Unplanned Obsolescence

A relative of mine, at that critical mid-point in her life, was laid off from a very good job. Good pay, good benefits, good resources for living. Like many others of that age, she was dumbfounded and has struggled to find her way since then. This is what happens to those of us lucky enough to get older. We find ourselves in the position of being paid too much, perhaps, or not being quite as well on top of the latest technology as they expect us to, or maybe we’re just not as flexible and willing to put up with things as we did when we were younger. For whatever reason, we face what I like to call Unplanned Obsolescence. We still have the skills, but someone has deemed them not worthy of today’s workplace. We have the smarts to interact with people in an intelligent manner and form relationships that are meaningful and viable for our workplaces, but we’re not doing that via Facebook or Twitter or Linked In, we’re doing it by phone, in person, and if pushed, email. The value has gone from our lives because the value we bring to the workplace isn’t perceived as it used to be. We know this. We saw it happen to our parents, and they saw it before them. This is the sucky part of being on the road to 60. We look back and feel proud. We look ahead and feel… what? I’d like to say the clock ticking, but even a clock has suffered from obsolescence. We still wear them on our wrists but now they’re a phone. And we all want one.