Boomer Myths and Misconcpetions Blog

Long Term Care's Visionary Philosopher King

It will come as no surprise that nursing homes in America has suffered from negative images and bad press for the last couple of decades. This press is largely self inflicted due to a lack of innovation and short term focus on the bottom-line rather than the staff and customers. Like American business in general, nursing homes are trapped in command and control management systems and the medical model of care and its resulting rules, regulations and restrictions.

In a dismal industry generally devoid of innovation, Dr. Bill Thomas has become the light at the end of the tunnel. In 1991, he launched what is known as The Eden Alternative during his tenure as medical director for a nursing home in NY by introducing plants, birds, children and self-directed work teams into a traditional home. The result: according to the NY Dept of Health there was a 50% decrease in infections, 71% dip in daily drug costs for each resident, and a 26% drop in nurse's aid turnover.

With those results, you would think the industry would have rushed to adopt this new paradigm...but not so. The Eden Alternative movement grows every year; but it remains a long way from an industry revolution. The Long term care industry, once dominated by nonprofit operators, just can't seem to focus on the holistic needs of their customers. They are too busy filling beds to capture as many short term, Medicare reimbursed rehab stays as possible. While no doubt increasing short term profitability, it is compromising long term success; not to mention the quality of life of both current residents and staff.

With the aging of 76 million Baby Boomers, an increasing amount of attention is being given to innovations in long term care as evidenced by the June 19, 2006 article in US News & World Report about Dr. Bill Thomas and is vision of a better way - "The Greening of Aging". The article shares the roots of The Eden Alternative, the current Green House Model to replace the outdated nursing home and Bill's latest venture, The Eldershire. If you are unfamiliar with either the concept or the man, reading the article will be time well spent.

Mindless Commitment to Youth

It seems even positive stories about the aging of the marketplace take two steps forward and one step back. Today a friend sent me a copy of a June 12 New York Times article entitled "Older Consumers Flex Their Muscle (and Money) On-line." Among other topics, the article shared the "extraordinary success" Travelocity has had with an AARP affiliated program on its web site, and the dramatic rise of older shoppers on the Internet - noting 27.4 million age 55 plus adults have made a purchase on the Internet in the last 6 months alone.

Since the vast majority of AARP members are well over age 60, this probably came as a shock to companies such as Hampton Inn. As addressed in yesterday's blog, Hampton generally ignored anyone over age 40 in its recent national "Bedhead" contest and promotion - no doubt because it was focused at Internet users. Hampton shares a common problem aptly expressed in the NY Times article by Howard Byck, AARP Services VP of Business Development, "Without sounding overly harsh, in may ways marketers have taken the 50-plus market for granted." Mr. Byck, this is not a harsh statement but rather what Tom Peters refers to as a "blinding flash of the  obvious"...even if companies continue to ignore the obvious. So far, it is all good news for older consumers...

In spite of the success of its AARP Passport Program, Travelocity Executive Phillip Charles-Pierre stated, "it is not easy to design advertising aimed at senior citizens without making them feel like relics." I couldn't disagree more with this statement. I encourage Mr Charles-Pierre to check out Chicos, Harley-Davidson or SW Airlines ads. What's difficult is convincing marketers and ad agencies of how easy it really is to market agelessly. However, business leaders, ad agency creative directors and marketers will never see the potential of the new consumer majority as long as they choose to look at the market through yesterday's youth market lens that distorts reality.

The age 50 plus market will not be ignored as past generations of older adults have been. They already make up 40% of the US population, account for 55% of consumer spending and control 75% of the nation's assets. Even if it is "not easy to design advertising to attract these consumers," companies had better learn the new rules for surviving in the first market ever controlled by older consumers. As the NY Times article implies, the older consumers are now flexing their muscles - and their power is a force to be reckoned with for the next 20 to 30 years.

What I Meant to Say Was

Have you ever had one of your emails to a co-worker or friend misunderstood? Typed all caps and didn't really mean to be yelling? Thought you were being cute and been misinterpreted as being sarcastic?

Email may be doing as much to erode at build positive relationships. This is one of the major reasons the creators of www.YackPack.com, a new voice mail system for groups, created this unique service and why many of us became instant fans.

Just today, I received an email detailing new research that further documents the benefits of communicating in your own voice. According to recent research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, you have only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows that people think they've correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails they receive 90 percent of the time...that's quite a perception gap!

"That's how flame wars get started," says psychologist Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago, who conducted the research with Justin Kruger of New York University. "People in our study were convinced they've accurately understood the tone of an e-mail message when in fact their odds are no better than chance," says Epley.

The research involved 30 pairs of undergraduate students and each received a list of 20 statements about topics like campus food or the weather. Assuming either a serious or sarcastic tone, one member of each pair e-mailed the statements to his or her partner. The partners then guessed the intended tone and indicated how confident they were in their answers.

Those who sent the messages predicted that nearly 80 percent of the time their partners would correctly interpret the tone. In fact the recipients got it right just over 50 percent of the time.

"People often think the tone or emotion in their messages is obvious because they 'hear' the tone they intend in their head as they write," Epley explains. At the same time, those reading messages unconsciously interpret them based on their current mood, stereotypes and expectations. Despite this, the research subjects thought they accurately interpreted the messages nine out of 10 times.

The conclusion I make from studies of this type is that many business communications are too important to start with only a 50/50 change they will be understood. For customer service projects, coaching and mentoring, I am moving almost exclusively to making YackPack the primary form of team communication to avoid misunderstanding, hurt feelings and flare ups.

