Joseph Carrabis the author of over a dozen novels and hundreds of short stories, including the Nebula.
Raised by his maternal grandfather Joseph developed a thirst for knowledge that
would motivate him to seek immersion within indigenous societies all over the world. These
experiences compelled Joseph to help others and have inspired his writing. In addition to
writing fiction, Joseph is the author of internationally best-selling non-fiction. Prior to
becoming a full-time author, Joseph sat on several advisory boards including the Center for
Multicultural Science and the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy. He was a Senior
Research Fellow at the Society for New Communications Research, an Annenberg Fellow
at the University of Southern California, and served with the UN/NYAS Scientists Without
Borders program. Joseph was born in Melrose, MA, and currently lives in Nashua, New
Hampshire with his wife, Susan, and their four-legged child, Boo.
Raised by his maternal grandfather Joseph developed a thirst for knowledge that
would motivate him to seek immersion within indigenous societies all over the world. These
experiences compelled Joseph to help others and have inspired his writing. In addition to
writing fiction, Joseph is the author of internationally best-selling non-fiction. Prior to
becoming a full-time author, Joseph sat on several advisory boards including the Center for
Multicultural Science and the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy. He was a Senior
Research Fellow at the Society for New Communications Research, an Annenberg Fellow
at the University of Southern California, and served with the UN/NYAS Scientists Without
Borders program. Joseph was born in Melrose, MA, and currently lives in Nashua, New
Hampshire with his wife, Susan, and their four-legged child, Boo.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
When I look in the mirror,I don't see wrinkles. When I look
in the mirror, I see hairon my head, not my shoulder.
And hello, Hello, Hello,This is Adrian bergend is is Generation Bold,
the Fountain of truth, the fountainof truth about what well? The
(00:30):
fountain of truth about aging and aginghas been in the news. Aging has
been an issue. Aging is comingup for a full week review at the
United Nations when they look at theWorking Group on Aging and it is an
open ended working group. What doesthat mean. It means that groups from
all of the United Nations with manymissions and many concerns get together for about
(00:55):
a week specifically to see how whatthey are doing deals with age. We
will be there on the ground andwe will be reporting to you. In
addition to that, we have ournew podcast called on the Ground and it
is the podcast of the Global CommunicationsExecutive Committee of the United Nations or up
(01:15):
to episode five, and you're gonnawant to listen to that very specifically because
it is very inspirational and for thoseof you who are interested in creating a
newsletter, you're going to hear howa small group of NGO's nonprofit organization has
created a newsletter that is really floatingaround the world and getting messages out about
(01:36):
aging. But for today, we'regoing to talk about something that is very
intimate, very important to every oneof us, and that is what is
our role. You know, retirementhas been called the role less role and
has been much criticized because of that. And I can tell you I just
took a look. They are nowjust under eleven thousand pickle ball courts in
(01:59):
the United States. Why because ittakes up a lot of time and we
are living longer. But the challengeswhat are you going to do with your
time? Is this going to becomepickable nation? Well, one person who
absolutely says no, you can transitioninto a worthwhile life share your experience with
(02:20):
the world is our guest today.His name is John Carabis. He is
the author of that think you DoSixty Ways to Be Healthy, Happy and
Hold Off Harm. But he's alsothe author of twenty five novels and hundreds
of articles, and he started ina very different world and was able to
make the transition to a healthy,happy and very contributory next stage. Thanks
(02:45):
for being with us today, Joseph, my pleasure. Thank you for having
me all right. So one ofthe things that we've sort of briefly met,
you and I because we're both goingto be contributors and experts to a
group called baby boom dot org andbaby boomers dot org started with the National
Association of Baby Boomer Women. Butwhen I asked you a little bit earlier,
(03:07):
since you write sci fi, youwrite self help books, many articles,
and you were in the world ofresearch and marketing and help people think
about their choices in life. Howdid you make this transition from a sort
of traditional though I don't think you'veever really been traditional but a career to
(03:30):
becoming a writer. How did youmake that? Uh? Well, I
guess I would qualify as a serialentrepreneur, which means basically I was unemployed,
employed with a briefcase, and Idid have three company, thank you.
(03:52):
I did have three companies. Thelast two companies I my wife and
I were developed and the last companywas successful in many ways, unsuccessful in
a few others, as every companywill be. And when it came time
(04:13):
to get out of business because wewere tired. We were tired of traveling
as much as we had to forbusiness and speaking and all that kind of
stuff. Even though I'm speaking now, Hey, you know, everything happens
again, got tired and it wastime to leave. Okay, fine,
And we were at the point wehad enough money that we could be successful
(04:40):
and retire. And that lasted fora week, which I said, yeah.
My wife, Susan, my beloved, she said, I've never seen
you happier than when you were writingyour stories, so I want you to
do that the rest of your life. And I said, oh, shocks,
darn, oh my gosh. Nowthe truth I had been I've been
(05:04):
telling stories since I was in Greadeschool, and God actually paid for them
starting in the nineteen which is asure indication I'm in the baby boomer generation.
And she said, go for it. Okay. So I had a
(05:26):
bunch of stories that had been publishedback in the days of print, when
print was king, and I said, well, I'll put these together in
a book and see if anybody cares. Iby's interested. Got great reviews.
I had a bunch of novels thatI had completed but never published, so
I put one out and got greatreviews. And I started getting emails from
(05:49):
people and people reaching out to meon LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook and so
on and so forth. So Icame to the conclusion that I could either
pursue this there was an interest Iwas providing something people were genuinely interested,
or I could, you know,go to the pickleball courts. And I
(06:15):
always enjoyed meeting people, talking withpeople, learning about them, hearing their
stories. So okay, fine,And as you mentioned, I now have
a good number of books out there. I'm getting published of all things.
I'll be having a poem published ina few months. And I never thought
(06:39):
of myself as a poet poet,but me that's that's one of those things
that as we were saying earlier,you've lived a rich life. I don't
care who you are, I don'tcare what circumstances you've had. You've gotten
this far. Congratulations, share itbecause there are people who want to know
your story. There you go,and absolutely, And of course, one
(07:01):
of the great tragedies is that wemay lose the legacy of our experience.
I was on a day, yeah, yeah, and that's a terrible thing.
I was on a meeting today.We were talking about how to get
a convention for the rights of olderadults. And one of the leaders that
the meeting said, you know,we don't say older, who's older anymore?
(07:23):
We take a look at experience.We say who's the more experienced.
And that's such a beautiful new twiston that. Now, let's let's use
that as a bridge to talk alittle bit about your book. The name
of the book, of course it'son Amazon, is that Think with a
K nothing that think you do sixtyways to be healthy, happy, and
hold off harm. Now, infact, this is a compendient of many
(07:46):
of Joseph's blogs and other articles allin one place. And I want you
to talk about Joseph not just fromthe point of view of the book and
its contents, which is really extraordinary, but also because it's guts. You
really did not write a novel here, You've got novels. This is not
a novel. This shows people andeverybody listening that if you do have something
(08:07):
to say, there are many creativeways of putting it together and making a
book. So let's talk about thecontent and also your process in creating this
particular book. I'll do my bestthe process. The last company that Susan
and I ran, it was basedprimarily on neuroscience and anthropology and sociology psychology,
(08:35):
and we blended all these disciplines togetherto come up with solutions for marketing,
for communicating, for sharing. SoI used to do research. I
mean I was very heavily reading,meeting people, talking, learning, watching
how they functioned. And as I'mdoing all this research, I'm saying,
(08:56):
I suddenly said, you know,this would make a very interesting thing to
tell people, because here's something thatis from the lab, if you will,
which really applies. You can putthis into your daily life. You
know. For example, we dida there's a segment and I think the
opening chapter of the book is aboutchange, how to deal with change in
(09:18):
your life. Well, there aresome actual things that you can do to
help yourself deal with change. Thereare some people who don't like change,
they don't like transformation, they don'twomb. No, that's bad, Okay,
recognize that you can do things slowly. You can adapt one thing at
a time. You can learn toembrace change. It takes a little bit
(09:41):
of doing, but here are thesteps to do it. One of the
other things that we came up withand doing this stuff was how to think
like an expert, And it's foursteps. It's four very easy steps to
think like an expert. And I'mnot claiming that I'm an expert, although
somebody wrote me, Wow, you'rean expert on nicking like an expert.
