Yeah Summer!

Posted on July 28, 2008 by bkoran

Yeah Summer!

 Some of us living in the Midwest thought summer was never going to arrive. But our patience has paid off as we celebrate the wonderfully long days of sunshine and blue sky (with an occasional thunderstorm rolling through).

 Now the only question is how do we use these summer days to benefit us through the next long winter??

 A recently completed longitudinal study (1993 through 2006) done by Cambridge University found that people who practiced four healthy lifestyle behaviors lived an average of 14 years longer than people with none of these behaviors. The valuable healthy lifestyles were: 1. not smoking, 2. moderate alcohol consumption 3. being physical active, and 4. eating five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Not a surprise but the key to this study is that when all four behaviors were incorporated into a person’s life there was a significant increase in longevity.

 The study looked at 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79, clearly statistically significant and warranting further investigation of the findings.

 Summer affords us a perfect practice arena to begin making these healthy life changes. The opportunity to increase physical activity is a given in the summer months. Golfing, tennis, running, hiking, swimming, and gardening are just a few of the activities that can be enjoyed during the summer months. The longer days make these activities even more doable. All the reruns on TV are just one more incentive to get outside instead of lazing around on the couch watching TV.

 Gone to a fresh outside market recently? The availability of fresh, beautiful fruits and vegetables is a real gift to us in the summer months. Treat your palate to new flavors of unusual fruits and vegetables. Build your meals around vegetables with the protein being a side dish rather than the main entrée. The web is full of recipes to inspire you in ways to use the harvest of summer to your enjoyment.

 Moderate alcohol consumption is another habit that summer can foster. The many cool drinks like lemonade, iced tea, limeaids, and fruit spritzers serve as refreshing substitutes for alcohol. No matter how thirsty you are and how good a cold beer sounds, the reality is that beer will do nothing to quench your thirst. If anything, it increases your thirst and can promote dehydration. Consider limiting your alcohol to just your evening meals and then limit it to 1 – 2 glasses.

 One of the big fears some smokers have in relation to quitting is that they will gain weight. Well once again summer provides the perfect time to quit the smoking habit. All the opportunities for exercise will help keep that waistline under control. Also think of all the extra energy and lung capacity you will have if you kick the smoking habit.

 By incorporating these changes to your lifestyle you are increasing the chance of a healthy, longer life that will have you looking forward to summer for many years to come.

 

 

Filed under: Health, Perspectives and Trends | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Moving from the Pyramid and Into the Future

Posted on July 21, 2008 by kjenwws

Posted by Keitha:

 What does workplace flexibility really look like?  We don’t know yet because, as U.S. employers in the 21st century, we are in the midst of transition.  We have one foot in the traditional business models, principles and constructs despite the fact that they aren’t working in a global economy with a multi-generational workforce.  The other foot?  It’s still in the air while we try to identify what this workplace flexibility might look like and the impact it will have on business policies and practices.

 Chai Feldblum, Director of Workplace Flexibility 2010 at the Georgetown University Law Center throws out a challenge to us all, “We need to open up our understanding of the issues and then create new messages so that people can start to talk about the need for flexibility in a fresh way.”

 So, how can we begin to reshape our organizations in anticipation of creating fresh ways to look at flexibility?  The British-North American Committee (BNAC) in 2001 published a report on “Aging Populations in the Workforce” that offered the rectangular business structure instead of the traditional hierarchical pyramid. 

 The pyramid business structure has a large base of employees who over time are funneled into staff workers or up the chain of command to become managers and finally senior administrators.  The funneling criterion is based on education, knowledge, skills, and years of experience with the business.  This structure made a great deal of sense in the early days of business when an entrepreneur or family owner was the controlling executive of the firm.  But as large numbers of highly educated Baby Boomers began entering the workforce in the 50’s, they fueled incredible business growth.  The pyramid swelled with education, knowledge, experience and successes at all levels.  We know that successful businesses do not shrink to greatness so what will employers do as Boomers begin to exit pyramids all across the dynasty? 

 The rectangular business structure acknowledges the trend in population growth as looking more like a rectangle.  There will be a consistent pool of employees coming into the workforce with fewer population surges like that of the baby boomer generation.  But under the more realistic rectangular structure, how will employers engage, provide learning opportunities and promote employees when one of the previously important factors for advancement was based on years of experience in the business?  I would urge employers to begin understanding the issues, just as Feldblum suggested:

 

  • How do we change the workplace norm to accept different criteria for advancement and succession for all the generations?
  • Do we promote from within or bring in experience from the outside?
  • In order to bring in “new blood” to management, how can we keep the experienced workers who are primarily baby boomers but who aren’t ready to leave the workforce?  Can we create parallel career paths that assign them to teams as mentors and trainers instead of as managers?
  • Can we reshape our hiring processes to match employees’ responsibilities with their life interests?

The answers to these questions demand a new perspective and workplace flexibility.  What policies and practices do you need to change to create fresh ways of talking about flexibility?

