Editor’s Note: Several of Creating Results’ leaders recently attended the annual LeadingAge Pennsylvania conference. Team members had the privilege of both presenting our insights and learning from other presenters. This series of posts shares some OUTtakes and INsights for marketing to seniors and Baby Boomers.
General sessions at conferences are typically designed to set the tone of an event, to inspire and connect emotionally.
We’ve shared some of the specific marketing take-aways from LeadingAge PA 2017 in the last two posts in this series.
Now, we’ll shift to a round-up of ideas that stuck with our team after the lights came back on in the main hall and attendees dove into the nitty-gritty of breakout classes.
SESSION: “What Reality Are You Creating for Yourself?”
SPEAKER: Isaac Lidsky, child actor, tech entrepreneur, Supreme Court law clerk and thought-leader
Isaac Lidsky’s life was changed when he was diagnosed with a condition in his teens that guaranteed he would be completely blind within a decade.
At LeadingAge PA he spoke of the despair he immediately felt. Up to that point everything had come easily, from grades in school to Hollywood success. And now, his deepest fears told him, it was all going to be over. He was going to be nothing more than a dependent child for the rest of his life because of this affliction.
Instead he graduated from Harvard Law magna cum laude, enjoyed great business success and founded Hope for Vision, a non-profit that funds the development of treatments and cures for blinding diseases. He is also the author of a book called “Eyes Wide Open.”
Photo Source: Professional Convention Management Association
I was struck by his insight that we create our own reality and then we believe it. Fear replaces the unknown with the awful. Most of what we dread are stories we are making up in our head.
“Your fears distort your reality,” said Lidsky.
We have to remember there is only right now. Today. We have this nasty inside voice that always swaps out the definition of success to assure that we cannot reach that plateau.
Teddy Roosevelt said that the strong man values effort and growth. The success is in the striving. The strong man has no use for perfection.
Lidsky’s tips: keep focused on what your next best step is, because you can’t get from A to Z if you don’t get from A to B.
Ask yourself:
- What do you fear?
- What lies do you tell yourself?
- What reality are you creating for yourself?
This is a great exercise for marketing and sales teams whose nasty inside voices often masquerade as objections we are convinced seniors will have, even before they’ve had a chance to consider the offering.
You can hear Lidsky’s ideas in this TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/isaac_lidsky_what_reality_are_you_creating_for_yourself