(10:03):
Okay, good. But that's howthe book, that's how the book came.
I was right, That's how thebook evolved. Yeah. And what
I want to what I want topoint out here too, for we take
a little bit of a break,is that this is not such a big
transition as you think when you thinkabout what is your next stage in life.
(10:24):
See that Joseph built his next stagein life from what he already knew.
It doesn't sound you know, JosephCarebus was a senior research fellow at
the University of Southern California, andAnnenberg sent up a digital future, and
he's got so much futurism and he'shad so many companies, and you'd say,
gee, it really doesn't sound likethe same guy who might have written
(10:46):
sci fi The Augmented Man. Butit is the same guy. Why Because
it's really a new chapter in thesame life. And that's what I want
to explain to all of you.You've got building blocks this new stage.
I mean that sounds to everybody elselike it's so the same. But really
it's just it was just the nextstage in the building. Black. Use
(11:07):
it, you won't lose it.We come back. We're going to talk
a little bit more about the processand the latest book. And also again
had to have the courage to makethat happen. Don't you go anywhere,
Allo, man. But that doesn'tbother me, not even because I am
happy and I'm inappropriate for my age. Dad, you may think that I'm
(11:37):
all of it. That doesn't botherme, not even because I am happy
and I'm inappropriate. Oh my,and hello, Hello, Hello, This
is Adreamberg and this is Generation boththe Fountain of Truth, the Fountain of
(11:58):
truth about what will the Fountain truthabout aging? And what I want to
tell you about now is something reallyspectacular that I'm excited about. I'm sending
you to our website. Go tospeak Out Communication dot com. Speak out
Communication dot com. It's spelled justthe way it sounds, speak out Communication
(12:20):
nos, just with an end dotcom and you will get all the information
on my latest course, which iscalled how to Move, Touch and Inspire
Anyone, anytime, anywhere. Itis that speak out Communication course for people
who are of a certain age andthey are feeling that age when they communicate
because people are not listening. Soif your healthcare providers are not listening to
(12:43):
you, if your family is notlistening to you, if you've got a
flex job, or you're still workingand all of a sudden, younger workers
or your older boss is not listeningto you, or like me, if
you've got an advocacy platform you wantto make some change in this world,
you will volunteer. You can beheard. Speak Out Communication is a five
(13:05):
minute recipe that will really change yourlife in the way you communicate with others.
It is very clear, is veryshort, and it's very inexpensive.
So Jessica to speak out Communications dotcom and you will get the full view
in the details of how to havethis on demand online. Of course,
you can change the world with yourwords. Now, speaking of changing the
(13:26):
world with your words, what aperfect segue to our guest. His name
is Joseph Krabis. He is theauthor of twenty five novels. One of
them I love the most is TheAugmented Man. We're going to have a
chance to talk about that, butright now we're focusing in on a non
fiction book of his that Think youdo Sixty Ways to be healthy, happy,
(13:48):
and hold off harm. You willfind it on Amazon. We talked
about his process, which was thathe took things that he and his wife
had been researching for marketing strategy jeezfour companies in his for profit companies,
and he saw that there were thingsin there that really revealed how people think,
(14:09):
and he put together several articles intoone book that Think you do.
Now, Joseph, let's get backto that. There's a couple of things
in there that I particularly loved.One, of course, was what you
had just mentioned, which was foursteps to becoming an expert. Give us
a little bit of wet our appetiteon those four steps. You really enjoy
(14:33):
this subject. You love to watchtrees grow. You love to look at
the trees and go out and feelthe trees and look at the different kinds
of leaves. I don't care ifthat you do a lot of bird feeding
in the backyard and you happen tobe documenting. It can be the most
simple thing. But anything you dowhich you enjoy, and that's the key,
(14:54):
something you enjoy, you are ofnecessity going to become an expert in
it because you enjoy it, youwant to learn more about it, You
talk with people about it, youexplore it. Boom, you have a
feel that you're an expert in greatand of course, if you want to
learn about it, you might takea course, an online course, you
(15:15):
might take an extension course at yourlocal college and university. You might just
talk with people. You might goout to dinner with people who happen to
be knowledgeable about it. You gainmore and more and more information. Well,
just start talking with other people aboutit. Somebody says something. You
can be in the grocery store andyou will hear a conversation you know about
(15:39):
I'm actually when they say the meathas to be marbled a certain way,
what does that mean? Oh?Well, this is something I learned from
my dad. He was a butcher, he was a meat cutter, he
worked in the meat industry. Blahblah blah. Boom, you're an expert.
How do you transmit that knowledge?Be friendly, be courteous, be
(16:00):
kind, be gracious. You maybe more knowledgeable than they are, but
do remember, in the world ofexpedition, every travel the person who's the
expert basically means I've been there onemore time than you, so talk nicely,
calmly, lovingly, comressingly, andbe willing to learn as you're sharing,
(16:23):
because everybody who's listening to you,they'll have something fascinating about the subject
that never occurred to you. Beingan expert is an awful lot about paying
attention to others interested in the samething. And sure they may come to
you, they may pay a feeto sit in when you're talking, when
(16:45):
you're sharing, when you're providing information, excellent, and always be willing to
acknowledge them. What do you haveto say? What can you teach me
about this? And all of asudden you've elevated them. So to be
an expert, let others know orshare their expertise as well. Simple enough.
Now. Another thing that I absolutelyloved from your book, and again
(17:08):
that think you do sixty ways tobe healthy, happy and hold off harm
is your use of lists. AndI always make a joke on my lists,
have a list. One of thethings that says, make a list.
The other thing on my list isthat I do not prioritize. I
will put things like, you know, buy a plot, buy a plot
to be buried in, and don'tforget to get a pedocure. So I'm
(17:30):
going to have a list that's notprioritist. You do much better than that.
And I know I am listening toan audience of list makers. Tell
us a little bit about making aneffective list, because it makes us happy.
The thing about lists, and Ifound this with people all over the
(17:51):
world in my travels. People willkeep a list in their head, but
they won't write the list down.And I love the school if you don't
write it down, it's forgotten.And you can write it down on paper,
you can write it down on yourcomputer, open up a little note
window or whatever you have. Butwhen we write them down, when we
(18:12):
write down the items we want todo in a day, in the afternoon,
over the course of a week,one of the great priorities that gives
us, or are the great thingswe can do, is we can prioritize.
We can recognize this thing, thisneeds to be done now, this
can wait a bit. A lotof times what happens with people is they
(18:34):
begin to feel overwhelmed, especially peoplein our age group. They feel like,
I got to do everything at once. I have to take care of
this, I gotta do this forthe kids. I got to make you
know, blah blah blah, andI'm getting pulled in fifty thousand directions.
The reason they have that sense ofbeing overwhelmed, and this goes into taking
control of one's life, is becauseeverything's coming at them. Everybody's demanding their
(19:00):
attention. What really needs to bedone, that's the thing you put put
in your list. What five areimportant to you? Put those down on
the list. That's your main list, that's the big one. Now,
I myself, I learned when Iwas a teenager from working with somebody.
I used to carry three by fivecards and and I have pencil you know,
(19:22):
one of those mechanical pencils in mypocket. Great folks, I was
an engineer pencil yes, yeah,really, you know, I had to
fit in with the crew. Soanyway, um, I had that and
every time I had an idea,I would write it down. I would
(19:44):
write it down. When we wentinto business, I would be listening to
people, I write down the notes. I keep notes of everything that was
being said. And now as afull time author, I do the same
thing. I wake up in themiddle of the night, there's a pad
of paper beside the bed. Pencilstill a mechanical pencil and I write notes.
