I woke up this morning thinking about how much I’ve had to stretch this old boomer-brain over the last couple of months. I’ve actually kind of surprised myself along with realizing how tiring this stretching process can be in the Boomer years. It’s a good tired, though. I’ve learned or expanded my knowledge of at least a dozen different technologies I would never have thought I’d want to know about let alone have to figure out at this point in my life. However, in structuring new business services and website features, that’s what it came down to. Every day a new challenge has presented itself to me.

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have known an html code from a hole in the ground. I would have assumed at that point (having teenagers in the house) that FTP was short for Fool The Parents, not an acronym related to transferring files. Accelerators were in cars, not on websites. Making movies on a computer? Are you KIDDING me? I wouldn’t even try to figure out how the VCR worked back then. Making a digital movie? OK. I never would have believed I’d go there.

My world was very different in 1999 than it is a decade later. It is for everyone, of course. Most of us didn’t have to worry about too much of a technical communications nature beyond how to work a FAX machine and send an email at that point. Here we are in 2009 and email isn’t ‘technical’. It’s a given. FAX machines? Oh yeah, I have one, but I can’t really remember the last time I used it. A year ago? Two?

Times marches on and I guess as we get older, we don’t necessarily think we have to march in lock step with every single new thing that comes along. After all, we’ve survived quite nicely for several decades now without getting into all that new-fangled technical stuff the kids are so adept at understanding, thank you very much. However, maybe a little stretch into exploring those things isn’t a bad thing to consider after all. It’s no longer the domain of programmers and “computer geeks” (I use the term fondly) like it was when I was in college. The Internet is full of instructions, tips, and how-to’s when it comes to all that computer-jargon-jazz. The knowledge of how to do just about anything computer-related is all very accessible these days.

Many Baby Boomers are facing some pretty big decisions right now in terms of where they will take their career. Downsizing and industry trends have left a lot of people with the daunting task of reinventing their careers and maybe even their self-concept at midlife, a time when they never thought it would be an issue. If you find yourself in that position, rest assured that there are choices and horizons to still explore. The world is as wide open to a Baby Boomer as it is to a Gen Y’er, especially if the choice is made to walk through an unfamiliar door or two. One of those doors, though there are many, is beefing up your technical expertise, even if you do not think of yourself as “technical”. Whether you just want to know or need to know, I will tell you that it’s knowable. In my case, I needed to know a lot I didn’t know in order to make the expansion of our company a reality. I wasn’t at all sure that I could master the things that had to be mastered in order to do it and frankly, I had no idea how much I didn’t know about what that would ultimately mean, but I found out that necessity remains the mother of invention…and reinvention.

My boomer-brain is still stretching, albeit with a little more resistance and not quite as quickly as was once true. The good news is that there’s still some elasticity to be found up there amongst a few cobwebs and the more it stretches, it seems the more elastic it’s getting. Whereas two months ago it took me a week to figure out something outside of my traditional wheelhouse, today I struggle with new concepts perhaps a day at most depending on their complexity because I don’t have to reinvent any particular wheel at this point. One skill leads to another. I also think that when you are in learning mode, it gets easier to learn just about anything. There’s been an added benefit as well. Surprisingly enough, old skills are coming back to life at the same time. This adventure into new mind frontiers has apparently reawakened a few dormant synapses in the process.

What will all this new-found knowledge do for me? I have a sense of it, but ultimately I really don’t know. I can’t see the end of this new road. I can only glimpse toward the next bend, and even then I’ve discovered that the directions change with every step I take. I do know that in order to bring value to a company, an industry, or a market, you have to become more valuable. You have to keep putting new things in your wheelhouse while retaining what’s already there.

Every generation has it’s own signature, but I think Boomers are unique in their ability to bring both the tried-and-true and the new-and-fresh to any enterprise. We simply have to create the tools that clear those cobwebs and make room for the latter. The trick is in being willing not to know before you can make that leap.

I would encourage anyone from my generation to take a minute today to think about the cobwebs that may have accumulated over the years and get really honest with yourself about the preconceived notions you may have about how things “should be done” when it comes to your business, your industry, and your life. If there’s any rigidity there, look for the opportunity to infuse a little elasticity in your thinking. Where will you get your mind exercise today? What will you learn that you never thought you’d consider? And just for a little additional challenge, ask a GenY’er what they think and add that to your assessment. You’ll be surprised at how good it feels to stretch.

~~Lynn Ste. Marie