cruise ship. The interviewer suddenly stopped seeing his father and began seeing a fantasy version of himself. My friend got the job.

5. Don't assume that you're the smartest guy in the room.
This is an attitude midlifers slip into sometimes on the basis that they worked at a job for more years than the interviewer was perhaps alive. Truth is, the workforce has changed. And the skills required to do our jobs -- all of our jobs -- are different now than they were 35 years ago. Instead of doing the "been there, done that" thing, accept that your younger colleagues in fact know more than you do about a lot of parts of how to do the job. Treat them as peers, respect their knowledge and share yours freely.

6. Address the stereotypes head on.
We all know what they say about us, that we are techno-illiterates and can't be taught new tricks. Navigating the online world isn't brain surgery. What I don't know about, I know how to find out. I don't think midlifers are techno-illiterates as much as it is that our lives aren't as techno-centric as the lives of Millennials.

A few months ago, an editor asked me if I had a "texting relationship" with a source. I admit I hadn't before heard the term. She meant, do I text with the woman? No, but I routinely call her. Texting relationships feel one step removed from phone calls, but offer the benefit of not disturbing the person if they are asleep. Note to editor: They also are easier to ignore. I called.

This post originally appeared here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-brenoff/job-hunting-tips_b_3361900.html

Australia shows the way ahead to keep older workers in the workplace

By Terry Hayes

The issue of how to take advantage of the skills and experience of older workers is becoming more important as baby boomers age and leave the workforce. All that experience "walking out the door" is a loss for any business. And many older people simply don't want to retire at the age of 65 (or earlier).

SMEs in particular don't need barriers raised to them employing mature age workers; after all, many of them are family businesses that highly value the input of older more experienced family members.

The federal government recently launched the Australian Law Reform Commission's report, Access All Ages - Older Workers and Commonwealth Laws. In the report, the commission identifies legal barriers to older persons participating in the workforce and made recommendations across superannuation, social security, employment, insurance and compensation law. Several recommendations were to the effect that the social security and superannuation systems should not discourage or prevent workforce participation.

ALRC president Professor Rosalind Croucher said the recommendations had been developed in the light of six interlinking principles – participation, independence, self-agency, system stability, system coherence, and fairness – that assisted in balancing a range of competing priorities. The ALRC suggests a combination of legislative and regulatory reform is needed, together with measures to increase education and awareness and address perceptions and stereotypes surrounding mature age workers.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus acknowledged there were "enormous opportunities" that come with an ageing population, including a more experienced workforce and the availability of mentors for younger workers. If laws need to be changed to take advantage of those opportunities, then many would argue that should be done.

Employment Minister Bill Shorten noted the government has also abolished the Super Guarantee maximum age limit, enabling employees aged 70 and over to contribute to their retirement savings for the first time. He said the government would consider the recommendations made.

The government says that for more than five million baby boomers, there's a realistic chance of 20-30 years of life after work, but it said around 60% want to keep working beyond 65 for a range of reasons, with most preferring a phased withdrawal from the workforce. No doubt many SMEs would agree.

In its 36 recommendations, the report recommended:

• the work test for superannuation be reviewed;
• the legislation that provides for government co-contributions to be payable only for people aged under 71 years should be repealed;
• the Government review the "Transition to Retirement" rules. The report said the review should determine what changes, if any, are required to ensure the rules meet their policy objective. Among issues for review would be the relationship to the concessional superannuation contributions cap;
• mature age workers be provided with longer periods of notice for termination of employment;
• the Australian Human Rights Commission should, in consultation with key insurance and superannuation bodies, develop guidance material about the application of any insurance exception as it applies to age under Commonwealth anti-discrimination legislation; and
• the Guide to Social Security Law should be amended to provide that undertaking paid work for fewer than 30 hours per week will not trigger a review of qualification for Disability Support Pension.

The other recommendations in the report are specific strategies in the implementation of a national plan, designed to provide:

• a coordinated policy response to enable mature age workforce participation;
• consistency across Commonwealth laws and between Commonwealth and state and territory laws to support mature age workforce participation;
• a reduction in age discrimination;
• a greater awareness of mature age workers' rights and entitlements;
• support for maintaining attachment to the workforce for mature age persons;
• work environments, practices and processes that are appropriate for mature age workers.

