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Boomers were taught to be modest and let their actions do the talking. Today, that approach simply won't work.
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If you read Debra’s article about branding after the age of 50, you will have some insight into the many challenges I encountered when starting up Top Sixty. Barely three months had passed before I realized that I had no desire to sell myself or my ideas on social media. In fact, I had such an aversion to it, I almost sunk my mission before I started.
Growing up, my generation was not invited to ‘brag’ about any of our achievements. Quite the contrary. We were advised to be humble; to let our actions speak for themselves. We didn’t get stars, prizes, or stickers for any mediocre performance or just because we were part of ‘the team’. Many of us were told to do better next time or just keep on trying. It’s not hard for me to understand why Boomers have a hard time wrapping their heads around putting themselves out there on social media.
Truthfully, as an educator, I can see the value of acknowledging the efforts children make, even if they are not always ‘winners’. But too much praise in the wrong place is as damaging to one’s self-esteem as too little. Having said this, I believe the self-confidence of many Boomers would have benefitted from a boost had their parents praised them a bit more often. But that wasn’t the Zeitgeist of the time.
I digress. My point has to do with the concept of branding and grasping what it means to have a personal brand. If you look at the two photos of me at the top of this blog, you will see that one is of a woman dressed in local Mayan attire. The other was a shot taken for professional purposes. Which one do you think is the one I want to show up on my website, if one is necessary at all?
(Aside: it took some considerable convincing from Debra for me to put this blog together and use these shots of me).
I think the pictures speak for themselves and illustrate well that a personal brand demonstrates in a picture how you want to be perceived by your audience. You can choose a goofy picture which tells the story of someone who doesn’t take herself too seriously and enjoys having some fun, or one that speaks to a more believable individual whose product or service you would consider seriously.
The very hardest obstacle, in my opinion, is becoming a public persona at an older age. I am learning that in order to be credible in the 2020s, you must show up on social media. It is impossible to avoid public scrutiny online despite your predilection to avoid it. And your personal brand is as important after age 50 as it was when you were younger. Until marketers began using the terminology, those of us who are Boomers never thought of our public personas as ‘personal branding'. Take it from me, I know!
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There is considerable irony in job ads that proudly pronounce the employer is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE/AA) while also including words that reflect anything but! Recently, I came across one that epitomized this scenario. See if you can spot the bias. For the sake of anonymity, I have changed references but the essence remains.
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There is considerable irony in job ads that proudly pronounce the employer is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE/AA) but the words in the ad reflect anything but! Recently, I came across one that epitomized this scenario. See if you can spot the bias. For the sake of anonymity, I have changed references but the essence remains.
“Young, enthusiastic person with good marketing skills and technical acumen.
- 8-10 years of work experience
- Manufacturing expertise is preferred
- ETC.”
Yup, you got it. The very first word was discriminatory and yet this was an ad from an EOE/AA certified business.
Imagine starting an ad with “white” rather than “young”? Would that have alerted anyone more quickly to the fact that there was bias? It would have been considered shocking in today’s world. However, when references are made to age, no one seems to notice.
Unfortunately, this kind of discrimination is pervasive. Ageism continues to be widely accepted and is so well-tolerated that we often don’t recognize our own internal bias.
Many organizations and businesses are allegedly inclusive. No doubt they are as long as you are indigenous, LBGTQ2S, a woman, disabled, an immigrant or refugee, and ethnically diverse. But, if you are over a certain age and looking for work or you want to stay in your job, you can be sure that your age will come into play.
Age discrimination in both retention and recruitment is a serious obstacle. An American study involving 40,000 fictitious CVs sent in response to advertised vacancies for low-skilled jobs found that applicants between 49 and 51 had 19% fewer callbacks than those aged 29 to 31 with otherwise identical CVs. For the 64-66 age group, the difference was 35%. Source: Age Discrimination and Hiring of Older Workers, Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 2017
What is most troubling is the lack of awareness about age diversity and inclusion. Routinely age is not part of the conversation, nor will it ever be if we don’t start to make a fuss and take ageism out of the closet.
Here are a few tips that will help you make a difference:
- Observe the types of diversity being advertised. If age is missing, bring it to the attention of the advertiser.
- Write to your local MPP or MP to raise their awareness of this gap in diversity and inclusion.
- If you are currently employed, check out your employer’s diversity policies. Is age included?
With the shift to an older demographic, ageism is more topical than ever before. We all have a role to play in its elimination.
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Do you know the distinctions among “chronological age”, “biological age”, and “subjective age”?
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Do you know the distinctions among “chronological age”, “biological age”, and “subjective age”?
Simply put: “chronological age” refers to the number of birthdays we’ve celebrated; “biological age” is determined by measuring age-related biomarkers which include grip strength, blood pressure, the elasticity of the skin, etc.; and “subjective age” is the age we feel.
Increasingly, I hear contemporaries exclaim that they can’t believe that they are already _____(fill in the blank) years old! Many still feel infinitely younger than their chronological age. Granted, this only applies to those who are fortunate enough to enjoy good health, but the reality is that this generation of older adults (Boomers) is healthier, better educated and more tech-savvy than any previous generation. They do feel younger and their “biological” age is more youthful.
Top Sixty Over Sixty (T60 Strategies) conducted a research study in 2018. We were trying to ascertain how our program, ReSet, impacted feelings of internalized ageism on an entrepreneurial mindset. Our findings were closely aligned with those of other researchers. We concluded that most older adults weren’t aware of their own bias against ageing. They didn’t realize that this internalized feeling was self-limiting. It also impacted health and attitude.
Although not part of our study, we have systematically been collecting data on “subjective age”, finding that most people over 40 consider themselves to be 20 years younger than they are. They also consider old age to be 20 years beyond their actual age. Apparently, these feelings are indicative of our “subjective age” which are quite accurate predictors of our well-being and ageing prognosis. Our gut intuitively signals how cognitively aware we are, how physically able we are and how emotionally stable we are. Feeling more youthful means that we tend to be more optimistic and positive. Having a positive outlook has been proven to make a great difference when it comes to ageing.
Aside from genetic predispositions, we all have the ability to improve our chances of ageing well and actively. If we embrace healthy habits, eating well, exercising and seeing the cup as half full rather than half empty, we can control some of the variables that will affect us later in life. The first challenge is to recognize our own bias and then to understand how to change it.
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ReSet taps into the inner strengths of employees, helps them spot opportunities and move outside of their comfort zones.
