Dr. Ken Dychtwald

Over the past 35 years, Dr. Ken Dychtwald has emerged as North America's foremost visionary and original thinker regarding the lifestyle, marketing, healthcare and workforce implications of the age wave. He is a psychologist, gerontologist, documentary filmmaker, entrepreneur and best-selling author of sixteen books on aging-related issues, including Bodymind, Age Wave: The Challenges and Opportunities of an Aging Society; Age Power: How the 21st Century Will be Ruled by the New Old; The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life; Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent and a children’s book, Gideon's Dream: A Tale of New Beginnings. His most recent book is A New Purpose: Redefining Money, Family, Work, Retirement and Success. In 2007, he had his debut as a documentary filmmaker and host with the highly rated/acclaimed PBS special The Boomer Century: 1946-2046.

Dr. Dychtwald has served as a fellow of the World Economic Forum and is the recipient of the distinguished American Society on Aging Award for outstanding national leadership in the field of aging. American Demographics Magazine honored him as the single most influential marketer to boomers over the past quarter century. His article in The Harvard Business Review, "It's Time to Retire Retirement," was awarded the prestigious McKinsey Award, tying for first place with the legendary Peter Drucker.

In 1986, Dr. Dychtwald became the founding President and CEO of Age Wave, a firm created to guide Fortune 500 companies and government groups in product/service development for boomers and mature adults. His explorations and innovative solutions have fertilized and catalyzed a broad spectrum of industry sectors, from vitamins and cookies to automotive design and retail merchandising to mutual funds and health insurance.

Dr. Dychtwald has addressed more than two million people worldwide in speeches to corporate, association, social service and government groups. His strikingly accurate predictions and innovative ideas are regularly featured in leading print and electronic media worldwide, including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Financial Times, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Business Week, U.S. News and World Report, The Economist, HK Daily News, South China Morning Post, The Standard, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, Today Show, PBS, NPR and BBC.

Through highly acclaimed presentations, breakthrough research and consulting initiatives, and his leadership within both the social science and business communities, Dr. Dychtwald has dedicated his life to battling ageist stereotypes while promoting a new, vital and meaningful role for life's second half.

• 1. How the Age Wave Will Transform the Marketplace, the Workplace, and Our Lives

  Increasing longevity, declining fertility and aging baby boomers are triggering an enormous "age wave." This demographic tsunami has the potential to create ground-breaking marketplace and work/talent opportunities, and equally compelling social and financial challenges. This informative, motivating and entertaining presentation will explore: How will people use their newfound "longevity bonus?" How will the "cyclic" lifeplan replace the traditional "liner" model? How will aging boomers change established paradigms of work, leisure, learning and retirement -- as well as lifetime brand loyalty? What's the most effective way to market and sell to "middlescent" boomers wishing to enrich the quality of their lives, while forestalling aging? Why is managing a four-generation workforce the new diversity mandate? (Note: This presentation can be shaped to focus either on the US, North American, or global age wave.)

• 4. A New Agenda for 21st Century Aging: Seven Critical Course Corrections Needed for a Century of Successful Aging

  Will the aging of America prove to be a triumph or a tragedy? Based on 35-plus years at the crossroads of demography, gerontology, healthcare and business, Ken Dychtwald providesa big-picture presentation designed to inform, startle, provoke and motivate us toward the seven critical course corrections needed for a centure of successful aging. Questions to be asked, and answered: Is the longevity revolution over, or is it just beginning? Can our country afford to have tens of millions of us living to 80, 90 or even past 100? Are older adults an asset or a liability? How will boomers age differently than their parents? When does old age begin, and should old age benefits be indexed to advancing longevity? How must our current healthcare system change to manage the onslaught of boomers and their chonic degenerateive diseases? Is retirement obsolete? What should be the new purpose of maturity? Are we becoming a politicial gerontocracy? Are our leaders capable of distributing limited government resources fairly among many generations, each with its own distinct needs, styles, fears, expectations and political priorities?

• 5. Optimizing Generational Diversity: Four Cohorts Rethink Work, Money, Family, Retirement and Success

  For the first time in hsitory, four generations of active adults are simultaneously participating in the workforce and marketplace. Each has its own lifestyle values, attitudes about work and money, means of connecting and communicating, role models and marketplace preferences. This high-impact presentation will examine: What key social forces have shaped each generation and produced their distinct, core lifetime characteristics? What does each generation hope to get from -and give to - their jobs/careers? How do you manage and motivate each generation, from "encore" workers seeking stimulation and self-worth, to older workers looking for balance and purpose, to mid-career workers trying to reboot their enthusiasm for a longer and more demanding worklife, to young workers struggling to enter the workforce during tough economic times. How does each measure success? This presentation can focus on how to attract and retain valuable talent and enhance productivity through the creative use of flexible work arrangements, innovative learning, mentoring and sponsoring opportunities, sabbaticals, retraining, re-careering, flex-retirement and creative compensation and benefits programs. Alternatively, it can orient toward the most effective ways to reach out to - and connect with - Millennials, Gen Xers, Boomers and members of the Silent Generation.