The value for a business in harnessing the skills and experience of an older worker is obvious. It's a shame that over the years, too many obstacles have been put (mostly unintentionally) in the way of that.

The age-old idea of an older worker moving on to make way for younger people is not of itself unreasonable, but that doesn't mean that "older head" is no longer useful – quite the reverse. Perhaps this latest report will spur some concrete action on the part of governments to rectify this. SMEs could be a winner from such action.


Terry Hayes is the Editor-in-Chief of tax news reporting at Thomson Reuters, a leading Australian provider of tax, accounting and legal information solutions.
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/superannuation/055909-superannuation-older-workers-baby-boomers-ageism-and-workplace-participation-reforms.html

We should use, not lose, our senior brain power

By Harold Mitchell

There's a lot of talk these days about work/life balance and I think we have mostly got it all wrong. Work is life and life is work. It's not a choice between the two - it's about choosing to be happy and positive no matter what we are doing or how old we are. There's an old Zen Buddhist saying, "Before enlightenment - chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood and carry water''. My 92-year-old dad lives this literally. Last weekend he told me how happy he is that winter is approaching up in the mountains where he lives. It means that he can get out his trusty axe and split wood for the fire. He's an expert and you need to be. The trick is to turn the axe head a millisecond before it hits the block of wood. Three kilos of fast-moving razor-sharp axe head in inexperienced hands can do a lot of damage. More than 80 years of log-splitting will probably ensure my dad makes 100. Age is no barrier to him keeping the home fires burning by working each day. The same is true for my once-a-year lunch partner, octogenarian Peter Clemenger, the former head of our greatest advertising agency. He is as active as ever and as sharp as my old man's axe. As is emeritus professor Derek Denton, founder of the Florey Institute, one of the world's greatest neuroscience facilities and located here in Australia. At 88, he is overflowing with ideas that people all over the world are still listening to. I had a cup of tea with him earlier this week and he told me about the latest experiments being undertaken by his research group, which includes brilliant scientists both here and in America. They are doing world-leading work on addiction, something that profoundly affects almost every aspect of our society. Passing the so-called age of retirement does not mean that we have to enter the age of uselessness or even idleness. Just have a look at the busy, creative and internationally important work of that great Australian Jim Wolfensohn. The former head of the World Bank is still on international boards and apart from his amazing business acumen, those who know Jim, marvel at the way he took up the cello at 51 - some 45 years after the brain cells were at their peak for picking up new things. At an earlier time, as part of the organising group of the outstanding Alfred Deakin Lecture Series just on a decade ago, I sat listening to Baroness Susan Greenfield, who at 62 is still one of the world's leading neuroscientists. She explained the functioning of the brain very simply - "use it or lose it". And that's the message for Australia - use the experienced brain power of our senior people or lose out on the essential ingredient that money and youth can't buy - wisdom. Too often, we hear younger people saying ''he's too old'', and in the advertising and marketing industry it's commonplace for the jeans clad, sneaker-wearing, ponytailed hipsters to try to rely on raw youthfulness to get them through. Sure we need the youth but we also need the wisdom of age. Some time ago I was a speaker at a conference in Sydney about China with the Chinese Minister for Propaganda and Bob Hawke. I felt like a youngster with a lot to learn as the 84-year-old former prime minister engaged with the 81-year-old Chinese leader, a member of the 18th Politburo Standing Committee. I can tell you without a doubt, Hawkie has not lost it. So with ANZAC Day just passed, we must continue to be mindful of all of those who gave their lives for this country. We need to remember that the purpose of their great sacrifice was to enable us to use our freedom well. And in my book, that means understanding and accepting that life is work and service. By the way, you might remember that $428 haircut I got in New York. Well, it didn't last, I had to get another one last week! Harold Mitchell is an executive director of Aegis. Source:The Age http://news.olderworkers.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=326:we-should-use-not-lose-our-senior-brain-power-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=31

Is Ageism Getting Worse?

By Sarah Stevenson

 

A recent Princeton study on the causes of ageism reveals that we’ve still got a long way to go in the fight against age-related negative stereotypes.

