Over-50

Baby Boomers: "Mad Men" gives a peek at what we encountered

What a gift.  The television series "Mad Men" is giving us a peek into what we might have encountered in the social and legal revolution of the counterculture.  Many of us started out buttoned-down rule-obeyers.  Then we broke open or were broken open to choice.  That included everything from our values or how we saw the world to if we wanted to try to work where we hadn't been able to before such as corporate America.

At Sterling Cooper, a person of color has become a secretary and a Jew has applied for a job as a copywriter.  That represents a paradigm shift for both them and for the established order.   The takeaway from that experience might have been that we were the first generation of Americans who were able to become flexible.  The advantage of that is we have the option of leveraging that capacity for change into our work lives.

Since 2003 when my business derailed [Download Geezerguts] I have gone through several career transitions.   Actually, the old notion of career path has mutated into a mix and match system of just about every kind of way to bring home the bacon.  Somewhere along the line I surrendered the conventional ways of defining and measuring success.  If I can pay my bills and maintain inner peace most of the time, I am doing just fine.  At least in my book and in these days that's all that matters.

Tense Clients/Bosses: You really mean we attracted them

Intuitively, most of us Baby Boomers know that if too many of our clients or bosses are lemons we're doing something or maybe a lot of things wrong.  Today, I had that confirmed by psychic Andre at Psychic Interative, a web service which provides affordable spiritual insight into what we're doing or not doing.

The conversation started off with my decision to dump a tense client.  Always wise Andre asked me how I attracted that kind of client and was there a way I could turn it around.  After all, the client was being billed at that nice juicy pre-recession rate.

Mmmmm.  After Andre posed that question I sure got to thinking.  Despite talent and a bit of a financial cushion right now, I am still giving off near-desperate vibes.   Andre had taught me over the past few years not to dig for the why but rather just focus on the behavior and change it. 

The rest of the work day went gloriously.  My new law of attraction became to pull toward me clients who need my service, respect my ability, and are pleased to be paying an affordable rate.   On Thursday I am going for an interview for a part-time assignment.  I will approach is as an exploratory, not an ordeal.  A few hours ago a prospect called.  I listened.  I will not follow up.  I don't need to cope with his unrealistic expectations.

You can reach Andre at Psychic Interactive 702-216-9900, ext 827.

"Mad Men" - Remember when people of color didn't work at ad agencies

Now we have a man of color sitting in the White House and at the conference table with myriad world leaders.  But at the time of "Mad Men" ad agencies were dominated by men and they were white.  Women played secondary roles, mostly secretaries.

In Sunday's night episode, the agency gets its introduction to changing times.  People are color are in its reception area because a job has been advertised, as a result of its feud with another agency Y&R.   Probably it will hire 1 or more. 

Another sign of change is that GM's Olds division asked the agency for help dealing with Ralph Nader.  It was Nader who brought in the consumer movement. 

One wonders, given all these developments, will the women in the office begin to figure out that they might be oppressed too?  Will Joan, who's on leave at home with a baby, come to her senses?  Will Peggy get a sense of herself as a person?

The one bright spot is that there is now a Mr. and Mrs. Don Draper.  They love each other.  Self-absorbed Don has been able to extend himself to another human being.  He's even happy and has mellowed.  Folks in the office comment on that.  That brings out the deepening unhappiness of Campbell, Pryce, and Sterling in their marriages.  Back in those days, people still stuck it out. 

Rosie O'Donnell, 50, Clashed with Oprah re Direction of Show

Age 50 is not a good 1 for hunting for work.  Rosie O'Donnell, now 50, could have prevented being canned from OWN, reports THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER. 

When the ratings began to drop from the initial audience of about 500,000 Oprah gave her pointers on how to improve the show.  Among them was that Rosie talk less about herself, thereby allowing the guests to open up.  Rosie ignored the mentoring.

Can Rosie start over with a new persona?  This abrasive 1 she cultivated on "The View"  isn't resonating with folks in 2012.  But she, like Oprah herself, may be stuck in an identity they don't have the emotional strength to change.

"The Good Wife" - Is Fred Thompson attempting TV comeback?

Fred Thompson is one of those Goldilocks personalities.  He tries a whole lot of things.  Now he might be signalling that he decided which line of work was just right.  And that's TV. 

On Sunday, he made his 2nd guest appearance on "The Good Wife."   After Lou Dobbs made his cameo appearance on the show he did return to TV, this time to Fox.  Maybe Thompson is shopping himself around for a part either on "The Good Wife" or some other crime-related series.  His presence is outsized so he would have to be able to fit in with the other characters as well as the egos.

Pat Buchanan: Old enough to have known better

The world had changed and political analyst Pat Buchanan hadn't changed with it.  His views, as he expressed on MSNBC and in his book "Suicide of a Superpower" were too coldly far right for these time of economic suffering.  Instead of generating a national conversation, his tone and content shut down debate.

No surprise, Buchanan got the ax from MSNBC.  At his age he should have known better.  As we age we learn the need for flexibility.  That's exactly the message of Lewis Richmond in his breakthrough book "Aging as a Spiritual Practice."

The payoff from that, observes Richmond, can be extraordinary.  On page 29, he says:

" ... those who remain flexible and roll with the punches age the best, stay the healthiest, and live the longest."

They also keep their jobs or their clients. 

When Revolutions Happened in Person

During the Counterculture, we had to show up in person to be heard.  Now, we can become part of the bottom-up movement from our laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

The word is out that Citibank played cute with customers.  I took a look at that for financial information company Motley Fool.  Here you can read all about it.

Madonna at Halftime: We age

In the current volatile world we working folks are either going up or we are going down.  Madonna, the ultimate survivor, wants to ensure she is going up.  So she played it smart tonight in her halftime performance at the SuperBowl.  She acted her age. 

This positions her as an entertainer who knows how to control the stage by giving it over to youth.  I guess, given Madonna's track record for all the right moves, this one shouldn't have surprised us.  It did me, though. I assumed she would try to present herself as the Madonna who had been.

 

SuperBowl XLVI: Not your father's commercials

For SuperBowl XLVI, those 30-second commercials costing an average of $3.5 million will just be the platform for much more extensive marketing and messaging.  Much of all the rest will happen through social media, online video, and smartphone apps.  This will not the viewing experience your father and you had years ago.

I deconstruct the new kind of commercial outreach for financial information powerhouse Motley Fool.  Here you can read all about it.

Mary Tyler Moore Wins Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award

We met Mary Tyler Moore, now 75, as the very young wife of an ad executive.  Then she went on to portray the single woman who goes to the city in search of a career.  Later she went on to film roles such as the cold wife in "Ordinary People." 

Tonight, that lifetime of acting was recognized by the Screen Actors Guild.  Dick Van Dyke, who played that ad executive much nicer than Don Draper, presented her with that recognition for so many years of achievement.

In our hearts, we threw up our hats as Mary Richards did when she realized that she was going to make it after all.