I have three or four notes onmy desk as we speak, three
(20:07):
lists of notes. So the thingis learn to prioritize. And as you
were saying, just write them down, just put them down, don't worry
about prioritizing, and you're yeah,the next thing you have to do is
you have to do it. Oneof the things that I did learn too
because I is take, you know, sort of take the thing that I
(20:30):
hate to do the most and doit first. And that has been a
key to productivity for me, whichis get rid of the thing, you
know. And that doesn't mean thatusually I'm happier at the end of the
day because I get to the partof the list that I really wanted to
do, but it's the beginning ofthe day. I get to do all
the chores and it's over with.I don't know if do you handle it
that way? Do you handle yourlist the same way? Well? I
(20:56):
do. I do it pretty muchthe same thing. I do it a
little bit differently because one of thethings that I came out of business with
was the concept of low hanging fruit, and that is what can I get
done quickly so I can give myselfan aha, good job, good job.
Time to go and have it,given myself a few minutes of relaxation.
(21:18):
So it may be something I wantto avoid. It may be sending
an email that I don't want tosend. It may be having to say
something to a person that I Iknow is going to make us a little
uncomfortable. But it's easy to do. It's easy to do, get it
done, and that way it's over. It's done with. You have a
check in the checkbox. You're readyfor the next thing. And if it
(21:42):
was a thing which could have beenpainful or had negative energy around it or
whatever, Okay, it's now,it's in the past and you can go
into something delightful. That Joseph,we're going to go on to something delight
We're going to take a little bitof a break into our next segment,
and we're going to talk about theaugmented man. Now, this is something
(22:03):
that I honestly did not expect totalk with you about today, but I
love the concept so much. Idid some reading about it and some in
depth. I want people to understandagain how you were able to translate a
career in futurism and AI and understandinghow people think and how how actually our
neurons work, our brainwork into whatis really a novel, a non a
(22:30):
fiction novel that has a great dealof depth. So don't you guys,
go anywhere. But that doesn't botherme, not because I am happy and
I'm inappropriate for my age. Youmay think I bother me because I oh
(23:08):
and hello, hello, Hello,This is Adrian Bergen. This is Generation
Bold, the Fountain of Truth,the fountain of truth about aging. I
have a wonderful month coming up.Many of the things that I'll be learning
I'll be sharing with you. I'mover keynoting in Minneapolis next week at the
Gerontological Society of America. They're havingtheir annual meeting, and we will be
(23:30):
talking about a gerontology and the roleof gerontology in the new longevity. How
can gerontologists step up to the plateand make sure we all have longevity equity.
But I will also be doing aworkshop, and that workshop is available
to you, and that is speakout communication. What I've discovered is that
(23:52):
as we get older, even ifwe are powerful people, not talking about
people who don't have a platform.Some of the biggest CEOs in the country
have been responding to the issue ofthem feeling marginalized all of a sudden,
they don't know why. They're likedeer in the headlights. It used to
be so powerful. Nobody listens tome in meetings anymore. Well, that
(24:15):
is a form of subtle agism.But with a five minute communications recipe that
I give you, you'll be ableto speak out anywhere, anytime and really
have an impact. Whether it's withyour doctor, or if you're a caregiver
to an older parent and you're notbeing listened to with regards to their care,
or whether you're in the thrones ofa major business operation and you want
(24:37):
to negotiate and be heard. Youwill get that guidance from Speak Out Communication.
Just take a look at the websitespeak out Communication dot com and you'll
get all the details. We'll alsobe in New York for a week at
the Open Ended Working Group on Agingwhere different NGOs, non governmental organizations and
the governments come together. There's onehundred and ninety three governments we're talking about
(25:02):
here and talk about the future ofaging. And all of this will be
on my plate and then eventually filteredto you for the information that you need
to live a more powerful older age. Whether you're a boomer, whether you're
a super senior, or whether you'rejust feeling a little pokey at age thirty.
This is all important to you.Now. Right now, I want
(25:23):
to speak to our guest, JosephCarabis, who's an author. He's really
a transition expert because he transitioned inhis own life from being what he calls
a serial entrepreneur variety of businesses withhis wife partner, to becoming a full
time author of many books. Youcan find them on Amazon. But one
of them is called The Augmented Man. And I, as I told everybody
(25:47):
a moment ago, was not expectedto speak about it because I don't know
that it directly deals with successful aging, but I think it does deal with
successful living. So Joseph, thisis really science fiction. It does deal
with your interest in the military.And give us a little bit a thumbnail
of the plot, will say,and the protagonist of this book, The
(26:10):
Augmented Happy to the main character isa fellow by the name of Nick Trailer.
He comes from a highly traumatized childhood, extreme abuse, and the government
is in a war situation that theycan't get themselves out of they desperately need
(26:30):
a way to end the conflict.So what one person comes up with is,
let's find people who don't suffer fromPTSD, because the majority of people
coming out of this conflict, we'resuffering from PTSD massively. And he says,
let's let's do that. We'll getpeople who are already so wounded that
(26:52):
nothing that happens in the war willaffect them. So one of the people
in the oversight committee says, well, where are you going to get these
people? It sounds like you're gonnamake monsters. How do you do that?
He says, you start with peoplewho already think they are monsters,
and of course that has highly traumatizedchildren. Their self concept because of what
they've experienced in life is that theymust be horrible creatures to have been put
(27:15):
through all this. So the governmenttakes him and nine others, and then
the science fiction aspect comes in.They genetically modify them, biologically modify them
so that they are indeed monsters,incapable of feeling any regret or remorse about
anything they do. In the combatscenario. Okay, everything's all said and
(27:40):
done, they're successful. The enemywants to sue for peace, and as
part of the truce negotiations, theydecide, well, we're going to give
you these augmented men because we can'tbring them back home. They're monsters.
We don't want them back, sowe'll give them to you northern Maine forests,
(28:00):
where he can't be seen, whereno one will find him except someone
does find him and falls in lovewith him, recognizes the human, the
man inside the person, the gentlecreature, and now now Nick Trailer.
(28:21):
He all he knows is how tokill. That's he's designed to kill.
He can't be around people because hewill kill. So he goes back to
the people who created him and says, change me, or kill me,
because I do not want to harmthis woman. And there is that the
crux of the story, though,right, this is right where your centerise
(28:41):
piece of the story, if youwill, where your expertise come. Yes,
when from your past, from yourpast knowledge and your research of how
people can change, and again whenhe spoke about the issue of change,
exact change. This is so muchin keeping with your original background in your
(29:06):
knowledge. And again I use thisoh certainly show that listeners will be enticed
to read the book. The AugmentedMan very interesting, but also to show
that we have a concept called findingyour life purpose as you age, as
if as if this is totally unrelatedto what your life purpose was before,
as if you retire, you getyour gold watch, all your past falls
(29:30):
down the cliff and then you haveto start all over again. But no,
even in this novel, it's atransition and based on what you already
knew and did in your past lifeof marketing, research or understanding how people
change and understanding how people think.But I have to ask one question,
and maybe you can't reveal this.Does this have a happy ending? Does
(29:52):
I don't know the ending? Doesthe augmented Man have a happy ending?
Does he become a good guy andget the girl? He becomes a here's
a spoiler, So if you don'twant to know, you want to read
the book, don't listen. Buthere's the spoiler. Yes, he does
become a good guy. He managesto as you say, it's forming himself.
(30:15):
He can't stop being a physical monster, that's what they did to him.
