In the book called "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (page 63) he states, and I quote:
" I was amused to discover an evolutionary argument in mate selection that considers that women prefer (on balance) to mate with healthy older men over healthy younger ones, everything else being equal, as the former provide some evidence of better genes. Gray hair signals an enhanced ability to survive- conditional on having reached the gray hair stage, a man is likely to be more resistant to the vagaries of life. Curiously life insurers in renaissance Italy reached the same conclusion by charging the same insurance for a man in his twenties as they did for a man in his fifties...once a man crossed the forty five year old mark, he had shown very few ailments could harm him".
Maybe this could present a new marketing opportunity for manufacturers of grey hair dyes to expand their market to younger men!
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Climate Change and Older People
A new piece of research has been published today by the Stockholm Environment Institute entitled "Older People and Climate Change- the Case for Better Engagement". As part of the report it categorises older people into the 3 Cs, Contributors, Campaigners and Casualities of climate change.
I haven't gone into the research in great detail but the report states that the baby boomer generations, as the first real consumer generation, have the highest carbon footprint. The current oldest generation have lower carbon footprint and when they die off (literally) they will be replaced by what the report calls the " replacement effect" ie the highest carbon footprint contributors will move into the oldest age.
While I can see that this would be a problem and a cause for concern the thing that struck me most about the report was the fact that the "culprits" had been segmented based on their age. My question is that surely it is chosen (or enforced) lifestyle that determines the carbon footprint? All age groups can be divided into the 3 Cs and that the approach taken is too simplistic and too general. The key aspect is to target and change behaviour of those whose life styles do the most damage to the environment, whatever their age.
I do believe that engagement is a key component of change, as the report suggests, and that effective social marketing is required to change behaviours but this requires a more sophisticated segmentation approach. I don't think the focus on age will prove effective in triggering the change required.
If we are going to categorise this by age then key factors often associated with getting older people engaged involve finding meaning, leaving a meaningful legacy and involvement with younger generations. A positive approach could be to engender inter-generational perspective and pressure. Younger people are very effective in teaching their grandparents, for example, how to use new technologies, maybe they can help with the environment too?
I haven't gone into the research in great detail but the report states that the baby boomer generations, as the first real consumer generation, have the highest carbon footprint. The current oldest generation have lower carbon footprint and when they die off (literally) they will be replaced by what the report calls the " replacement effect" ie the highest carbon footprint contributors will move into the oldest age.
While I can see that this would be a problem and a cause for concern the thing that struck me most about the report was the fact that the "culprits" had been segmented based on their age. My question is that surely it is chosen (or enforced) lifestyle that determines the carbon footprint? All age groups can be divided into the 3 Cs and that the approach taken is too simplistic and too general. The key aspect is to target and change behaviour of those whose life styles do the most damage to the environment, whatever their age.
I do believe that engagement is a key component of change, as the report suggests, and that effective social marketing is required to change behaviours but this requires a more sophisticated segmentation approach. I don't think the focus on age will prove effective in triggering the change required.
If we are going to categorise this by age then key factors often associated with getting older people engaged involve finding meaning, leaving a meaningful legacy and involvement with younger generations. A positive approach could be to engender inter-generational perspective and pressure. Younger people are very effective in teaching their grandparents, for example, how to use new technologies, maybe they can help with the environment too?
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Olderpreneurs
23% of people starting a business are over the age of 55 and the term "olderpreneur" has been coined to describe them. Many are being forced into this option due to redundancy however there are some positive benefits of this key life change, not least the liberation of being able to make your own decisions.Luke Johnson, Chairman of the Royal College of Arts said last year that "Sustainable self employment can offer financial and social fulfilment. Not only can working for yourself bring material rewards, it is a great way to meet people and stay in touch with people from all generations- as customers, partners, suppliers or perhaps staff".
The case for older people continuing work in some form or other is also backed up by PRIME's Chief Executive Laurie South who states that "research shows that cross-generational companies seem to do better".
Working is not just about generating income but about social connectedness with other generations. Maybe if more and more people of us have to continue working as we get older we will have the added benefit of lower levels of social isolation and better inter-generational understanding.
The case for older people continuing work in some form or other is also backed up by PRIME's Chief Executive Laurie South who states that "research shows that cross-generational companies seem to do better".
Working is not just about generating income but about social connectedness with other generations. Maybe if more and more people of us have to continue working as we get older we will have the added benefit of lower levels of social isolation and better inter-generational understanding.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
End to legalised age discrimination
Today the Government announces that it will be scrapping the default retirement age of 65 from October 2011. This effectively means it ends from April 2011 due to the required 6 month notification process. This is a great step towards ensuring that employers manage the performance of all their workforce effectively and will provide the business benefits of helping them to retain relevant experience, skills and the talent needed in their organisations. It also means that the employee has a real choice in deciding what is best for them based on their individual circumstances.
In reality, most people will continue to think about retirement in terms of when their pension becomes available, if they are lucky enough to have one,so there won't be a lot of change.
The key thing is that this announcement will start to help us rethink how we plan for our older lives and help us to see that as we get older we can still have a very valid contribution to make to the younger generations,society and the economy.
In reality, most people will continue to think about retirement in terms of when their pension becomes available, if they are lucky enough to have one,so there won't be a lot of change.
