Next Generation Next Destination

TRANSITIONING & BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

I attended a fascinating presentation and discussion today on how we make decisions, particularly ones that affect us financially, sponsored by Citron Cooperman CPAs. The presenters were Delia Marshall and Yvette Wynn from BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Behavioral economics is growing in interest and credibility. Related are neuroeconomics and neuro-marketing based on scientific studies of brain function which have become possible with the medical technology existing today.

Marshall spoke about the studies which are revolutionizing our thinking and proving that decision-making is more emotional than rational, governed by the biological "fight or flight" response. Most people may be biologically wired not to want to delay gratification. Brain imaging results are being integrated into advertising.

This means we have to make extra efforts to be mindful and reflective before making decisions that may go against our best interests, especially financially. Emotions can be very good things, of course. In decision-making we need to be aware of the role of emotions and what we are feeling at the time so that we can make reasoned decisions.

Among the resources Marshall recommneded to learn more on these topics are: Jason Zweig's book "Your Money & Your Brain" (Simon & Shuster 2007) and "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler, and Cass Sunstein (Yale University Press 2008).

Accepting this brain science.and realizing what is going on in our brains we can choose to be purposefullyly reflective rather than reflexive at times that really matter - when it comes to retirement and transitioning planning, for example. Be aware of  ways the fear of loss of professional identity (in the "Personal Bucket") or no longer feeling as valued as before by colleagues is influencing decisions about transitioning clients to and mentoring younger colleagues.. Avoid having reflexive behavior hinder getting what is really important to you and your legacy.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

BE PREPARED: PERSONAL TRANSITIONING

Some of the most difficult transitions are personal ones, including confronting the inevitable. It is a generational transition as well. Planning way ahead maximizes the control you can exert and prevents and relieves a lot of stress on family. Yet, given the strong emotional factors involved, people put off planning , getting documents in order, consulting health, financial, legal and other advisers and communicating their most personal thoughts and wishes. Rationally, we know we are not immortal, but many of us act as if we are.

To the rescue, popular and highly respected New York Times Personal Health columnist Jane Brody has put all you need to think about and discuss into a heartfelt book, her latest, "Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond" (Random House 2009). It is subtitled " A Practical Primer to Help You and Your Loved Ones Prepare Medically, Legally, and Emotionally for the End of Life." While this is clearly a serious subject, it is written with her light touch and includes several New Yorker cartoons.

Brody describes herself as "a staunch advocate of a healthy life filled with nutritious food and regular exercise designed to help people live life as fully as possible."  She explains and gives examples of how planning and preparing helps people live as well as possible and experience comfort and joy right up till the end. Thoroughly researched, there are so many options spelled out, many most of us would never have known about.

I highly recommnend you get your copy and digest and follow it as early as you can. Use it as a jumping off point for sensitive and honest communications with your adult children and with your parents, depending on where you fall on the generational spectrum.

We never know what is around the corner for us whether regarding work or personal matters. "Be prepared" is not just for Boy Scouts. When we have done and communicated all we can, we can rest easier for possibly many decades to come.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

RELATED RESOURCES

Here are a few website/blogs and books you may want to check out on Baby Boomers and non-traditional retirement planning:

http://www.nabbw.com National Association of Baby Boomer Women

http://www.thenewretirement.net  “The New Retirement”   - book

REINVENTION: STRUCTURE, STIMULATION, WORK THAT MATTERS

The forecast that many Baby Boomers will be living into their 90s is good news (except for maybe the need for financial planning to support us until age 90 or more) if we can continue to thrive with personally meaningful and enjoyable pursuits and "work." This "work that matters" can be similar to or different from one's major career or current work; ideally, as Jane Brody points out in her New York Times Personal Health column (July 8, 2008) "In Act 2 of Life, Doing Work That Matters," it should fulfill personal desires such as long-postponed activities, provide better work/life "balance" and enable you to make money while doing something you love.

Brody cites two books:

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP, SUCCESSION PLANNING & TRANSITIONING

In his new book "True North" (Jossey-Bass), Bill George discusses the results of 125 interviews with leaders aged 23 to 93 leading to his principles of an "authentic" approach to leadership. George is former CEO of Medtronic Inc., now teaching management at the Harvard Business School and serving as a director of Goldman Sachs Group, Exxon Mobil Corp and Novartis AG. His principles for becoming an authentic leader are:

*   Empower subordinates, but hold them accountable.

*   Seek feedback from mentors

*   Being good at something doesn't mean you love it; seek to satisfy your motives and your skills.

*   Remember that employees want meaning and significance, not just money.

*   Stay true to your values, even under significant pressure.

In an interview in the Wall Street Journal (December 3, 2007), George said about balancing the desire to empower subordinates with the demand for immediate business results: "We've got to get back to giving people opportunities at very young ages to step up and lead without risking the firm... People have to learn early. Then when you get to higher-level positions you don't repeat those kinds of mistakes."

He quotes Jeff Imelt, CEO of General Electric: "Leadership is a long journey into your own soul." This means there's a time to get feedback, and then you've got to pull back and say, "What am I made of?"

With the need to have young partners and executives prepare for succession and Generation Y/Millennials impatient to move into significant roles, George's principles and encouragement to empower subordinates to lead are well taken.