That's undoable. But he can psychologicallyneurophysiology change how he thinks. And
that's the center again, that's thecenter part of the novel. Does he
get the girl? That would bea real spoiler. Yeah, And I'm
(30:37):
going to hold off on now.When we come back, we're going to
talk about changing how you think.I'm going to take you back in time
to your old life when you werereally in the career business, not in
the authorship business, when you werea researcher fellow at Dannenburgh, when you
had your own businesses and you wereusing your search for marketing and consulting to
(31:03):
determine how people think. And thequestion I'm going to ask you is in
all of that research, did youget to a handle on what people seem
very mystified about and that is hada market to our generation, the boomer
and older generation. Isn't the same? Is it different? Is it changing?
What's the future of marketing and speakingto us? Don't go anywhere because
(31:29):
this may be a commercial coming toyou. We'll talk to you right after
the break. But that doesn't botherme, not because I am happy and
I'm inappropriate for my aid. Youmay think that bother me, Not because
(31:57):
I am happy. Oh and hello, hello, Hello, this is Adrian
Bergen. This is Generation Bowl,The Fountain of Truth, the Fountain of
Truth about Aging. We have severalnew articles posted. Take a look at
(32:17):
the National Committee on Aging for theUnited Nations. That's NNGOCA dash n Y.
We have our newsletter out. Thisis really interesting newsletter. It's on
the rights and human rights of olderwomen and the hardest thing you're going to
find there is how to define olderwomen? Really really an interesting article with
(32:40):
some incredible data and that you willfind at www dot NNGOCA dash NY dot
org. We also have the newonline on demand course speak out Communication,
So take a look at speak outCommunication dot com and there you will get
(33:01):
the details on our latest course tohelp you communicate better, whether it's a
private healthcare situation one on one,when you're meeting new people or new friends,
if you're running for office at yourhoa or retirement community, or if
you are a CEO of a multinationalcorporation and you're finding that people are not
(33:21):
listening to you quite the way theyused to. It is a five minute
recipe to really have an impact andbe heard under any circumstances. Speaking out
of Communication dot com right now,Right now, we're at our last segment,
and I definitely wanted to delve intoone of my favorite topics, although
it makes my hair stand up onend, and that is marketing to the
(33:45):
older consumer, the boomer senior,whatever new words we the people in the
next stage. And why am Iasking Joseph Carabous about this? Well,
of course we've been discussing his journeyand his transition from his career as a
serial entrepreneur to his life now asan author and how you can do it
too. But when he was inthe thick of his research and his work
(34:09):
and his consulting, a great dealof it had to do with how people
think when they make buying choices,had a market, had a brand,
how to get your messages across fromthat commercial point of view. So I
was asking you, Joseph, whatyour experience has been with marketing to the
baby boomer generation today. We're ina conundrum. We are the wealthiest,
(34:32):
most educated, you know, cohort, but people see us as patients and
nothing more. What's been your experience? My experience with companies across the globe
is actually very similar to that,and I'm going to offer that years ago,
(34:57):
seniors elders wisdom key for lack ofa better term, they were honored
and respected. Then you had theSecond World War came in, and of
course most of us were born shortlyafter that, and the world radically changed,
obviously so mass communications, television,etc. One of the things that
(35:19):
happened was we lost the ability tofocus and pay attention for long periods of
time. However, as we age, as our bodies grow and change and
develop, our brains are also growingand changing and developing, and the ability
to pay attention increases. It neverdecreases. Provided we are healthy, there's
(35:45):
no organic damage. We are ableto pay more and more attention. And
because we've had so much experience inour life, we're able to apply all
that to what we're reading, whatwe're hearing, what we're watching. What
comes out of this when you're doingmarketing. And I had, as I
(36:05):
say, I had this experience allover the globe was we are as a
group, we are more expensive tomarket too, because you can't do the
fifteen second spot, you can't dothe ten second spot, you can't do
TikTok you know, sixth second thing. You have to be willing to engage
us where we are, and that'sthe core of any kind of market You
(36:27):
have to meet your audience where theyare, where we are as a group,
as a culture, is we wantto know true value. Most people
younger than us actually are not thatkeen on true value. They're keen on
oh this is a bright, shinyand I do ask your forgiveness everyone listening.
We have learned to be patient,We have learned to be self honoring
(36:51):
and respectful as much as we canbe. And one of the things that
turns into from a marketing model isyou have to give us the information we
need, not what you think weneed. Don't don't tell me what you
want me to know, tell mewhat I want to know. So we
were entering very much in the Europeanarea, European countries. Companies like Adidas,
(37:15):
who you think, well, that'sactive where that sportswear. No,
we are a large population and weare still active, and we want to
have the right kind of clothing.And that doesn't mean you have to give
us shoes or sneakers or whatever thathave special lifts to them or designed.
It means you have to pay attentionto what we want to do with them.
(37:37):
Do we want to run miles?No? You know what I mean?
Yes, now you know One ofthe fascinating things is about how quickly
people make consumer decisions. Because wehave so much information, we have what
they call crystallized intelligence, we makedecisions more slowly and that and you know,
(37:57):
marketing people don't want that. Theywant somebody to do the quick grab,
but we do have too much informationto make decisions quickly. However,
surveys show we make the decisions better, that our judgment is better, but
slower, and that doesn't always workin this fast paced world. I will
say one other thing and throw thisthought back to you. I saw the
Academy Awards. Many people did,and I liked everything everywhere or whatever it
(38:22):
is anytime, but I have tosee it twice because it was a very
fast moving movie. And I spoketo my daughter about it and I didn't
mention that part, and she said, do you know that they're saying this
is the first movie made by millennials? And that opened my eyes because it
(38:43):
was the first Academy Award winning moviewhere the people, the main people,
the directors, the writers were millennials, not older. And it was very
very fast paced, very difficult tofollow, very wonderful. I loved it,
but I'm not quite able to tellyou why. I like to have
to see it again. I thinkthis is what you're saying, and this
(39:04):
may be a breakthrough, Joseph inmy understanding of why marketers don't really care
to market to us. That's notthe way they learn to market. Correct.
Correct. It is a sad fact, as you mentioned earlier, that
the marketing industry wants to get asmuch return in the shortest period of time
(39:25):
as possible. And we as agroup as a collective, No, you
tell me this again, I'm not. I want to make sure I understand
that. Let me let me readthis through. We want, actually,
we want more information because the moreinformation presented to us, the better we're
able to correlate it and recognize.You know, that is a good thing.
(39:46):
I really should get that. ButI also should get And this is
where I would say to companies.Listen to those people who say, but
I also should get and that's youradd on, that's your upsell to buy
this great, here's this which cando this for you as well. Oh
yeah, sure, geez, I'lldo that. I'd love that. So
(40:07):
again, when you're marketing to usas a collective, slow it down a
little bit. Don't go slow itdown a lot. Slow it down a
little bit, and your reward,your return on investment, is going to
be exponentially better because number one,you've demonstrated I am paying attention to you,
I am listening to you, andI'm giving you what you want to
(40:29):
make an informed decision. And that'swhat good, true marketing is really all
about across any age group, youknow. And one of the things that
I will I'll end our discussion herebecause I do love the idea and they're
thinking about marketing to the older adultis don't forget that we already had it.
(40:51):
Whatever you're selling, we've bought alreadymany years ago, sometimes many decades
ago, maybe in a different iteration. So it's not like I was.
When I was a kid, Ididn't have anything, so you could have
shown me anything, and I wantedit to create my home. I already
have a croc pot. I've hadthirty of them already. You have to
(41:12):
show me now what is good andknow about about your croc pot. Whereas
when I was a kid, Look, it was my first time I was
creating a home. So whatever youshowed me, it was brand new.
As you say, the shining object, and I think that Look, let's
face it, it poses a difficulty. But before we end our wonderful conversation,
I have to go back to youand say, look, you're always
(41:35):
reinventing yourself, and that is whyyou're a beacon. What's next? Are
you writing another book? Are youthinking about your podcast? What's the next
thing for you? Oh? Thankyou for asking. I'm constantly writing.