The key thing is that this announcement will start to help us rethink how we plan for our older lives and help us to see that as we get older we can still have a very valid contribution to make to the younger generations,society and the economy.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Thank you for taking carers seriously
"Thank you for taking carers seriously" is how HRH Princess Anne ended her speech at the 5th International Care Conference held in Leeds in July 2010. 22 countries were represented at the conference and Princess Anne saw the conference as a real "boost" for carers. She was preceded by the Rt Hon Andrew Lansley talking about care reform with an emphasis on Prevention, Protection, Partnership and Personalisation. He stated that the new Government's vision for the future of adult care is to be announced in the Autumn.
However, the real visionaries, providing hope for the future,came from inspirational speakers representing the conference sponsor Intel with a video from Eric Dishman and in-the-flesh anthropologist Simon Roberts. While both represented this large commercial company which is investing heaviliy in research and development to gain long term benefits from this massively profitable market, what was striking was that, as individuals, they seemed genuinely (refreshingly) passionate and committed to changing the face of care.The key to this seemed to be a big emphasis on understanding, and not forgetting, that technology was there to help,support and enhance the lives of individuals recognising all their foibles, imperfections and what makes us human.
Simon talked about the "magic of ethnography" and the thousands of hours of videos that were used to discuss with engineers who looked painstakingly for patterns of behaviours and ideas so that they could test and then iteratively improve products.He talked about creating products that people "could fondle" and wanted. He talked about being able to "reimagine" solutions and the need to build tools that connect and drive a "careforce".
Princess Anne had recognised earlier that "no-one expects to be a carer" (and everyone hopes they will not need care)but the positive outcome of commercial companies like Intel getting involved in this area is that in the future if, and when, we do become carers or indeed need care, we are less likely to be stigmatised and excluded from society because we have a range of desirable, motivational and life enhancing products and services to look forward to.
However, the real visionaries, providing hope for the future,came from inspirational speakers representing the conference sponsor Intel with a video from Eric Dishman and in-the-flesh anthropologist Simon Roberts. While both represented this large commercial company which is investing heaviliy in research and development to gain long term benefits from this massively profitable market, what was striking was that, as individuals, they seemed genuinely (refreshingly) passionate and committed to changing the face of care.The key to this seemed to be a big emphasis on understanding, and not forgetting, that technology was there to help,support and enhance the lives of individuals recognising all their foibles, imperfections and what makes us human.
Simon talked about the "magic of ethnography" and the thousands of hours of videos that were used to discuss with engineers who looked painstakingly for patterns of behaviours and ideas so that they could test and then iteratively improve products.He talked about creating products that people "could fondle" and wanted. He talked about being able to "reimagine" solutions and the need to build tools that connect and drive a "careforce".
Princess Anne had recognised earlier that "no-one expects to be a carer" (and everyone hopes they will not need care)but the positive outcome of commercial companies like Intel getting involved in this area is that in the future if, and when, we do become carers or indeed need care, we are less likely to be stigmatised and excluded from society because we have a range of desirable, motivational and life enhancing products and services to look forward to.
Friday, 2 July 2010
29 Hour Days
On the news today, the good news of life expectancy increasing coupled with the more disturbing news that the life expectancy gap between the poor and the better off is widening. Smoking was trotted out as the single, biggest contributory factor to this difference.
I attended a conference on health and age a couple of years ago and they talked about the increase in life expectancy in terms of us all gaining 5 hours a day, which seems particularly significant to me. But then this was even better expressed as a 29 hour day with how you live your 24 hours today, impacting on the quality of the extra 5 hours you will gain in the future.I like this concept as it is very simple. We need to live well today to ensure we live well in the future.
I attended a conference on health and age a couple of years ago and they talked about the increase in life expectancy in terms of us all gaining 5 hours a day, which seems particularly significant to me. But then this was even better expressed as a 29 hour day with how you live your 24 hours today, impacting on the quality of the extra 5 hours you will gain in the future.I like this concept as it is very simple. We need to live well today to ensure we live well in the future.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Vision of the future workforce
Friends Provident and the Future Foundation have recently released their "Visions of Britain- The Workforce 2020" report. In it, it states there are currently 5.14m "older workers" (defined as aged 55-70). This will increase to 7.16m in 2020, a pretty significant increase.
It has concerned me for some time that when older workers retire,and their will be significant numbers doing this over the next 15 years, that companies lose both tacit knowledge and corporate memory, both areas you can't easily document in a procedural manual for future workers. I was therefore very interested to read that the "recent recession has made business leaders appreciate the merits of retaining experience, placing older workers in a more powerful position than ever before". This has been partly triggered by the fact that most/ a lot of today's key managers have never had to deal with a recession before and the ones who have the experience are either no longer in the workforce or have been marginalised.
The other key point from the report was that older workers' contribution to productivity for example cannot be easily measured and that the "value of experience needs to be calibrated on a separate scale".
I hope this report helps us to focus more on the need to retain older workers in the workforce both for the mutual benefit of the employer and the individual employee.Both parties can win.
It has concerned me for some time that when older workers retire,and their will be significant numbers doing this over the next 15 years, that companies lose both tacit knowledge and corporate memory, both areas you can't easily document in a procedural manual for future workers. I was therefore very interested to read that the "recent recession has made business leaders appreciate the merits of retaining experience, placing older workers in a more powerful position than ever before". This has been partly triggered by the fact that most/ a lot of today's key managers have never had to deal with a recession before and the ones who have the experience are either no longer in the workforce or have been marginalised.
The other key point from the report was that older workers' contribution to productivity for example cannot be easily measured and that the "value of experience needs to be calibrated on a separate scale".
I hope this report helps us to focus more on the need to retain older workers in the workforce both for the mutual benefit of the employer and the individual employee.Both parties can win.
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