The New Aging Enterprise - aarp

The New Aging Enterprise
In December, 2006, AARP’s Office of Academic Affairs sponsored a conference on “The
New Aging Enterprise” with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of
Texas-Austin. The conference brought together leaders and thinkers who were addressing a
question heard increasingly in advanced industrialized societies: namely, how can aging societies
find new sources of creativity and innovation? Will the coming of a “longevity revolution”
mean a growing burden of dependency and decline? 1
There has long been a pervasive fear about population aging among many circles in the
USA and Europe. 2 The French demographer Alfred Sauvy feared that an aging society would
inevitably result in a “population of old people ruminating over old ideas in old houses. 3 ” One
reason for gloom is a simple projection into the future of present tendencies: specifically,
conditions where older people are regarded as passive consumers of public services, especially of
health care and pensions. Pessimists look to the future and see bankruptcy in Social Security and
Medicare, and increasing retirees without pension support in old age. They conclude that we
cannot afford an aging society because the future will bring ever-growing numbers of elders who
are sick and helpless, unable to be productive members of society, and doomed to loneliness and
despair.
Whether older people are imagined to be on the golf course or in the nursing home, their
passivity is taken for granted. Those on the Right suggest that this gloomy future demands a cut
in public entitlement programs: prepare now for coming disaster. Those on the Left, if they
admit a problem at all, argue instead for modest reform of public programs to meet ever-growing
needs. Both Left and Right tend to agree on “needs” but they differ on how such needs could be
met. Overcoming such pessimism about population aging is not easy. It will not happen until
we can point to tangible examples of success and positive organizational responses -- cases that
illustrate the way in which a growing older population can be an opportunity rather than a
problem. The New Aging Enterprise is an attempt to describe such cases and draw from these
examples some lessons for the future.
The organizations analyzed here, both business and nonprofit, have thrived by responding
to needs in retirement housing, health promotion, long-term care, worklife extension,
volunteerism, saving and investment, and lifelong learning. Some represent consumer markets,
such as housing, travel, and hospitality, while others point to ways in which an aging population
can become more productive through work, volunteer roles, or reduced health care costs. All
examples represent aspects of positive aging that might have been considered “utopian” but have
been proven to be eminently practical because of a proven track record of success displayed in
the cases examined here.
Specifically, we consider profit-making corporations (Erickson, Curves, and
RetirementJobs) as well as nonprofit organizations (Elderhostel, Eden Alternative, and
Experience Corps). A seventh organization (Vanguard) is a hybrid. It is a business organized on
terms of mutual ownership, i.e., owned by its own shareholders rather than paying profits to
outside owners. All organizations profiled here have important lessons from their success,
especially for the sustainability of enterprises both in business and the nonprofit sector.
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