I'm in the process of writing abook now. The Alibi takes place in
Boston, and over the next yearand a half, I think I have
(41:57):
about nine different books coming out.We've already had sufficient interests. We're thinking
about doing that. Think you dovolume two? That will probably be at
the beginning of next year. There'sthere's always something, you know. It
goes back to finding something you enjoyand pursuing it. So long as you're
willing to do that, you're goingto be alive and important and valuable.
(42:22):
You just have to make sure thatyou are happy doing it. Find your
own joy. You'll bring joy toothers. Well, that's so beautiful,
And again it's a great segue towhat I say every single week at the
end of every show, which is, get out their kids and make it happen
When I look in the mirror,I don't see wrinkles. When I look
in the mirror, I see hairon my head, not my shoulder.
And hello, Hello, Hello,This is Adrian bergend is is Generation Bold,
the Fountain of truth, the fountainof truth about what well? The
(00:30):
fountain of truth about aging and aginghas been in the news. Aging has
been an issue. Aging is comingup for a full week review at the
United Nations when they look at theWorking Group on Aging and it is an
open ended working group. What doesthat mean. It means that groups from
all of the United Nations with manymissions and many concerns get together for about
(00:55):
a week specifically to see how whatthey are doing deals with age. We
will be there on the ground andwe will be reporting to you. In
addition to that, we have ournew podcast called on the Ground and it
is the podcast of the Global CommunicationsExecutive Committee of the United Nations or up
(01:15):
to episode five, and you're gonnawant to listen to that very specifically because
it is very inspirational and for thoseof you who are interested in creating a
newsletter, you're going to hear howa small group of NGO's nonprofit organization has
created a newsletter that is really floatingaround the world and getting messages out about
(01:36):
aging. But for today, we'regoing to talk about something that is very
intimate, very important to every oneof us, and that is what is
our role. You know, retirementhas been called the role less role and
has been much criticized because of that. And I can tell you I just
took a look. They are nowjust under eleven thousand pickle ball courts in
(01:59):
the United States. Why because ittakes up a lot of time and we
are living longer. But the challengeswhat are you going to do with your
time? Is this going to becomepickable nation? Well, one person who
absolutely says no, you can transitioninto a worthwhile life share your experience with
(02:20):
the world is our guest today.His name is John Carabis. He is
the author of that think you DoSixty Ways to Be Healthy, Happy and
Hold Off Harm. But he's alsothe author of twenty five novels and hundreds
of articles, and he started ina very different world and was able to
make the transition to a healthy,happy and very contributory next stage. Thanks
(02:45):
for being with us today, Joseph, my pleasure. Thank you for having
me all right. So one ofthe things that we've sort of briefly met,
you and I because we're both goingto be contributors and experts to a
group called baby boom dot org andbaby boomers dot org started with the National
Association of Baby Boomer Women. Butwhen I asked you a little bit earlier,
(03:07):
since you write sci fi, youwrite self help books, many articles,
and you were in the world ofresearch and marketing and help people think
about their choices in life. Howdid you make this transition from a sort
of traditional though I don't think you'veever really been traditional but a career to
(03:30):
becoming a writer. How did youmake that? Uh? Well, I
guess I would qualify as a serialentrepreneur, which means basically I was unemployed,
employed with a briefcase, and Idid have three company, thank you.
(03:52):
I did have three companies. Thelast two companies I my wife and
I were developed and the last companywas successful in many ways, unsuccessful in
a few others, as every companywill be. And when it came time
(04:13):
to get out of business because wewere tired. We were tired of traveling
as much as we had to forbusiness and speaking and all that kind of
stuff. Even though I'm speaking now, Hey, you know, everything happens
again, got tired and it wastime to leave. Okay, fine,
And we were at the point wehad enough money that we could be successful
(04:40):
and retire. And that lasted fora week, which I said, yeah.
My wife, Susan, my beloved, she said, I've never seen
you happier than when you were writingyour stories, so I want you to
do that the rest of your life. And I said, oh, shocks,
darn, oh my gosh. Nowthe truth I had been I've been
(05:04):
telling stories since I was in Greadeschool, and God actually paid for them
starting in the nineteen which is asure indication I'm in the baby boomer generation.
And she said, go for it. Okay. So I had a
(05:26):
bunch of stories that had been publishedback in the days of print, when
print was king, and I said, well, I'll put these together in
a book and see if anybody cares. Iby's interested. Got great reviews.
I had a bunch of novels thatI had completed but never published, so
I put one out and got greatreviews. And I started getting emails from
(05:49):
people and people reaching out to meon LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook and so
on and so forth. So Icame to the conclusion that I could either
pursue this there was an interest Iwas providing something people were genuinely interested,
or I could, you know,go to the pickleball courts. And I
(06:15):
always enjoyed meeting people, talking withpeople, learning about them, hearing their
stories. So okay, fine,And as you mentioned, I now have
a good number of books out there. I'm getting published of all things.
I'll be having a poem published ina few months. And I never thought
(06:39):
of myself as a poet poet,but me that's that's one of those things
that as we were saying earlier,you've lived a rich life. I don't
care who you are, I don'tcare what circumstances you've had. You've gotten
this far. Congratulations, share itbecause there are people who want to know
your story. There you go,and absolutely, And of course, one
(07:01):
of the great tragedies is that wemay lose the legacy of our experience.
I was on a day, yeah, yeah, and that's a terrible thing.
I was on a meeting today.We were talking about how to get
a convention for the rights of olderadults. And one of the leaders that
the meeting said, you know,we don't say older, who's older anymore?
(07:23):
We take a look at experience.We say who's the more experienced.
And that's such a beautiful new twiston that. Now, let's let's use
that as a bridge to talk alittle bit about your book. The name
of the book, of course it'son Amazon, is that Think with a
K nothing that think you do sixtyways to be healthy, happy, and
hold off harm. Now, infact, this is a compendient of many
(07:46):
of Joseph's blogs and other articles allin one place. And I want you
to talk about Joseph not just fromthe point of view of the book and
its contents, which is really extraordinary, but also because it's guts. You
really did not write a novel here, You've got novels. This is not
a novel. This shows people andeverybody listening that if you do have something
(08:07):
to say, there are many creativeways of putting it together and making a
book. So let's talk about thecontent and also your process in creating this
particular book. I'll do my bestthe process. The last company that Susan
and I ran, it was basedprimarily on neuroscience and anthropology and sociology psychology,
(08:35):
and we blended all these disciplines togetherto come up with solutions for marketing,
for communicating, for sharing. SoI used to do research. I
mean I was very heavily reading,meeting people, talking, learning, watching
how they functioned. And as I'mdoing all this research, I'm saying,
(08:56):
I suddenly said, you know,this would make a very interesting thing to
tell people, because here's something thatis from the lab, if you will,
which really applies. You can putthis into your daily life. You
know. For example, we dida there's a segment and I think the
opening chapter of the book is aboutchange, how to deal with change in
(09:18):
your life. Well, there aresome actual things that you can do to
help yourself deal with change. Thereare some people who don't like change,
they don't like transformation, they don'twomb. No, that's bad, Okay,
recognize that you can do things slowly. You can adapt one thing at
a time. You can learn toembrace change. It takes a little bit
(09:41):
of doing, but here are thesteps to do it. One of the
other things that we came up withand doing this stuff was how to think
like an expert, And it's foursteps. It's four very easy steps to
think like an expert. And I'mnot claiming that I'm an expert, although
somebody wrote me, Wow, you'rean expert on nicking like an expert.
(10:03):
Okay, good. But that's howthe book, that's how the book came.
I was right, That's how thebook evolved. Yeah. And what
I want to what I want topoint out here too, for we take
a little bit of a break,is that this is not such a big
transition as you think when you thinkabout what is your next stage in life.