Ageism against seniors can’t be defined simply as prejudice against older adults. Researchers are finding that ageism is a complex phenomenon consisting of a range of negative attitudes toward seniors. We may not like to think about it, but the effect of ageism is detectable throughout our society: in the family and home environment, in the media, in the working world, and even in the realm of government policy. And if we don’t address the issue openly, it’s bound to get a whole lot more complicated when the considerable population of baby boomers - the same ones who used to say “don’t trust anyone over thirty”- begins to reach their own golden years.

What Is Ageism?

The general definition of ageism is any sort of age-based prejudice. According to the Assisted Living Foundation of America, ageism against seniors occurs when “societal norms marginalize seniors, treat them with disrespect, make them feel unwelcome and otherwise generalize as if they were all the same.”

 

Negative stereotypes about older adults may be all too familiar: they are “slow,” they have poor memories, they’re afraid of the modern world. Researchers refer to these as “descriptive stereotypes,” or generalizations about the way seniors supposedly are - in contrast to “prescriptive stereotypes,” which generalize about how seniors should be, and often lead to discriminatory behaviors and practices.

In a recent study by psychologists at Princeton University, these prescriptive stereotypes were examined more closely and “unpacked” to see what more we can learn about how American society views the elderly. According to an article from Princeton’s Office of Communications, the scientists found that prescriptive stereotypes focus on three central issues:

• Succession: “the idea that older people should move aside from high-paying jobs and prominent social roles to make way for younger people.”
• Identity: “the idea that older people shouldn’t attempt to act younger than they are.”
• Consumption: “the idea that older people shouldn’t consume so many scarce resources such as health care.”

Why the Study of Ageism is Important

Studying ageism is about to become even more critical as we face the “graying” of our population; older adults are more numerous and visible than ever before, says the Princeton article. Ageism has far-reaching effects on the mental and emotional health of seniors and their dignity, and it can lead to discriminatory practices in housing and social policy, resulting in a negative impact on seniors’ quality of life. In extreme cases, notes ALFA, such attitudes about seniors can even result in elder abuse.

The Princeton researchers are well aware of the growing importance of the issue of ageism: “It’s not hard to read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal and see that as the baby boomers are getting older, age-discrimination cases are on the rise and worries are growing about the long-term sustainability of Social Security and Medicare,” graduate student Michael North said. “The academic literature hasn’t really spoken to these questions.”

Debunking Stereotypes about Older Adults

Getting past our ingrained stereotypes about seniors, the researchers say, will help our society as a whole move past outdated ideas and social policies.

“Talking about these issues helps you find constructive ways to address them,” said North. One potentially productive avenue of research, for instance, relies on a crucial distinction between the “young-old” - those seniors who are still relatively healthy and who may still be working - and the “old-old,” who may be less healthy and more impaired. Learning more about the differences between these two subtypes can help us better serve the needs of a diverse and growing senior population.

http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2013-04-29-is-ageism-getting-worse/

Employers and recruiters take note - these are the myths about mature workers

By Hani Kafoury 

Peter Spunt, an ex-senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry, has had his share of job search challenges with what human resources experts refer to as “ageism” - or age discrimination.

“At 62, I am happy to contribute to an organization’s success,” Spunt says. “Salary and a fancy title are not my primary concerns. I just want to make use of my hard-earned experience, successful track record and skill set. The fire is still in the belly.”

He is not alone. Many mature workers, defined as aged 45 or older by CEDEC (Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation), seek job-search training and coaching assistance through employment service providers such as OMETZ, La Passerelle and Executives Available. But they come across diehard myths still held by many employers.

Myth No. 1: Expect to pay more

This is by far the most pervasive. Larry Riley, director at job assistance program Executives Available, specializing in job-search strategies and support for professionals 40 years of age and over, says employers may be missing an important point.

“People don’t have the same financial needs later in life - the kids are gone, the mortgage is probably paid for,” he says. “Mature workers are at a different stage of their lives and may not necessarily be looking for high salaries.” Contract work or reduced work hours may be an option - and a win-win for both parties.

