In our professional fields, "old" is relative.
In tech, for instance, that moniker is brutally applied after 40.
In the legal sector, no one thinks of superlawyers such as David Boies that way - at least, not as long as they're winning trials.
The ultimate compliment current is to be told, "You don't seem old."
That's because being perceived as "old' in the digital economy - which has a toddler mindset - can sideline a career.
"He's too old to be working on the ABC account."
"The clients don't want want to see so much gray hair in this office."
"She's too old to think out of the box on this."
The first sign of old comes through how professionals talk. You bet, it's that basic.
They go into the world with a monologue. The tone and context are already scripted, as in those late-night show comic lead-ins.
There's no opening for a multi-way conversation. Since they are on their way to shut-down, their mode of talk screams "Hey, no new ideas or opposing opinion welcome here.'
There is also excessive story telling. Sure, story telling is the meme of our times.
But that doesn't mean long-winded narratives, told over and over again. Those in the office fear X or Y subject coming up. They know that "old guy"will go on and on about how the company tried that years ago. In narratives, the youthful go in and out. Fast.
The undertow is the tone of loss of confidence. It's as if the cumulative impact of so many changes is pulling professionals from feeling safe in their own space to being pulled into the darkness of the ocean.
What's cartoonish is the desperate embrace of buzzwords such as "cool" and "disruptive."
How can this be prevented or, in play, remedied?
Fixing the rhetoric of old is an inside job. it can be done Do It Yourself. Professionals have to change how they talk to themselves. That inner dialogue has to be as real as what's being said outside about them.
For instance, it has to shift from being in another time. There is no "It or I used to ..." Instead, it's now oriented, as in "Here's the situation and so what are the strategies."
For me, the situation was that the glam field of communications along the Northeast Corridor is a young person's game.
The strategies included reconfiguring my business to be telecommuting. Not pitching in person eliminated much of the age bias.
It was smart economics and easier to blend in for me to relocate out of that whole scene. Anyway, the physical address is increasingly irrelevant when operating remote.
In addition, I listened in to youth culture to tune into their mindsets and language. I integrated into my rhetorical game what was a fit for a Baby Boomer.
One "listening post" was reading regularly Abovethelaw.com. It's a very different kind of legal news site.
Lawyer-journalists such as Joe Patrice and Kathryn Rubino were positioning and packaging information and opinion in ways that old-line corporate types hadn't in the kinds of op-eds which got published in elite media.
And, I purged the memory bank of war stories. No one wants to hear them. Or needs to. Actually, I have learned to pause and signal an invitation to hear others' stories.
It's all about business. Aging professionals can thrive in business if they have a reality-based conversation with themselves. Daily.
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