Out of Sight, Out of Mind

One of the interesting tidbits of my life is that I have a young sounding voice. So people I talk to on the phone professionally, usually presume that I am in my thirties. I am also not born in this country, so based on the recent call center establishments in such places as India their reaction to hearing my voice is less then welcoming. Some even hang up as soon as I answer the phone. I am Dutch, born and educated in the Netherlands to be a teacher and have reached the wonderful age of 67. Most telephone callers though are pleasantly surprised by my poise, my knowledge and my understanding of their specific needs


Facing people physically though is a totally different story. Frankly the invisibility factor, mentioned by many of my friends of the same age does not bother me that much. It gives you the freedom to be who you are and no one really cares. The “mind” matter affects me much more, as I am sure it does others. How can any sensible person reasonably assume that after you turn a certain age, you lose the ability to access what knowledge and experience you gathered over a period of multiple decades.

Looking forward to working at least another fifteen years, I consider being “mindless” a situation most difficult to accept, even more so because it is so disturbingly untrue. Are the last forty or so years of our life going to be a blank SLATE? The knowledge and experience gained gone forever. The sense of security of feeling respected gone haywire. What about that fascinating life you lived, the feelings of accomplishments, having gone through all the ups and downs, to get where you wanted to be, do these efforts sill matter?

In most non western, non-commercialized countries, wisdom is connected to the elders in the community. Why and how did this perception disappear in our western world? Why in our world today is “maturity” shunned? Ask any person, who cannot survive on social security about their jobs and you will find that no matter their profession in earlier life, they all work on menial jobs in an environment where promotions are unheard of.

Looking at the next decade based on present data, at least fifty percent of us “older folks” will have to work until we are reaching our seventies, just to survive. This for most of us is ok, because we like to stay involved in activities that challenge our minds and in some jobs our bodies, as well. But we do not want to be relegated to the meaningless jobs that we are usually offered. We still want to make a difference, to be involved in decision making or to have our opinions count. Interestingly, what most companies do not perceive is that with an ever growing market of older people, we are the ones who clearly understand what they want and need.

It is interesting to note in this scenario, that perhaps some men at an older age would prefer to have a younger person serving them, but most likely more than eighty percent of the older folks, would rather converse and deal with someone their age. So what are these upper management people thinking?

Indeed one of the most frustrating areas of employment is the non-use of previously learned experience. A company not interested in feedback from their employees, specifically from those who are in direct contact with the clients, is sticking its head in the sand. Specifically since the segment of mature people in the marketplace is growing, there needs to be synchronization between the clients and those who serve them.

Certainly as the world has become more technically advanced, the younger generation is better equipped and much more interested in its applications, then the more mature generation. At the same time, this generation in general lacks the sensitivity of face to face communication, i.e. identifying emotions or understanding the change in the tone of voice of a prospective client. Again these specific traits can feed off each other by having teams of older folks work hand in hand with those who have not yet mastered this way of communicating.

If you wish to hire young people for their enthusiasm and energy and technical knowhow and you wish them to stay with your company and move up the ladder, what better way can there be to serve all facets of client orientation, then to team them up with the older folks. Eventually when the mature person, finally reaches the age that they should retire, you have an employee, who most likely will be the leader of the new age, where maturity is a batch of honor both for the company itself and its employees.