(10:24):
See that Joseph built his next stagein life from what he already knew.
It doesn't sound you know, JosephCarebus was a senior research fellow at
the University of Southern California, andAnnenberg sent up a digital future, and
he's got so much futurism and he'shad so many companies, and you'd say,
gee, it really doesn't sound likethe same guy who might have written
(10:46):
sci fi The Augmented Man. Butit is the same guy. Why Because
it's really a new chapter in thesame life. And that's what I want
to explain to all of you.You've got building blocks this new stage.
I mean that sounds to everybody elselike it's so the same. But really
it's just it was just the nextstage in the building. Black. Use
(11:07):
it, you won't lose it.We come back. We're going to talk
a little bit more about the processand the latest book. And also again
had to have the courage to makethat happen. Don't you go anywhere,
Allo, man. But that doesn'tbother me, not even because I am
happy and I'm inappropriate for my age. Dad, you may think that I'm
(11:37):
all of it. That doesn't botherme, not even because I am happy
and I'm inappropriate. Oh my,and hello, Hello, Hello, This
is Adreamberg and this is Generation boththe Fountain of Truth, the Fountain of
(11:58):
truth about what will the Fountain truthabout aging? And what I want to
tell you about now is something reallyspectacular that I'm excited about. I'm sending
you to our website. Go tospeak Out Communication dot com. Speak out
Communication dot com. It's spelled justthe way it sounds, speak out Communication
(12:20):
nos, just with an end dotcom and you will get all the information
on my latest course, which iscalled how to Move, Touch and Inspire
Anyone, anytime, anywhere. Itis that speak out Communication course for people
who are of a certain age andthey are feeling that age when they communicate
because people are not listening. Soif your healthcare providers are not listening to
(12:43):
you, if your family is notlistening to you, if you've got a
flex job, or you're still workingand all of a sudden, younger workers
or your older boss is not listeningto you, or like me, if
you've got an advocacy platform you wantto make some change in this world,
you will volunteer. You can beheard. Speak Out Communication is a five
(13:05):
minute recipe that will really change yourlife in the way you communicate with others.
It is very clear, is veryshort, and it's very inexpensive.
So Jessica to speak out Communications dotcom and you will get the full view
in the details of how to havethis on demand online. Of course,
you can change the world with yourwords. Now, speaking of changing the
(13:26):
world with your words, what aperfect segue to our guest. His name
is Joseph Krabis. He is theauthor of twenty five novels. One of
them I love the most is TheAugmented Man. We're going to have a
chance to talk about that, butright now we're focusing in on a non
fiction book of his that Think youdo Sixty Ways to be healthy, happy,
(13:48):
and hold off harm. You willfind it on Amazon. We talked
about his process, which was thathe took things that he and his wife
had been researching for marketing strategy jeezfour companies in his for profit companies,
and he saw that there were thingsin there that really revealed how people think,
(14:09):
and he put together several articles intoone book that Think you do.
Now, Joseph, let's get backto that. There's a couple of things
in there that I particularly loved.One, of course, was what you
had just mentioned, which was foursteps to becoming an expert. Give us
a little bit of wet our appetiteon those four steps. You really enjoy
(14:33):
this subject. You love to watchtrees grow. You love to look at
the trees and go out and feelthe trees and look at the different kinds
of leaves. I don't care ifthat you do a lot of bird feeding
in the backyard and you happen tobe documenting. It can be the most
simple thing. But anything you dowhich you enjoy, and that's the key,
(14:54):
something you enjoy, you are ofnecessity going to become an expert in
it because you enjoy it, youwant to learn more about it, You
talk with people about it, youexplore it. Boom, you have a
feel that you're an expert in greatand of course, if you want to
learn about it, you might takea course, an online course, you
(15:15):
might take an extension course at yourlocal college and university. You might just
talk with people. You might goout to dinner with people who happen to
be knowledgeable about it. You gainmore and more and more information. Well,
just start talking with other people aboutit. Somebody says something. You
can be in the grocery store andyou will hear a conversation you know about
(15:39):
I'm actually when they say the meathas to be marbled a certain way,
what does that mean? Oh?Well, this is something I learned from
my dad. He was a butcher, he was a meat cutter, he
worked in the meat industry. Blahblah blah. Boom, you're an expert.
How do you transmit that knowledge?Be friendly, be courteous, be
(16:00):
kind, be gracious. You maybe more knowledgeable than they are, but
do remember, in the world ofexpedition, every travel the person who's the
expert basically means I've been there onemore time than you, so talk nicely,
calmly, lovingly, comressingly, andbe willing to learn as you're sharing,
(16:23):
because everybody who's listening to you,they'll have something fascinating about the subject
that never occurred to you. Beingan expert is an awful lot about paying
attention to others interested in the samething. And sure they may come to
you, they may pay a feeto sit in when you're talking, when
(16:45):
you're sharing, when you're providing information, excellent, and always be willing to
acknowledge them. What do you haveto say? What can you teach me
about this? And all of asudden you've elevated them. So to be
an expert, let others know orshare their expertise as well. Simple enough.
Now. Another thing that I absolutelyloved from your book, and again
(17:08):
that think you do sixty ways tobe healthy, happy and hold off harm
is your use of lists. AndI always make a joke on my lists,
have a list. One of thethings that says, make a list.
The other thing on my list isthat I do not prioritize. I
will put things like, you know, buy a plot, buy a plot
to be buried in, and don'tforget to get a pedocure. So I'm
(17:30):
going to have a list that's notprioritist. You do much better than that.
And I know I am listening toan audience of list makers. Tell
us a little bit about making aneffective list, because it makes us happy.
The thing about lists, and Ifound this with people all over the
(17:51):
world in my travels. People willkeep a list in their head, but
they won't write the list down.And I love the school if you don't
write it down, it's forgotten.And you can write it down on paper,
you can write it down on yourcomputer, open up a little note
window or whatever you have. Butwhen we write them down, when we
(18:12):
write down the items we want todo in a day, in the afternoon,
over the course of a week,one of the great priorities that gives
us, or are the great thingswe can do, is we can prioritize.
We can recognize this thing, thisneeds to be done now, this
can wait a bit. A lotof times what happens with people is they
(18:34):
begin to feel overwhelmed, especially peoplein our age group. They feel like,
I got to do everything at once. I have to take care of
this, I gotta do this forthe kids. I got to make you
know, blah blah blah, andI'm getting pulled in fifty thousand directions.
The reason they have that sense ofbeing overwhelmed, and this goes into taking
control of one's life, is becauseeverything's coming at them. Everybody's demanding their
(19:00):
attention. What really needs to bedone, that's the thing you put put
in your list. What five areimportant to you? Put those down on
the list. That's your main list, that's the big one. Now,
I myself, I learned when Iwas a teenager from working with somebody.
I used to carry three by fivecards and and I have pencil you know,
(19:22):
one of those mechanical pencils in mypocket. Great folks, I was
an engineer pencil yes, yeah,really, you know, I had to
fit in with the crew. Soanyway, um, I had that and
every time I had an idea,I would write it down. I would
(19:44):
write it down. When we wentinto business, I would be listening to
people, I write down the notes. I keep notes of everything that was
being said. And now as afull time author, I do the same
thing. I wake up in themiddle of the night, there's a pad
of paper beside the bed. Pencilstill a mechanical pencil and I write notes.
I have three or four notes onmy desk as we speak, three
(20:07):
lists of notes. So the thingis learn to prioritize. And as you
were saying, just write them down, just put them down, don't worry
about prioritizing, and you're yeah,the next thing you have to do is
you have to do it. Oneof the things that I did learn too
because I is take, you know, sort of take the thing that I
(20:30):
hate to do the most and doit first. And that has been a
key to productivity for me, whichis get rid of the thing, you
know. And that doesn't mean thatusually I'm happier at the end of the
day because I get to the partof the list that I really wanted to
do, but it's the beginning ofthe day. I get to do all
the chores and it's over with.I don't know if do you handle it
that way? Do you handle yourlist the same way? Well? I
(20:56):
do. I do it pretty muchthe same thing. I do it a
little bit differently because one of thethings that I came out of business with
was the concept of low hanging fruit, and that is what can I get
done quickly so I can give myselfan aha, good job, good job.
