Over-50

Chris Christie & Personal Branding

Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, has become a political rock star.  Today, the influential POLITICO covers his possible run for the White House in depth.  Here you can click on a video of diverse opinion about him.  Folks don't have an opinion about you unless you're out there.  Fat jokes have become the ultimate cool wit.

 
Could Christie be the prophet America - and maybe the world - needs in this time of economic crisis?  The odds are Christie could move into that role.

So, how did Christie create this presence?  The answer seems to be his instinct about personal branding or being able to create your unique space.  That sets you apart.  Instead of competing head-to-head, you just, well as we said in the 1960s, did your own thing.  Do it well, and you will last out there.

Christie developed or defaulted into a number of trademarks.  Those include his blunt rhetoric, courage such as standing up to the public-sector movement, and his fat.   He is different.  More importantly, he took the risk of not being a cookie-cutter version of what a governor was or is supposed to be.

The lesson here is clear: to develop our own space in the marketplace we have to take risks.  Some of those will not work out.  But all we need is enough that do to make a very good living, and on our terms.

Baby Boomers: What we kept in closet now big biz

In the "Father Knows Best" ethos, all families were functional and happy.  Because of that meme, we Baby Boomers kept subjects like drunks and more in the closet.  Now, Generations Y and X are making a bundle packaging those family horrors for money and fame.

 
Among the most dependable formulas is discussing mom's or dad's alcoholism.  Jeanne Darst does that well enough in "Fiction Ruined My Family" to be featured in THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Should we start "coming clean" about our family secrets?  If we want to try that route to making money, then it would be wise to parachute in now.  The period of total self-disclosure, brought mainstream by Oprah, could be entering its last phase.  World economic and political problems have become so serious that the attention has shifted to the mundane issues of making enough to pay our bills and not being in the wrong place at the wrong time and offed by terrorists.

Cantaloupe: Listeria can be deadly to those over-60

Cantaloupe grown by Jensen Farms and marketed by Rocky Ford have been found to be contaminated by listeria.  At least 13 people have died, reports William Neuman in THE NEW YORK TIMES.  Those over-60 are most vulnerable to dying from the contamination.

Andy Rooney, 92, curmudegeon calls it a wrap on "60 Minutes"

"60 Minutes" won't be the same without curmudgeon Andy Rooney.   The last time we will be able to catch is live commentary is this Sunday.  During his essay he will tell the audience, it's a wrap.

Michael Bloomberg: Ignored Johnny Carson Rule

Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, isn't doing so well in his third term, reports Ben Smith in POLITICO.   That could have been predicted.  Any public figure who ignores the Johnny Carson Rule is doomed to a downward trajectory, especially in public opinion. 

Johnny Carson left his iconic post on the "Tonight Show" when he was at the top of his game.  Everyone wanted more.  That was because Carson knew not to give any more.  If he wanted to maintain his pull force with fans he would have had to enter a new game.  That's exactly what Oprah is trying to do.  Time will tell if it's successful.

The extreme difficulty of going from being on top to starting over deters many from even trying.  However, it's still the smarter course of action to pull the plug on a successful venture and retire.  After a period of free-fall, some other space may open up.  Examples of those kinds of second and third acts include the career path of Bill Clinton and Betty White.

Over-50 & New Mommy - Graying of the Mommy Bloggers

The over-50 have again become game-changers.  We are not only living and working longer.  In 2008, reports Lisa Miller in NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 541 babies were born to women over-50.   Just like our not leaving the workforce and clogging pipelines for the younger generations to move up, older parents can cause upheaval in conventional expectations about how life is supposed to proceed.

 
For one thing, this phenomenon could create a new market segment.  After all, those having children over-50 probably can afford that massive expense, including the cost of educating them.  For another, there could be a graying of parent communications such as the Mommy blogs.  Instead of 25-year-olds struggling to hold down a part-time job while nursing an infant, there could be blog posts about 55-year-olds leveraging sophisticated campaigns to run for school board.

This group, since they are heavily invested in the next generation, could also have a very different take than is traditional among us Baby Boomers, on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.  They might not want to burden their children with the cost of those.

Those Three Generations Under One Roof: Model for New Normal

In THE NEW YORK TIMES,  Sarah Kramer profiles how three generations of a Chinese-American family live under one roof.  For the oldest of us Baby Boomers this is exactly how we grew up.   On Bay Street in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, my grandparents, aunt and her husband, and two cousins lived in five railroad rooms.  Relatives who arrived from the "old country" would bunk there a while too.  My best friend Ina Papick lived with her grandmother, parents, and sister.  That's just the way it was.

It could become that way again if the new normal - complete economic uncertainty - persists.  

One part, of course, is economic.  With increased energy costs and landlords's having to buy expensive liability insurance, keeping a roof over one's head is expensive.  With extended families there is always enough cash flow to pay the rent, on time, and in full.

 
 
The other part is how multi-generational living creates a powerful emotional support system.  THE ECONOMIST calls that "Emotional Capital" and explains how necessary it is to navigate the downs and ups of the new economy.   Another version of this - the commune - was introduced to American life during the counterculture.  Although it wasn't an enduring trend, this heterogeneous arrangement tended to help us self-centered Baby Boomers to understand that there were other people out there and they were each unique.

For those of us with no family left, an alternative might be the boarding house.  One of my fondest memories of community were my doctoral-program years at the University of Michigan when I lived in boarding houses operated by German families.  There was always someone there to talk with.   I didn't experience loneliness until I left that lifestyle and went on to jobs and bunking by myself in apartments, then larger and larger houses on the Gold Coast of Connecticut.

My dream, as telecommuting becomes more mainstream, is to re-locate to the Jersey Shore where there are diverse kinds of boarding houses, some a block from the ocean.  I want the lower cost of rent and some company.

 

Oswald Grubel Resigns as UBS CEO

Darkness comes into every career, no matter the track record for accomplishments.  One of us over-50, Oswald Grubel had turned around the old Swiss Bank and helped create the powerhouse UBS.  Now, that doesn't matter.  Grubel has taken responsibility for the $2.3 billion loss for UBS from the alleged activities of a rogue trader.  Today, he resigned as CEO.

Most of us haven't had such a steep fall.  But since it's our fall it's our pain.  And that shock and suffering can be as deep for us as it probably is for Grubel.  Most of us have been able to absorb the trauma, maybe even learn from it.  We wish the same for Grubel.

Adversity can be a new starting point, not an ending.

 

The Phone Stopped Ringing: Not worth dying for

He was a Bigfoot in information technology.  As they say, "he was in demand."  Those who wanted him knew to contact him via that old medium: the phone.

 
After all, he was a Baby Boomer.  Although he made his living via new technology, his comfort zone was the old.  They stayed in the zone.

Then the phone stopped ringing.  The world of IT is fickle.  He ate and ate.  He smoked several packs of cigarettes a day.  Then his heart went boom.  Friends had warned him he was in trouble.

So many of us Baby Boomers are not the mini stars we had been.  Hopefully we've become wise enough to accept that we have had our time and now it's someone else's time.

Over-65: 1 in 6 of us work

Call us "The Working Generation." 

 
Despite Medicare and Social Security, the over-65 are still out there working.  According to the 2010 Census, 1 in 6 of us are in the labor force, reports the AP.  That contrasts with the 16 to 29 group.  For that demographic, increasingly called "The Lost Generation," only 55.3% are employed.