Filed under: Workforce Transitions Issues and Solutions | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

The Age of Employability

Posted on July 14, 2008 by kjenwws

Now that the Democratic nominee for U. S. President has been determined, as voters, we will be faced with an interesting psychological dilemma – how do we feel about age and competence?  I’m not talking about the overanalyzed question of who has the most “experience” but rather the always expressed but seldom analyzed perspective that younger workers are “better” than older ones.  If we hold this belief throughout our organizations to get our daily and perhaps mundane work done, why wouldn’t we potentially project this belief onto a role that has some of the most important and intense work in the world? 

 Given the very public example that is unfolding, this is the perfect time to examine our attitude about older workers no matter what position they hold in our organizations. 

 If we examine all the “CEOs” of the organization called the United States, the average age of all of our Presidents when they ascended to the position is 54.  And if you think our Founding Fathers would be the youngest, you’d be wrong.  Our Founding Fathers have been some of our oldest leaders.  The youngest to assume the role was Teddy Roosevelt at 42 and the oldest was Ronald Reagan at 69.

 If you want to consider how long our Presidents live beyond their service to our country, the average age is 70 with a range from 46 (he was assassinated) to 93 (he died in this decade of natural causes).  Again, our Founding Fathers had some of the longest lives of all Presidents.  Three of our past Presidents are still living today – Clinton (youngest still living), Carter and Poppa Bush (oldest still living). 

 But certainly, you wouldn’t use a candidate’s age, whether youth or maturity, as your sole criteria to promote a person to an executive position.  Certainly you’d consider their character and their ability to lead.  Well, no surprise, over the years psychologists have researched what makes a good president by comparing their personalities to historic results during their administrations.  Great presidents are extraverted, open to experience, achievement striving, excitement seeking and more open to fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas and values.  They have been poor on straightforwardness, vulnerability and order.  They are typically stubborn and disagreeable.  Historically, they were people of serious purpose, voracious readers, pushed by their parents and came from modest families in small towns.  I don’t know about you but this description of greatness appears to be ageless. 

 So when we “tease” any candidate for any position about their age, are we only disguising our belief that younger workers are better than older ones behind a thin veil of humor? 

Filed under: Workforce Transitions Issues and Solutions | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

Opposite ends of the work continuum

Posted on July 7, 2008 by maltmix

 

Posted by Margy:

 I recently attended my son’s masters degree graduation. I was struck by the similarities and differences in our life stages, as all those “20-somethings” marched into the quadrangle to receive their degrees, proud of what they had accomplished, hopeful for the future and thrilled to be entering the work world. While awaiting the ceremony, I found myself thinking about my own 34-year career, what I had accomplished, and what my future would look like as I begin to leave that world of work, anxious to get on with the next stage of my life.

 In my personal experience, leaving the work world is as much of a challenge as is entering that same world. In both instances, people have to learn to survive and thrive. I will be reducing my work hours and responsibilities starting this month and the challenges I face, not unlike other retirees, is redefining my identity from a successful career woman to something else. I think the key to my successful disengagement from my history of work is in finding that “something else” that will create my personal, wonderful retirement.

 Recently, after reading the morning paper, I found myself skimming the want ads, something I’d not done in years. I asked myself what I was doing, and came to the realization that it was not that I wanted to find a job. I was looking for the comfort of doing something I knew how to do – work.

 Figuring out how one will spend their time and establish their identity in retirement is tough work. So the question is how does each of us find that “something” that will give us a reason to get up in the morning after we don’t have to. I think each of us needs to explore the possibilities for newness in our lives, and not get stuck doing what we know we can do or have already done. This is our opportunity to attend to those parts of ourselves that we have left dormant while trying to be successful in the world of work.

 

 

 

Filed under: My Plan After 50 Musings, Work | 2 Comments »

Summertime

Posted on June 26, 2008 by maryalison

Not a summer goes by that I don’t think of that great old song:

“Summertime, and the living is easy.

Fish are jumping and the cotton is high.

Your daddy’s rich and your mama’s good looking.

So hush pretty baby, don’t you cry.”

Great lyrics and an appropriately laid back, lazy tune. Problem is, the lyrics no longer ring true. How about a 2008 version, something like: 

Summertime, and living’s not easy.

Gas is jumping and airfares are high.

Your ‘folio’s not rich, nor the markets good looking.

So go ahead baby, have a good cry. 

Done with that? OK, now to the essential point. As we age, the skills of resiliency and adaptability become all the more essential to our psychological, biological and social health and well being. Ironically, the present economic environment can be helpful in that regard. Not even the most died-in-the-wool control freak believes he can fight the near-daily rise in gas prices or make his case to the airlines. How do I know that? He’s me! And so, in the year I enter my 7th decade, I’m being afforded (!) the opportunity once again to learn to let go of all that I can’t control, and make reasonable plans for things that might happen outside of my personal preferences..

 Perhaps, before summer’s end, I’ll have gotten closer to the benefits of living easy. I may even take up fishing!

Filed under: Perspectives and Trends | 2 Comments »

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