Time to go and have it,given myself a few minutes of relaxation.
(21:18):
So it may be something I wantto avoid. It may be sending
an email that I don't want tosend. It may be having to say
something to a person that I Iknow is going to make us a little
uncomfortable. But it's easy to do. It's easy to do, get it
done, and that way it's over. It's done with. You have a
check in the checkbox. You're readyfor the next thing. And if it
(21:42):
was a thing which could have beenpainful or had negative energy around it or
whatever, Okay, it's now,it's in the past and you can go
into something delightful. That Joseph,we're going to go on to something delight
We're going to take a little bitof a break into our next segment,
and we're going to talk about theaugmented man. Now, this is something
(22:03):
that I honestly did not expect totalk with you about today, but I
love the concept so much. Idid some reading about it and some in
depth. I want people to understandagain how you were able to translate a
career in futurism and AI and understandinghow people think and how how actually our
neurons work, our brainwork into whatis really a novel, a non a
(22:30):
fiction novel that has a great dealof depth. So don't you guys,
go anywhere. But that doesn't botherme, not because I am happy and
I'm inappropriate for my age. Youmay think I bother me because I oh
(23:08):
and hello, hello, Hello,This is Adrian Bergen. This is Generation
Bold, the Fountain of Truth,the fountain of truth about aging. I
have a wonderful month coming up.Many of the things that I'll be learning
I'll be sharing with you. I'mover keynoting in Minneapolis next week at the
Gerontological Society of America. They're havingtheir annual meeting, and we will be
(23:30):
talking about a gerontology and the roleof gerontology in the new longevity. How
can gerontologists step up to the plateand make sure we all have longevity equity.
But I will also be doing aworkshop, and that workshop is available
to you, and that is speakout communication. What I've discovered is that
(23:52):
as we get older, even ifwe are powerful people, not talking about
people who don't have a platform.Some of the biggest CEOs in the country
have been responding to the issue ofthem feeling marginalized all of a sudden,
they don't know why. They're likedeer in the headlights. It used to
be so powerful. Nobody listens tome in meetings anymore. Well, that
(24:15):
is a form of subtle agism.But with a five minute communications recipe that
I give you, you'll be ableto speak out anywhere, anytime and really
have an impact. Whether it's withyour doctor, or if you're a caregiver
to an older parent and you're notbeing listened to with regards to their care,
or whether you're in the thrones ofa major business operation and you want
(24:37):
to negotiate and be heard. Youwill get that guidance from Speak Out Communication.
Just take a look at the websitespeak out Communication dot com and you'll
get all the details. We'll alsobe in New York for a week at
the Open Ended Working Group on Agingwhere different NGOs, non governmental organizations and
the governments come together. There's onehundred and ninety three governments we're talking about
(25:02):
here and talk about the future ofaging. And all of this will be
on my plate and then eventually filteredto you for the information that you need
to live a more powerful older age. Whether you're a boomer, whether you're
a super senior, or whether you'rejust feeling a little pokey at age thirty.
This is all important to you.Now. Right now, I want
(25:23):
to speak to our guest, JosephCarabis, who's an author. He's really
a transition expert because he transitioned inhis own life from being what he calls
a serial entrepreneur variety of businesses withhis wife partner, to becoming a full
time author of many books. Youcan find them on Amazon. But one
of them is called The Augmented Man. And I, as I told everybody
(25:47):
a moment ago, was not expectedto speak about it because I don't know
that it directly deals with successful aging, but I think it does deal with
successful living. So Joseph, thisis really science fiction. It does deal
with your interest in the military.And give us a little bit a thumbnail
of the plot, will say,and the protagonist of this book, The
(26:10):
Augmented Happy to the main character isa fellow by the name of Nick Trailer.
He comes from a highly traumatized childhood, extreme abuse, and the government
is in a war situation that theycan't get themselves out of they desperately need
(26:30):
a way to end the conflict.So what one person comes up with is,
let's find people who don't suffer fromPTSD, because the majority of people
coming out of this conflict, we'resuffering from PTSD massively. And he says,
let's let's do that. We'll getpeople who are already so wounded that
(26:52):
nothing that happens in the war willaffect them. So one of the people
in the oversight committee says, well, where are you going to get these
people? It sounds like you're gonnamake monsters. How do you do that?
He says, you start with peoplewho already think they are monsters,
and of course that has highly traumatizedchildren. Their self concept because of what
they've experienced in life is that theymust be horrible creatures to have been put
(27:15):
through all this. So the governmenttakes him and nine others, and then
the science fiction aspect comes in.They genetically modify them, biologically modify them
so that they are indeed monsters,incapable of feeling any regret or remorse about
anything they do. In the combatscenario. Okay, everything's all said and
(27:40):
done, they're successful. The enemywants to sue for peace, and as
part of the truce negotiations, theydecide, well, we're going to give
you these augmented men because we can'tbring them back home. They're monsters.
We don't want them back, sowe'll give them to you northern Maine forests,
(28:00):
where he can't be seen, whereno one will find him except someone
does find him and falls in lovewith him, recognizes the human, the
man inside the person, the gentlecreature, and now now Nick Trailer.
(28:21):
He all he knows is how tokill. That's he's designed to kill.
He can't be around people because hewill kill. So he goes back to
the people who created him and says, change me, or kill me,
because I do not want to harmthis woman. And there is that the
crux of the story, though,right, this is right where your centerise
(28:41):
piece of the story, if youwill, where your expertise come. Yes,
when from your past, from yourpast knowledge and your research of how
people can change, and again whenhe spoke about the issue of change,
exact change. This is so muchin keeping with your original background in your
(29:06):
knowledge. And again I use thisoh certainly show that listeners will be enticed
to read the book. The AugmentedMan very interesting, but also to show
that we have a concept called findingyour life purpose as you age, as
if as if this is totally unrelatedto what your life purpose was before,
as if you retire, you getyour gold watch, all your past falls
(29:30):
down the cliff and then you haveto start all over again. But no,
even in this novel, it's atransition and based on what you already
knew and did in your past lifeof marketing, research or understanding how people
change and understanding how people think.But I have to ask one question,
and maybe you can't reveal this.Does this have a happy ending? Does
(29:52):
I don't know the ending? Doesthe augmented Man have a happy ending?
Does he become a good guy andget the girl? He becomes a here's
a spoiler, So if you don'twant to know, you want to read
the book, don't listen. Buthere's the spoiler. Yes, he does
become a good guy. He managesto as you say, it's forming himself.
(30:15):
He can't stop being a physical monster, that's what they did to him.
That's undoable. But he can psychologicallyneurophysiology change how he thinks. And
that's the center again, that's thecenter part of the novel. Does he
get the girl? That would bea real spoiler. Yeah, And I'm
(30:37):
going to hold off on now.When we come back, we're going to
talk about changing how you think.I'm going to take you back in time
to your old life when you werereally in the career business, not in
the authorship business, when you werea researcher fellow at Dannenburgh, when you
had your own businesses and you wereusing your search for marketing and consulting to
(31:03):
determine how people think. And thequestion I'm going to ask you is in
all of that research, did youget to a handle on what people seem
very mystified about and that is hada market to our generation, the boomer
and older generation. Isn't the same? Is it different? Is it changing?
