Ageism

Is 80 Really the New 50?

Posted by: Anti-Ageism Task Force

Sunday, June 22, 2008—Newsweek’s Daniel Gross writes that 80 is new the 50 in his column “The Money Culture”. Gross notes the multitude of “frisky septuagenarians” who dominate CNBC, the financial news network. To wit, recent coverage of power elders has included that of:

• Carl Icahn, 72, corporate raider
• George Soros, 77, power trader
• Warren Buffett, 77, Berkshire Hathaway CFO
• Kirk Kerkorian, 91, auto industry tycoon

Gone is the retirement age of 65, writes Gross, calling these elder pillars of industry “business guitar heroes” who are taking a cue from real-life rock stars like Mick Jagger, 64, and Tina Turner, 68, still selling out stadiums.

But, it isn’t so easy for the rest of us, Gross notes, turning to expert Ken Dychtwald, chief executive officer of the consulting firm AgeWave, an organization which specializes in aging and the workplace. Dychtwald said: "There is still enormous resistance and unwillingness to consider older people for job hires."

But, Gross counters that CT Partners, an executive search firm, recently conducted an ad-hoc poll on its Web site, asking managers whether they'd hire a 72-year-old CEO (a thinly veiled reference to John McCain).The answer? Yes, by a comfortable 10% margin.

And the Arizona Republic recently cited our own poll on the McCain matter. Sixty-six percent of respondents to our question of whether McCain was too old to run said that the age of a presidential candidate mattered less to them than the candidate's health.

So, perhaps, little by little, society will follow the lead of business world visionaries and politicians alike. What do you think? We’d love to hear your opinion.
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Related Links: In the Corporate World, Eighty is the New Fifty

Keywords: retirement, job discrimination

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