Morning Advantage: Baby Boomers Tell Marketers, "Don't Call Us Old!"
HBR.org 2012-07-30
Baby Boomers, like everyone, love a good discount. They just don't like to call it a senior discount, writes Brad Tuttle in this Time Moneyland column. While 10,000 Boomers turn 65 every day in America, they still see themselves as members of a youth movement. The challenge for marketers, writes Tuttle, is to change the way they speak to this group. For instance, the AARP's messaging is all about "members," a more age-neutral word than "seniors." While the semantics may seem silly, the money at stake is not: as a Pew report found last year, people over the age of 65 are wealthier than any other age group in America. And that raises an even trickier question than what to call a senior discount: Should we be offering discounts to this demographic at all?
Patients Know Best (European Business Review)
In this piece, IT expert and doctor Mohammad Al-Ubaydli makes the case for a patient-controlled medical records system. Although the piece reads a bit like an ad for his company (he just so happens to offer such a system himself), he does raise a point worth debating, arguing that patients, not doctors, are best-equipped to manage their own care. As someone who can do a WebMD search for "stubbed toe" and come away thinking she's got a rare Peruvian skin disease, I'm not sure I buy it. But with medical specialization and health care costs rising, it's a question all of us will likely have to confront, and soon.
A Field Guide to Identifying Bad Listeners (McKinsey Quarterly)
I know this is old, but it's really good. Flipping through the February 2012 issue of McKinsey Quarterly, I came across "A Field Guide to Identifying Bad Listeners," a brief, pointed, funny and true taxonomy of bad listeners. You'll certainly recognize many of the species — "The Opinionator," "The Preambler," "The Perseverator" — and maybe even see aspects of them in yourself. Look for the expandable box part way down the page. —by Amy Bernstein
Judgy McJudgerson
Can You Judge a Company by Its Homepage? (Forbes) The 12 Words Standing Between Us and a Recovery (The Atlantic) Hate Small Talk? These Five Questions Will Help You Work Any Room (Fast Company)