Turning Silver Into Gold?
While working in Ireland in 2010, I attended a conferencen in Dublin where the theme was “turning silver into gold.” I was impressed when I arrived, as the conference was sold out and it was standing room only. Speakers came from a wide range of academic and business fields, and the day ended with roundtable brainstorming sessions about business opportunities in serving the needs of seniors. There was a lot of creative energy in the room.
At the same time, I recognized the possibility that the economic crisis that was in full sail at the time, deeply affecting Ireland, could be triggering both creativity and desperation. Free enterprise often seems to walk the fine line between capitalizing on need and exploiting it. Seniors may be particularly vulnerable as clients, if the fine line is breached.
I was reminded of the potential for duality as I read a very interesting article in the New York Times, by Jill Caryl Weiner, “Of Crime and Punishment, Redemption and Aerobics.” Here are two paragraphs from the thoughtful exploration of a senior fitness business plan, that started small with aerobics classes in senior centers:
“Mr. Mickens dreams big. Right now, as president and C.E.O. of the Tommy Experience, a fitness company focused on older adults, he says he wants to turn his company into an international brand, as big as Bally Total Fitness and Equinox. He envisions sports merchandisers like Nike and Under Armour sponsoring his company and providing comfortable workout clothes for the 60-and-above set, ‘to sponsor their grandmothers, aunts and grandfathers like they would sponsor kids or a team.’
While his stated mission is to help older people transform themselves, it is also about his own transformation — and redemption. In 1989, Mr. Mickens, then 25, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, money laundering and tax evasion. He was fined $1 million and sentenced to 35 years in federal prison.”
It is good to read about redemption and senior services coming together in healthy ways, with the hope that everyone also “exercises” healthy realisim about the business model.