Baby Boomers have lived during an era of unparalleled prosperity.  So when this deep recession hit, much was written about them being too spoiled to cope.

Not so.  A look at recent employment data indicates that boomers have persevered in these hard times, and are less likely to grow discouraged and quit their job hunt than younger workers are.  "Older adults are not giving up," said Steven Hipple, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist.  Despite the fact that the unemployment rate for Baby Boomers has doubled since the start of the recession, what the federal government calls their "labor participation rate"--the number of 45-to-64-year-olds working or actively seeking work--has remained unchanged.  In contrast, every other age group has shown a decline.

"Older workers don't have the choice of withdrawing from the labor force," said Mr. Hipple, pointing out that they have mortgages to pay, health issues and retirement to worry about, as well as children to put through college.

Boomer-age workers are the only age group whose employment prospects have improved since last summer.  For people over 45, joblessness was 6.8% in October 2009, down from 7.3% in July (the highest for this age group since data was first collected 60 years ago).

Source: NEW YORK TIMES, November 22, 2009

Both unemployed and employed boomers, who are planning to work before and/or after retirement, would be wise to learn some effective career transition tips (at www.JobCoachTips.com) to pay attention to long before he or she is walked out of their workplace.  For more online resources for anyone over 50, keep reading.

In its latest biannual survey, released in October 2009, temp firm Spherion Staffing Solutions asked about 300 employers and about 2,500 workers to name the top "drivers of retention."  As they did in 2007 and 2005, the bosses listed soft stuff: "management climate" and "supervisor relationship," for instance. 

Employees' top two in all three surveys?  Benefits and compensation.  And this year, only 27% are "very satisfied" with their pay.  Just 37% are equally happy with their benefits.

Of course, the high unemployment rate has scared working Americans into hanging on to their jobs at all costs.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the "quit rate" --the portion of U.S. employees who voluntarily leave their jobs--was just 1.3% in August 2009, about half the rate that prevailed when the BLS began collecting such figures at the end of 2000.

A survey by benefits consultant Watson Wyatt found that the "engagement," or loyalty, of top-performing employees has dropped by 25% over the past year, largely because people who kept their jobs have been soured by layoffs, bonus and benefit cuts and a halt in promotions.

Why do new survey findings reveal that nearly half of U.S. companies' high performers are actively looking for other jobs?

The simple answer is that most employers are not spending enough time and money to retain their management talent.   

Source: BUSINESSWEEK, November 16, 2009

Did You Know....

By the end of 2009, more than 130 banks will have failed.

Most depositors will have little clue their bank was even at risk. Worse yet, the string-pullers in Washington are doing everything in their power to hide information about the safety of your bank from you.

Learn what you can do now to protect your money. 

If you’re like most leaders, you’ve never before experienced a downturn like this.  Reports about the end of the recession mean little if your company continues to fight cash-flow problems.  You know that the term 'jobless recovery' is an oxymoron.

You cannot allow yourself to be afraid.  Others look to you for strength and guidance. You must give the best you have and move quickly, even when faced with incomplete information.

In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the best-selling author identifies the key rules to follow if you want to get the right things done in difficult times. They include:

· Pay attention to salespeople’s contributions.

· Accept guidance from your board of directors.

· Understand how various business functions must be aligned and coordinated.

· Communicate candidly and frequently.

· Respond to external pressures in realistic, yet positive, ways.

Uncertain Data

Projections and estimates are little more than guesses these days.  We won’t know when we’ve turned the corner, and we cannot envision the future shape and scope of our businesses.  What we can say is that change will present as both a danger and an opportunity.

Smart leaders are reshaping their businesses to carry on through whatever hard times lie ahead.  They are making changes now so they can emerge in better shape than before, ready for new growth.  They’re pouncing on new opportunities, devising ways to move faster and trying to serve customers in different ways.

  Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn

A record number of U.S. companies are beating earnings expectations but a big portion of their profits come from cost-cutting, disappointing investors who are hoping for boosts in revenue.  The worry is that without a meaningful upturn in U.S. sales, cost-cutting can only boost profits so long.

Barring acquisitions, your company will likely be smaller two years from now, according to Ram Charan.  In his new book, Ram Charan: Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn, the bestselling author identifies the key rules to follow if you want to get the right things done in difficult times.  

As bitter and painful as it may be, survival depends on cutting costs and raising cash. This is the time to narrow your focus and concentrate on your business’ core: the invaluable assets you can’t afford to lose.

No doubt you have heard "The Cookie Thief" poem by Valerie Cox from "A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul" Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen that goes like this:

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,
That the man beside her, as bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,
Which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene.

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock,
As the gutsy 'cookie thief' diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, 'If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!'

With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other.
She snatched it from him and thought, 'Oh brother,
This guy has some nerve, and he's also rude,
Why, he didn't even show any gratitude!'

She had never known when she has been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
Refusing to look back at the 'thieving ingrate.'

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,
Then sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise:
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

'If mine are here,' she moaned with despair,
'Then the others were his and he tried to share!'
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!

The Real "Cookie" Story

This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person is me.

I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table. I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies. You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know… But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn’t do anything, and thought, What am I going to do?

In the end I thought Nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him. But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice…” I mean, it doesn’t really work.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back.

A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies. The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story, only he doesn’t have the punch line.

-Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
“Cookies” 

Leadership by Sharing Knowledge

Knowledge is power and sharing it can build even more capability for the person sharing and the organization.   Yet, this concept can be a hard sell to those who have been raised on the belief that giving away their knowledge is surrendering their power.

Today, social networks are allowing us all to share our virtual cookies with people all over the world by practicing the law of reciprocity (www.LawofReciprocity.com).