• 2. Re-Visioning Retirement: New Timing, New Purpose, New Planning, New Funding

  Everyone's retirement clock has been reset as a result of the recession. But highly acclaimed Age Wave research reveals a surprising finding: This could be a good thing, for individuals, the consumer marketplace and financial planning professionals. This presentation will explore Why financial "peace of mind" has become far more important than "wealth" in the new American dream;how women's rising financial power is transforming their attitudes and behavior toward money, their family dynamics and the field of retirement planning; and how the adult lifestage demands of eldercare, sibling care, grandparenthood, singlehood and rehirement will dramatically impact retirement preparation and funding. We'll also discuss the products, services and guidance people now seek from financial professionals to safeguard a successful retirement while avoiding the five retirement "wildcards" that could shatter their dreams.

• 3. The Cure for Our Aging Healthcare System

  Whether we live long lives with vitality and purpose or sickness and suffering will depend to a great extent on our ability to reshape the skills, services and incentives of our current healthcare system. This new presentation provides a visionary glimpse into the future, outlining the critical course corrections required to create healthy aging and productive longevity. Topics to be covered include: Why we must accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to prevent, delay and eliminate the horrific diseases of aging (such as Alzheimer's); why training healthcare professionals to become "aging-ready" will both saves lives and money; how the boomers' proclivity toward control, self-care and connectivity can help make disease prevention and self-care a national priority; how new technologies and emerging community-based services can enable us to shift the healthcare focus from hospitals and nursing facilities to home-based care; why establishing a humane and dignified approach to end-of-life care has reached a critical tipping point.

• Ken Dychtwald is a show stopper. He is one of the few speakers that can educate, entertain, and have you laughing and crying all at the same time.
  Johnson & Johnson Company

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  March 2010

  A New Purpose

  In this hopeful and motivating book, author Ken Dychtwald shares inspiring stories of people who have made a difference and points us to resources that will enable us to do the same. All it takes is an investment in head, heart, and spirit. For those of us who find ourselves asking, "Now what?" A New Purpose has the answers.

  
  
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  March 2009

  With Purpose

  Success can be looked at from different perspectives at different points in our lives. As a working adult, success is often represented by the challenge of simultaneously creating a blossoming family and burgeoning career. But what about in the decades after lifeÃ

  
  
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  August 2005

  The Power Years

  The Power Years is your step-by-step guide to repowerment and personal reinvention after forty. In this unique guidebook, world-renowned psychologist and leading authority on aging Ken Dychtwald and award-winning journalist Daniel J. Kadlec combine their decades of cutting-edge research and reporting to reveal how you can make the Power Years the best years of your life-by far. As we baby boomers move into the next stage of life, we now have the opportunity to experience a mold-shattering period of reinvention and personal growth, career liberation, nourishing relationships, and financial freedom. The Power Years helps us envision and embrace this new chapter of life as we develop a carefully thought-out plan for personal fulfillment.

  
  
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  September 2000

  Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled By The New Old

  In this break-through book, Dr. Ken Dychtwald, the leading authority on the aging of America, uses more than twenty-five years of study to explore how extraordinary demographic and economic shifts are causing the emergence of Age Power -- a powerful new maturity. The largest generation in history, the baby boomers, will now routinely live well beyond their eighties and nineties as the "new old", influencing all of our daily lives.

  
  
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  January 1990

  Age Wave: The Challenges & Opportunities of an Aging America

  The generation between the ages of thirty-five and fifty is the largest, most powerful, most influential generation in American history. This is the Age Wave - a revolution that is crashing through our culture, reforming our expectations, and changing the very meaning of aging. Here is the first comprehensive analysis of the consequences, now and in the next decades, of the aging Baby Boom - the most significant societal force of our day. The Cyclic Life-Style - new patterns of work and leisure that will expand our productive yearsReinventing the Family - living together and love in the post-childrearing yearsElderpower at the Polls - why national priorities and policies - including Social Security - must shift dramaticallyRedesigning America - new products and services for the booming "mature market".  A Great Age - how to overcome the negative myths of aging and live a longer and healthier life.