By Kevin Brown | Bio
I was reading Ken Dychtwald’s With Purpose recently, and was struck by a comment in the introduction. He noted that "in a single generation, sixty-two went from ‘such a long life’ to ‘he died so young’." Being 57 myself, I have a personal interest in the subject
By Jim Selman | Bio
"The worldviews of our two generations are both equally valid. They are simply our assessments of ‘the way it is’ and what is and is not possible. Neither of our assessments are ‘the truth’. And neither are ‘false’.Understanding this doesn’t make understanding each other’s perspective any easier. I have experience and perspective that you don’t have, just as you have experience and perspective that I don’t have. I may never understand the appeal in having tattoos or spending large amounts of time in virtual space. You may never understand the kind of ‘faith’ many of my peers have in public institutions. If we are going to work together, we need to be able to accept and appreciate
By Jim Selman | Bio
The Wall Street Journal last week had an article on the new theme of the annual commencement speech celebrity sweepstakes: “We are really, really sorry”. On campus after campus, speakers of the Boomer generation were apologizing to the twenty-something generation (I don’t remember the nomenclature for this batch of graduates) for the self-centered and often greedy abuses of
By Kevin Brown | Bio
Earlier in the spring, I wrote an article titled The Care and Feeding ofIs the possibility of being a ‘Change Agent for Aging’ in your future?
By Jim Selman | Bio
I am in Kiev, Ukraine this week. This is my first time here. In fact, it is the first time I have been in this part of the world or to a country using the Cyrillic alphabet. I am not prepared to write a travelogue since I just arrived a day ago, but sometimes first impressions are fleeting but useful. In this case, my first impressions are reflections on an ‘old’ country that (from what I can tell) has yet to be discovered by the tourism industry. Even at one of Ukraine’s
By Jim Selman | Bio
In 1976, I was working with some government employees in Virginia trying to implement a new system for integrating human services—a kind of one-stop shop for all the various services offered at that time. I had just finished the est training the previous July and was overwhelmed with my own experience and the idea that a person could transform themselves and their relationship to everything. Until then, I had bought into the belief that people don’t really change in fundamental ways, that personalities are fairly fixed, and that it requires a major crisis to shift our perceptions of reality. It was during that period that I formulated the idea that there were things that could be managed or taught and other things that could not be managed or taught but that could be “coached”. The difference had to do with how we observe others and ourselves and how we relate to power and responsibility.This was a time before the concept of organizational culture had appeared in the business lexicon. I don’t think I even heard the word ‘paradigm’ until about 1980 or so. Peter Drucker was about the only popular writer on the subject of management. This was a time when people thought in terms of careers spanning a lifetime and many even expected to work for one or perhaps two companies for life. Tom Peter’s landmark book,
By Kevin Brown | Bio
It is my experience that caregiving is fast becoming another role that adults will take on in the communities in which we live. In fact, Statistics Canada reports that seniors made up 13.1% of the general population in 2005. The Ottawa-based Institute of Marriage and Family, in their recently released report titled ‘Care-Full’, states that between 2005 and 2056, the average Canadian’s life expectancy will rise by seven years. One could assume that the statistics for the United States will be similar in nature.It seems to me, therefore, that even if you have not assumed the role of a caregiver in the past, it is a role that you will likely assume sometime in your future. As with any new role, a definition is usually helpful. Wikipedia defines ‘caregiver’ as “unpaid relatives or friends who support people with disabilities”. Another online source ‘The Free Dictionary’ gave this definition: “An individual, such as a parent, foster parent, or head of a household,
By Jim Selman | Bio
There was a wonderful article in USA Today by our new First Lady extolling the importance of ‘youthful idealism’ in these uncertain times. I couldn’t agree with her more and am happy to see her taking on this kind of generational motivation as part of her platform on behalf of the new Administration. Her call brings to mind JFK’s challenge to our generation: “Ask
By Kevin Brown | Bio
Many of you are experiencing firsthand what it means to be living with someone older than you. Perhaps you are a teen or young adult living with your parents, or perhaps you are an adult who has a parent or older relative living with you. Experience reveals that at some point in our lives we will be sharing an intergenerational relationship while under one roof. Most of us have the experience of living with our parents while we grow up. But the experience of taking on a caring role is very different.I myself had this experience while my mother lived with my wife and I until her untimely death, followed a short while thereafter with my mother-in-law living with us for a period of time. We considered active adult housing for my mother, but in the end, we decided to have her in our home. I’m so glad we did. I found myself in a situation where I needed to not only accommodate our son but now also integrate an aging parent. While
By Kevin Brown | Bio
You must forgive the title of this post, especially if you view aging the way that I view aging: as a natural progression of life that embodies endless possibilities. This view is the core reason why I joined the Eldering Institute, an organization that promotes a life of power, purpose and possibility for Elders. I choose to live in a world in which individuals, regardless of age, are committed to continually creating new possibilities for their lives. I am speaking