What's the future of marketing and speakingto us? Don't go anywhere because
(31:29):
this may be a commercial coming toyou. We'll talk to you right after
the break. But that doesn't botherme, not because I am happy and
I'm inappropriate for my aid. Youmay think that bother me, Not because
(31:57):
I am happy. Oh and hello, hello, Hello, this is Adrian
Bergen. This is Generation Bowl,The Fountain of Truth, the Fountain of
Truth about Aging. We have severalnew articles posted. Take a look at
(32:17):
the National Committee on Aging for theUnited Nations. That's NNGOCA dash n Y.
We have our newsletter out. Thisis really interesting newsletter. It's on
the rights and human rights of olderwomen and the hardest thing you're going to
find there is how to define olderwomen? Really really an interesting article with
(32:40):
some incredible data and that you willfind at www dot NNGOCA dash NY dot
org. We also have the newonline on demand course speak out Communication,
So take a look at speak outCommunication dot com and there you will get
(33:01):
the details on our latest course tohelp you communicate better, whether it's a
private healthcare situation one on one,when you're meeting new people or new friends,
if you're running for office at yourhoa or retirement community, or if
you are a CEO of a multinationalcorporation and you're finding that people are not
(33:21):
listening to you quite the way theyused to. It is a five minute
recipe to really have an impact andbe heard under any circumstances. Speaking out
of Communication dot com right now,Right now, we're at our last segment,
and I definitely wanted to delve intoone of my favorite topics, although
it makes my hair stand up onend, and that is marketing to the
(33:45):
older consumer, the boomer senior,whatever new words we the people in the
next stage. And why am Iasking Joseph Carabous about this? Well,
of course we've been discussing his journeyand his transition from his career as a
serial entrepreneur to his life now asan author and how you can do it
too. But when he was inthe thick of his research and his work
(34:09):
and his consulting, a great dealof it had to do with how people
think when they make buying choices,had a market, had a brand,
how to get your messages across fromthat commercial point of view. So I
was asking you, Joseph, whatyour experience has been with marketing to the
baby boomer generation today. We're ina conundrum. We are the wealthiest,
(34:32):
most educated, you know, cohort, but people see us as patients and
nothing more. What's been your experience? My experience with companies across the globe
is actually very similar to that,and I'm going to offer that years ago,
(34:57):
seniors elders wisdom key for lack ofa better term, they were honored
and respected. Then you had theSecond World War came in, and of
course most of us were born shortlyafter that, and the world radically changed,
obviously so mass communications, television,etc. One of the things that
(35:19):
happened was we lost the ability tofocus and pay attention for long periods of
time. However, as we age, as our bodies grow and change and
develop, our brains are also growingand changing and developing, and the ability
to pay attention increases. It neverdecreases. Provided we are healthy, there's
(35:45):
no organic damage. We are ableto pay more and more attention. And
because we've had so much experience inour life, we're able to apply all
that to what we're reading, whatwe're hearing, what we're watching. What
comes out of this when you're doingmarketing. And I had, as I
(36:05):
say, I had this experience allover the globe was we are as a
group, we are more expensive tomarket too, because you can't do the
fifteen second spot, you can't dothe ten second spot, you can't do
TikTok you know, sixth second thing. You have to be willing to engage
us where we are, and that'sthe core of any kind of market You
(36:27):
have to meet your audience where theyare, where we are as a group,
as a culture, is we wantto know true value. Most people
younger than us actually are not thatkeen on true value. They're keen on
oh this is a bright, shinyand I do ask your forgiveness everyone listening.
We have learned to be patient,We have learned to be self honoring
(36:51):
and respectful as much as we canbe. And one of the things that
turns into from a marketing model isyou have to give us the information we
need, not what you think weneed. Don't don't tell me what you
want me to know, tell mewhat I want to know. So we
were entering very much in the Europeanarea, European countries. Companies like Adidas,
(37:15):
who you think, well, that'sactive where that sportswear. No,
we are a large population and weare still active, and we want to
have the right kind of clothing.And that doesn't mean you have to give
us shoes or sneakers or whatever thathave special lifts to them or designed.
It means you have to pay attentionto what we want to do with them.
(37:37):
Do we want to run miles?No? You know what I mean?
Yes, now you know One ofthe fascinating things is about how quickly
people make consumer decisions. Because wehave so much information, we have what
they call crystallized intelligence, we makedecisions more slowly and that and you know,
(37:57):
marketing people don't want that. Theywant somebody to do the quick grab,
but we do have too much informationto make decisions quickly. However,
surveys show we make the decisions better, that our judgment is better, but
slower, and that doesn't always workin this fast paced world. I will
say one other thing and throw thisthought back to you. I saw the
Academy Awards. Many people did,and I liked everything everywhere or whatever it
(38:22):
is anytime, but I have tosee it twice because it was a very
fast moving movie. And I spoketo my daughter about it and I didn't
mention that part, and she said, do you know that they're saying this
is the first movie made by millennials? And that opened my eyes because it
(38:43):
was the first Academy Award winning moviewhere the people, the main people,
the directors, the writers were millennials, not older. And it was very
very fast paced, very difficult tofollow, very wonderful. I loved it,
but I'm not quite able to tellyou why. I like to have
to see it again. I thinkthis is what you're saying, and this
(39:04):
may be a breakthrough, Joseph inmy understanding of why marketers don't really care
to market to us. That's notthe way they learn to market. Correct.
Correct. It is a sad fact, as you mentioned earlier, that
the marketing industry wants to get asmuch return in the shortest period of time
(39:25):
as possible. And we as agroup as a collective, No, you
tell me this again, I'm not. I want to make sure I understand
that. Let me let me readthis through. We want, actually,
we want more information because the moreinformation presented to us, the better we're
able to correlate it and recognize.You know, that is a good thing.
(39:46):
I really should get that. ButI also should get And this is
where I would say to companies.Listen to those people who say, but
I also should get and that's youradd on, that's your upsell to buy
this great, here's this which cando this for you as well. Oh
yeah, sure, geez, I'lldo that. I'd love that. So
(40:07):
again, when you're marketing to usas a collective, slow it down a
little bit. Don't go slow itdown a lot. Slow it down a
little bit, and your reward,your return on investment, is going to
be exponentially better because number one,you've demonstrated I am paying attention to you,
I am listening to you, andI'm giving you what you want to
(40:29):
make an informed decision. And that'swhat good, true marketing is really all
about across any age group, youknow. And one of the things that
I will I'll end our discussion herebecause I do love the idea and they're
thinking about marketing to the older adultis don't forget that we already had it.
(40:51):
Whatever you're selling, we've bought alreadymany years ago, sometimes many decades
ago, maybe in a different iteration. So it's not like I was.
When I was a kid, Ididn't have anything, so you could have
shown me anything, and I wantedit to create my home. I already
have a croc pot. I've hadthirty of them already. You have to
(41:12):
show me now what is good andknow about about your croc pot. Whereas
when I was a kid, Look, it was my first time I was
creating a home. So whatever youshowed me, it was brand new.
As you say, the shining object, and I think that Look, let's
face it, it poses a difficulty. But before we end our wonderful conversation,
I have to go back to youand say, look, you're always
(41:35):
reinventing yourself, and that is whyyou're a beacon. What's next? Are
you writing another book? Are youthinking about your podcast? What's the next
thing for you? Oh? Thankyou for asking. I'm constantly writing.
I'm in the process of writing abook now. The Alibi takes place in
Boston, and over the next yearand a half, I think I have
(41:57):
about nine different books coming out.We've already had sufficient interests. We're thinking
about doing that. Think you dovolume two? That will probably be at
the beginning of next year. There'sthere's always something, you know. It
goes back to finding something you enjoyand pursuing it. So long as you're
willing to do that, you're goingto be alive and important and valuable.
(42:22):
You just have to make sure thatyou are happy doing it. Find your
own joy. You'll bring joy toothers. Well, that's so beautiful,
And again it's a great segue towhat I say every single week at the
end of every show, which is, get out their kids and make it happen
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