Now I know more about what it must feel like to be a rock star. Certainly those moments on-stage before an attentive European audience evoke the glamorous images of rock stardom. Being wined and dined at world-class restaurants is also exceptional caretaking. Then there are the gifts that follow the performances. (And what do you really do with five pounds of Dutch cheese when you still have three more airports/countries to negotiate?)
But our rock heroes have their challenges, as well. Other parts of travel can be taxing. For example, a full body pat-down at the Amsterdam airport. Or watching a colleague actually consume a plate full of calf brains. Or stuffing five people and luggage into the taxi equivalent of a Mini Cooper.
But a couple of inconveniences notwithstanding, our multi-country speaking tour (in eight days) was well worth it, especially for what it signals.
European business is starting to confront its own demographic destiny. This was evident by the quality of the audiences that attended presentations by Chuck Nyren, Carol Orsborn and me. They came to the seminars, many paid, and they stayed. Hopefully, that’s partly testimony to our craft as educators and entertainers. (Chuck and Carol are pros who are passionate about what they teach.) But it’s also recognition – an awakening, if you will – that the Old Continent is truly getting older every day, demographically speaking, and many business executives understand that they must break from youth-oriented marketing traditions if they hope to continue growing shareholder value.
Our host, Bayard Presse, publisher of the PLUS brand of magazines targeting 50+ Europeans, took a very wide swing at this demographic reality, and through this series of seminars, the publishers demonstrated the entrepreneurial drive that is the underpinning of their longstanding success. Since 1968 when Bayard first published Notre Temps in France, this intrepid group of publishers and editors has pushed the envelope and expanded the magazine empire, reflecting and redefining aging for Europeans.
Our lead tour guide, Maxime de Jenlis, is himself a 20-year veteran of Bayard, and he is also vibrant and dashing, a man of many countries with the skills to negotiate four languages and mastery of cutting-edge connectivity technologies. If he isn’t engaging in animated and cheerful conversations with clients and colleagues, enjoying the moment with good food and wine, he’s online through his cell phone, managing his business and associates with the flair of a modern renaissance man. His colleagues around Europe admire him as a friend and mentor, and these people are the best in the publishing industry, truly pushing the envelope.
Carol, Chuck and I were treated very well. We did our job, too. And we hear that our contributions to Bayard were worth Bayard’s investment.
I believe it all came together for the three American Boomer pundits as we witnessed the largest fair in the world for the 50+, staged unexpectedly in Utrecht, Netherlands. (Why there? All the rail lines in Holland converge in Utrecht.) Imagine five football fields filled with booths of creative and massive proportions. Imagine a sea of gray hair wherever you gaze. Imagine the oddity of seeing an obese person in a crowd of thousands. Imagine this image of aging: “majors” who are active, engaged, vital, and spending freely.
Now I’m onstage, looking down from the platform, a wide screen behind me. The large conference room, overseeing the buzzing fair below, is filled to capacity. The audience is attentive and warm. The room fills with classic rock ‘n’ roll, and I am alive with my message of hope and prosperity. This is a rock-star moment.
This is also how to hotwire business reality and perhaps change fundamental misconceptions about the value of aging to business. On both sides of the Atlantic.
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