A year ago I watched a British television program called "One Foot in the Grave," about a 60-year-old man in retirement who puttered around the house and generally did what is supposed to make sitcoms funny and people laugh.
It seemed to me the man looked much older than 60, and how could I be of that same club when retirement is not even a shiny glint on a far horizon, but more like a future and truly dreaded punishment.
Who really wants to be placed in the penalty box due to age? The answer, of course, is most people.
However, there is a tribe of individuals who actually do look on retirement as one foot in the grave. Their members are swelling for several reasons, one being desire, but the other is necessity. Life is expensive and people are living longer.
At 61, I have a seven-year-old daughter. Rationally thinking, that means I will be an octogenarian before I can even think about retirement.
However, the origin of this column stems not from within, but from an article I read in the British edition of PRweek, which notes a law that will become effective shortly. It would prevent age discrimination in employment and even in recruitment ads.
Hence, words such as "young" and "dynamic" would be banished forever, and employers could not even suggest that a certain job required one, two or so forth years of experience. It would have to say, simply, experience in marketing, et al., is required to apply for this position.
Some would say such a universal law is needed. Certainly, in public relations and advertising--the two fields with which I am most intimately acquainted--the cult of youth reigns supreme in Eastern Europe and, indeed, throughout the world. It has become a game of 30-somethings, or younger.
Even such a wise business counselor as the Irishman Charles Handy, author of "The Empty Raincoat", suggests that creativity diminishes in proportion to the increasing age of the creative director. However, Handy is in his senior years, and he keeps creatively churning as if he was the Energizer Bunny.
I guess there could be some universal bell curve, and when generally applied to all the creative directors in the world suggests a slight deterioration of sparkling thought; but having also written books on the subject, I think this is pure bull pucky. Generalizing in this--like creativity itself--is episodical at best.
At The Willard Group, we have all ages--we range from virtually post puberty to the ancients. I enjoy this recipe of youth and enthusiasm and age and experience, ingredients that make the cake rise. Also, I have noted that work intensity--read that enthusiasm-- seems not to have age limits, but personality limits.
In my secret moments, I can be caught reading my favorite magazine (when I can get it) "Rolling Stone". My children are amazed that the channel selector in my painting studio/TV room regularly lands on MTV and VH1. I regularly dip into the youth culture, hoping also they will swim in mine.
In my view, however, the latest British law on ageing is dumb. While common sense might suggest I line up with this army, I will not volunteer and I will not be drafted. It will do nothing to prolong the careers of folks in their 40s to 60s and beyond.
The fact of life is businesses that have an emphasis on hiring youth at the exclusion of a wonderful and seasoned mixture will merely find more creative ways of getting around such laws.
Their motivation is not creativity but cost savings. In general, we older folks cost more. In the last year, two of the most creative people I know, one a PR executive, the other a human resources director, were let go from multinational companies for dubious reasons.
The fact was they were both 60, and very expensive. They both landed on their feet outside the organization, and have many more years of work experience left. One continued in PR at a high level, and the other took up a totally different career in art.
Age discrimination suits rarely are successful. Against a giant corporation, the chances of winning are nearly as bad as the often-discredited line about the chances of being kidnapped by a terrorist.
I personally would want no pseudo leg up. We of the codger generation must fight for ourselves, and it was for this reason I wrote "The Portfolio Bubble". If you are in your 40s, 50s or 60s, and do not aspire to retire, I think you will find it useful.
(The Portfolio Bubble: Surviving Professional at 60 will be out in Russian in October 2006)
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