If You’ve Seen One 80-Year-Old . . .

Today, more than 10,000 individuals will turn 65. Just as they have EVERY DAY for the past 15 YEARS. And just as they will for ANOTHER FOUR.

I use the term “individuals” deliberately, because although they are collectively known demographically as “Baby Boomers,” each one is, in fact, an INDIVIDUAL.

A UNIQUE PERSON.

With a unique mind. A unique history and heritage. Unique lived experiences. And unique needs, tastes, desires, political perspectives, health challenges, socioeconomic realities, and hopes for the future.

Yet society (including some supposedly very intelligent people) continues to brand this population of more than 65 million surviving Baby Boomers as one single, monolithic group which—even worse—is responsible for ALL of society’s ills and NONE of its advances.

Despite all evidence to the contrary.

For example, the inventors of the laptop on which I am composing this article—and the inventors of the platform I am using to compose it—were all Baby Boomers.

As was the individual who created the World Wide Web, the URL system, HTML code, and HTTP.

As was the individual who brought the world its first smartphone, smartwatch, digital music player, and tablet. And the individual who pioneered “the Cloud.”

Now, we can argue about whether these technological advancements have helped or hurt our society (I would submit they have accomplished both, depending on the situation), but the fact remains that none of us would be communicating via @LinkedIn without them.

Similarly, if you look at the majority of the individuals who’ve been running our country since 1992, you will find they represent BOTH sides of the political spectrum. They include Liberals, Conservatives, and Centrists—some who have fought to move our society forward, and others who are working diligently to return it to the more “idyllic” days of Ward, June, Wally, and The Beaver.

Same demographic. Different goals. Different mindset.

This is why it is so dangerous—and unfair—to paint one group of people with a single brush. Though a single color of paint may adhere the brush’s bristles to each other, they are, nevertheless, INDIVIDUAL bristles—and the larger the brush, the more individual bristles there are.

I make this point to caution those in the business of serving—or even just communicating with—older adults and their families against treating the members of your target audience as though they are all one and the same.

As the mother of adult twin daughters who were born to the same parents on the same day in the same place and at virtually the same time, I can assure you THEY. ARE. NOT.

The differences may be subtle—or extremely obvious. Either way, I promise you they are there.

Which is why your job is to listen to learn, rather than respond. To hear what people are saying—and what they’re not saying. And to focus on meeting their individual needs, along with the broader needs of the collective.

Because, as my friend and colleague, Ashton Applewhite shared in her book, “This Chair Rocks:”

“If you’ve seen one 80-year-old, you’ve seen one 80-year-old.”