Myth No. 2: Expect trouble with younger employees

A 50-year-old may not see eye-to-eye with a much younger manager - but is it age? “While there may be the odd cross-generational challenge, I’ve found that age has little to do with getting along,” says Daniel Ascher, from executive recruitment firm Denell-Archer.

“If you think there is a good fit with the candidate you are considering, that he or she is bringing in the right experience, the right chemistry, and can be managed, then you’ve got yourself a good potential employee.”

Myth No. 3: Expect no overtime

Everything being equal, work ethic often characterizes mature workers. “For most mature workers, the occasional overtime is not an issue because their kids are grown up and they are very motivated to contribute all they can,” says Marianna Balakhnina, coordinator of labour market development at CEDEC. “Many employers say that mature workers have a high level of motivation and dedication.”

Myth No. 4: Expect a short stay

A major study from CEDEC shows that mature workers have lower turnover rates, are quite stable and stay longer within a position and within a company.

“Mature workers tend to be more selective. So once they’re in, they are going to be quite effective and loyal,” says Lois Liverman, executive director at OMETZ, an NPO offering a range of services to job seekers, employers and entrepreneurs.

Myth No. 5: Expect rigidity

Don’t presume or jump to conclusions. “The company should be offering an interview to someone based on experience and skills,” Liverman says. “You need to be able to have that fit. The perfect resumé is one that opens the door. Once they go through it, take the resumé and toss it — it means nothing.”

(As a coach, trainer and consultant in the people side of change, I have found that age rarely has anything to do with whether we embrace or resist change.)

Myth No. 6: Expect technology trouble

“It’s not about being tech savvy, it’s about what the position requires,” is a message often reiterated to hirers by Leslie Acs, executive director at La Passerelle, an employment and career transition centre. “One gentleman in our program has been in the garment business for over 30 years. His understanding of the entire process is incredibly profound. But not in a technical way - it’s like he ‘feels’ it. He gets frustrated because recruiters ask him typical questions, not ones that highlight his strengths.”

“But it’s changing,” Acs added. “The value of a mature worker is being appreciated more. Technology is teachable - wisdom and leadership are more difficult to teach.”

Myth No. 7: Expect less stamina and energy

The 2012 CEDEC report indicates that only a small minority of mature workers are challenged physically. Balakhnina is emphatic: “Mature workers are motivated by their eagerness to reach out first to employment service providers, to complete the programs, to do everything they can and not give up.”

When it comes to busting “ageism” myths, company size does not matter. Whether it is a large Crown corporation, such as the Business Development Bank of Canada, or a smaller organization such as Triton Pharma, a company’s culture and approach to diversity is key.

“BDC approaches recruitment from a perspective of diversity and inclusiveness,” says Ela Borenstein, Partner at Health Venture Fund at BDC Capital. “The last two years, we’ve been recognized as a top employer for employees over 40. Currently over 20 per cent of our workforce is over 50, with the average age being 41. It reflects how much emphasis we put on experience.

“I started with BDC in my 40s, and I have been acknowledged as bringing experience and deep expertise to the table.”

Sybil Dahan, president at Triton Pharma Inc., concurs. “We’re a sales force and marketing organization, and for us age is not an issue as long as there is a fit. Our Sales Manager is 67 going on 25!”

Dahan sums it up well. “In the hiring process, you do not want to put age as an obstacle, because what you are looking for is what is missing in your team. Do you have the right mix of gender, age, training, cultural? And from there you go and get it, to gain that competitive edge.”

Before creating Tranzition Consulting Services, Hani Kafoury spent almost 30 years in the corporate world in various senior leadership positions. He holds an M.A. in psychology, is trained in organizational transition management and leadership coaching, and is a certified Myers-Briggs practitioner. Kafoury works with organizations and individuals in effectively managing major change.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Hani+Kafoury+Dispelling+myths+about+hiring+mature+workers/8179324/story.html

Why Post 50 Males Must Resist Becoming "Standardized Old Men"

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."

"I too am not a bit tamed,
"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!

Brent Green is the author of "Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers" and "Generation Reinvention," the founder of Brent Green & Associates Inc., a frequent keynote speaker and radio host

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-green/how-baby-boomer-males-wil_b_1326714.html?goback=.gde_4667519_member_221669684