The Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Club hosted a breakfast this morning with Joanne Jenkins, the CEO of AARP, to hear her speak about her new platform for changing how we age and her new book by the same name, Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Life at Every Age.
People over 50 account for more than $7.1 trillion in U.S. annual economic activity. By 2032, that is expected to rise to more than $13.5 trillion. Jo Ann Jenkins is sparking new conversations and solutions so more people can choose how they live and age. I appreciated Joanne’s insights on how AARP innovates with companies and communities to create new solutions that work for an inclusive society, with partners including MIT Age Lab, United Healthcare’s Optum Labs, Aging 2.0, and 1776.
Joanne spoke about needing to change the conversation about aging. “We need to stop defying and denying age: we need to own it.” She believes we need to focus on three core areas—health, wealth, and self—to show people how to embrace opportunities and change the way society looks at getting older. She spoke about her own journey and others who are making their mark as disruptors to show how we can be active, healthy, and happy as we get older.
For me, aging is about independence–physical, financial and lifestyle. Joanne truly “gets” that people want to make their own decisions about aging–where, with whom, with our own resources and with purpose. As an independent, active woman who happens to have disability, I appreciate Joanne’s platform and want to help change the conversation about aging through my own experiences and interactions with people.
As many know, I ski–some of the toughest runs on Vail Mountain. I want be skiing well into and past retirement! To do so means being physical fit, financially sound, engaged with friends and colleagues, active in my community and, most of all, making a difference where Ability Matters! I will use my experience as a woman with a disability to act on Joanne’s call to change the conversation about aging to show people how to “disrupt aging” and ski on to live an active, exciting and purposeful life!