George said the greatest learning from the interviews was that leadership was not about traits and characteristics but rather that people found the passion to lead from their experiences.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com 

RECRUITING REINVENTION

A new book catching the attention of Generation Y is "Recruit or Die" by Ramit Sethi, Chris Resto and Ian Ybarra. The authors cite Goldman Sachs, McKinsey and Microsoft as the gold-standard for recruiting because they have done considerable research and given deep thought to what is a successful recruit for their firms and how to attract the candidates that fill that bill. This bears attention from professional firm management and partners as well as the recruiters. Most firms are still in the dark ages following an unproven path that has long resulted in wasted time and money and is likely to be more deleterious if continued in the pursuit of Generation Y employees.

Ryan Healy gave a rave review in his blog post on Employee Evolution and points out why he thinks the authors are "spot on." Healy says his favorite quote from the book is "You can take the 'When I was your age' approach, dismiss their expectations as delusions of entitlement, and go about recruiting them as if they should feel lucky to work for you and have a chance to pay their dues for a while. Or, you can embrace this new paradigm and appeal to their aspirations."  This comes from a section called "Young and Confused, but Absolutely Certain."

I think it's becoming clear that in order to not only recruit, but equally important, retain potential Gen Y stars, firms, their professional recruiters and whoever is managing the new entrants to the workplace will need to appeal to their aspirations and tie them to the firm's strategic vision. A clear connection needs to be drawn along with projected milestones to meet expectations.

I would say the same regarding the next generation of partners that firms want to prepare to transition effectively into the responsibilities and roles of the leading edge Baby Boomers. They also see the world differently and will not accept running things as they have always been run. Culture change will happen by design or default. I would choose change by design. How about you?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

CAREER PLANNING FOR AN "ENCORE"

"Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life" (Public Affairs, 2007), a new book by Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, was developed from interviews with people who are finding new ways to use their skills in work after age 55 or older, sometimes decades older.

The Baby Boomers in large numbers are seeking the "freedom to work," in Freedman's words. He looks primarily at health care, education and the non-profit sectors as areas welcoming older workers given their current and forecast labor shortages. The book describes the competing visions for work and Baby Boomers' search for a calling in work as well as continued earning power. Freedman says that their energy could transform what work means for all Americans.

Freedman is a very fast talker, seemingly without breaths or punctuation, who crams lots of stories and ideas into interesting narrative with extensive knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. A new movement to transform the meaning of work is an exciting prospect (for all generations, in my mind).

Phyllis

THE UN-RETIREMENT

Career issues are among the most important to do visioning and planning for much in advance of taking the actual steps to your next career/life destination. The issues fall into what I call the "Career Bucket."

How do you decide whether to work for pay or for no pay after you "retire" from your existing career?  According to The Wall Street Journal Complete Retirement Guidebook: How to Plan It, Live It and Enjoy It, there are a number of key questions to ask yourself. Here they are:

*   Do you need to work for money, and how much do you need?

*   Do you feel that work would make your "retirement" more worthwhile? Essentially, do you want your life to continue to revolve to a large extent around work?

*   How would work affect your social life? If most of your friends are working, that might be an important factor

*   Do you want to work full-time or part-time?  How consuming do you want work to be? What degree of responsibility?

An idea that is catching on for people "working in retirement" (an oxymoron)is "cyclical employment."  The concept is holding in serial sequence full-time jobs with breaks in between to travel, carry out a personal project or spend  spurts of time in some other fashion of your choice.

Time to thoughts on these questions way in advance of the time to make a move will lead to better decision-making and avoid the panic of what to do.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

With increased mobility and the eventual retirement of seasoned Baby Boomers, organizations are threatened with significant losses of institutional knowledge and professional wisdom. David W. DeLong, a research fellow at MIT illuminates the issues of knowledge transfer in his book, Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce (Oxford University Press, New York, 2004). DeLong suggests ways to deal with the challenges and retain precious intellectual capital.

"What's Age Got to Do with It?"

About 10 days ago my financial consultant invited me to a program her firm was sponsoring about looking at aging in new ways. The speaker - a dynamo motivational speaker - was Kelly Ferrin. She is a gerontologist and says they are rare birds and our aging population needs much more of them.

Kelly got interested in the study of aging as a graduate student originally majoring in golf. She met a lot of older people on the golf course and decided to switch her major. Now not yet 50, she advises as one of the secrets to successful aging - and all of us age every day from birth - to "Never let age get in the way of life."

Among the secrets are: Attitude; Engagement; Independence through activity and mobility; and Adaptability.

While I call retirement "reinvention,"  Kelly speaks of "retiring to," rather than "retiring from." In her book (actually 2 volumes of interviews and inspiring stories of people way beyond the traditional retirement age), "What's Age Got to Do with It?" she says: "Perhaps retirement will soon be looked at as an interim period to be done in phases -- where we take a break between periods of doing, contributing, volunteering, working, traveling, and then catch our breath to transition to the next phase of life that embodies a whole new definition of success combining learning, growth and contribution."

It sounds like something that would strike a responsive chord with the Millennials/Generation Y.... Can you imagine what that would mean to you?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    Practice Development Counsel   www.pdcounsel.com