Inc.com recently recognized "8 over 80" entrepreneurs for staying in the game well past traditional retirement age. From Andrew Weil, the oldest entrepreneur in America at 106, to Lisa Gable, inventor of the Strap-Mate, these men and women have embarked on second careers and made running a company their ‘new’ retirement. Find out why 80 is the new 30, and watch the 8 over 80 videos and slideshows of early Boomers who are still calling the shots.
Monthly Archives: November 2007
Elder Employees
I am perplexed by the fact that companies have been laying off older workers for years as part of various downsizing projects. I understand the drive to cut costs. Under normal demographic conditions, laying off older workers would even make some sense from a strictly financial point of view, since they generally command higher salaries than younger workers. The fact is, however, that those same companies are moaning about shortages of qualified people and the difficulties they’re having in
Social Networking for 50+
UK-based Saga Group recently launched a social networking site called Saga Zone aimed at people over 50. In a BBC News report, experts indicate that the technology will help them retirees keep in touch with their families, but that face-to-face communication will still remain their preferred method of communication. Over 13,000 people signed up
Possibilities Lost and Found
By Rick Fullerton | Bio
Being over sixty and having five grown children, it comes as no surprise that my wife and I look forward to grandchildren. Like many close-knit families, we treasure the time our kids have had with their grandparents. Visits to the island summer home in Mahone Bay or to my mother in Grand Lake offered life-shaping experiences when the extended family came to be together. These times were not just about having fun or creating enduring memories: they were unique opportunities to learn and grow individually and as part of a larger family.Yet
reflecting on the place of grandparents in families and in our evolving
society raises several questions and possible insights. As a child, I
knew only three of my four grandparents—my dad’s father having died
many years before my birth. Similarly, none of our children even met my
dad as he died when I was 12. On the other hand, our two granddaughters
have all four grandparents and knew two of their great-grandmothers.
At
the other end of life’s spectrum,
Live Life to the Fullest
Randy Pausch, a 46-year-old Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, diagnosed with terminal cancer, gives his last lecture. He urges us to play the cards we are dealt, have specific dreams, enable the dreams of others and ourselves, and to understand that obstacles are opportunities for us to show how badly we want things and to demonstrate our commitment. View the 18-minute ABC video or the full Live Life to the Fullest lecture.
My Body
I have been thinking a lot about my body. In my work, the body is a key to learning anything. Unless we ‘embody’ new distinctions, we continue to operate inside our habitual worldview and way of being—‘inside the box’. What I can see is that my conversation about my body, like all my conversations needs to change as I grow older. If I attempt to apply the same concepts and tools I learned and used as a young man to deal with who I am today, including my body, then I am going to be trapped
Good Days, Bad Days
I caught a Larry King interview the other night in which he
was speaking with a bunch of positive-thinking gurus about their
beliefs and theories. One of the questions he asked was, “Do you have
any bad days”? Most of them said they don’t have bad days, and a couple
said that they still have ‘bumps’ in the road but recover quickly. I
got to thinking about my own life and concluded that I too can claim
that I don’t have bad days, although some are more challenging than
others.
How
Logical Choices
I came across a 10-minute YouTube video about global warming and climate change. Logical Choices is worth watching if you still think we can afford to sit back and let the next generation take care of the world.