If you're concerned about being misunderstood, go to www.yackpack.com and give it a try. It won't cost you a cent but the return could be HUGE>

A Purple Issue

For the past week, I had the honor and privilege of attending the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) as a delegate-at-large. While generally disappointed by the lack of vision and creativity in the strategies developed, it was invigorating to be involved in such a historic event.

The WHCoA is now history. In her closing remarks, Dorcas Hardy, Chair of the Policy Committee reminded the delegates that, politically, there are red and blue states but preparing for the demographic shift that will begin making its presence increasingly known over the next 10 years is a purple issue. The leading edge of the Baby Boom begins turning 60 on January 1, 2005. Every 8 seconds thereafter for 18 years they will be joined by one of their counterparts.

As one of those Boomers turning 60 in 2006, I am excited by the future. I have never been more excited by the business potential of serving those entering life's third stage and applying the wisdom of the Greatest Generation now blazing the way and identifying the issues that must be addressed. One member of the Greatest Generation was called on to wrap up the White House Conference, Dr. Robert Butler of the International Longevity Center.

Until Dr. Butler took the stage, I was disappointed that countering ageism and aging stereotypes had not arisen as a major issue in the strategy sessions. However, Dr. Butler clearly identified it as a major concern and something that must be immediately addressed. He further labeled the health care system in the US, especially the field of geriatrics, as out of step with today's and tomorrow's reality. He challenged everyone to view the aging of the Boom was not a coming debacle to be feared but an opportunity to be celebrated.

Butler reminded us that longevity and health are drivers of wealth and we must focus on preventive health care, aging research and geriatrics if we are to revolutionize our nation's health care system. He characterized Alzheimer's disease as today's polio and nursing homes as today's iron lungs. Just as Jonas Salk's vaccine ended the need for iron lungs, we need new models for preventive, acute and long term care to successfully serve an aging nation if we are to "add life to years as well as years to life".

To the Baby Boomers in the room he said, "Society is not ready for you; and you are not ready" for the future and called on delegates to begin the revolution. While I felt the majority of the "strategies" included in the final report were little more than an extensive wish list for additional funding of existing programs and lacked both accountability and innovation, there was also a realization within that the system was in need of an overhaul. A play book will be developed by the Policy Committee using the strategies developed by the delegates and become available to the country within six months. Whether or not we are successful in using those plays to create win-win solutions will depend on how well we can build on the plays that bring results and throw out the ones that result in zero or negative yardage.

For both current older adults, the aging of the Baby Boom and generations that follow, this is a game we cannot afford to loose. Play Ball!

Lessons from SD

Some time ago, I was interviewing a 97 year old woman. I asked her what was missing in today's 'retirement' communities. She simply stated we lost something along the way. In World War II, everyone had a job to do whether or not you were in the military. We didn't just talk about supporting our troops we actually did something about it. Somewhere along the line we stopped getting involved and became spectators. I guess you could say that what is wrong with 'retirement communities" is a big part of what's wrong with our nation.

We used to pride ourselves on self-sufficiency, rugged individualism, and personal autonomy. Today, it seems whenever there is a disaster or problem; people start hollering for the government to solve their problems. But not in SD!

As a SD native, I was not surprised when a friend sent me a weather bulletin from last week. I was fortunate enough to grow up with role models that taught me solve my own problems. This text was shared with me as coming from a county emergency manager out in the middle of Eastern South Dakota after the storm.

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WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in South Dakota we just recovered from a Historic event may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" - with a historic blizzard of up to 24" inches of snow and winds to 50 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands. FYI:

George Bush did not come....

FEMA staged nothing....

No one howled for the government...

No one even uttered an expletive on TV...

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....

No one looted....

Phil Cantori of the Weather Channel did not come....

And Geraldo Rivera did not move in.

Nope, we just melted snow for water, sent out caravans to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Aladdin lamps, and put on an extra layer of clothes because up here it is 'work or die'. We did not wait for some government agency to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early...we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

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Wouldn't it be refreshing if this was the attitude of our nation's leadership at all levels?

Baby Boomers & Our Future

Baby Boomers remain the darlings of the media - at least to talk about. It is no secret that mainstream media remains addicted to youth markets of yesterday in spite of the exploding numbers of age 50 plus adults. If you haven't nototiced, even ads targeting Boomers seem to prefer nostalgia so they can maintain a youth focus. Still ohters show middle ageed Boomers acting like the young creative prefer to see them - in other words a fanticized vew of aging through young eyes.

Those of us addressing the need to change marketing paradigms for the past 20 years or so can't seem to get business and government leaders to recognize that Boomers are not one; but multiple generations. That they are maturing pretty much like past generations while bringing different life experiences into the equation - making them less trusting and more self-directed; less deppendent on traditional institutions and more prone to experiment; and less self-absorbed and more altuistic with each passing year.

The aging of the Baby Boom is too often pictured as a pending disaster rather than the dawn of a new eara of enlightenment. The youth culture of the past has given us the drug culture; increased dependency on government institutions to solve problems, unchecked agism, and a long-term health care system that addresses the needs of the body but not the mind and human spirit. On the other hand, our nation has never had this much wisdom and experience available with which to address and solve problems.

Hopefully, the tapping of this wisdom will begin on December 11th as delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging gather in Washington, DC. With a looming deficit, the highest median age of adults in our nation's history and systems that are out of touch with reality, the solutions will not come by expanding the Federal bureaucracy; but through innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. The nation awaits...