Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - Solo: Dealing with Ageism

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

Let's dive deep into the ugly truth about ageism. It exists and it's not going away. This doesn't mean you have to sit back helplessly as you watch your relevance decrease. Join me as I share some tactics, mindsets, and strategies you can use to rewrite the narrative and turn your age into an advantage, regardless of age-related biases. For more strategies on maintaining relevance and desirability in your career watch my free training: https://training.leapacademy.com/register Need some guidance strategizing your next career move now? Schedule a free session with my team: https://www.leapacademy.com/yt-schedule About Ilana Golan & Leap Academy:Website - https://www.leapacademy.com/Follow Ilana on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan/YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ilanagolan-leap-academy

So as long as you compete with the people that are right out of college, they're younger, they're hungry, they cost a hundred K or two hundred K or whatever less, you will lose and you will see ageism again and again and again. So how do we combat ageism and how do we know this works? Welcome to The Leap Show. In The Leap Show, we're here to bring experts from around the globe who share inspiring stories, concrete tips, and insight on what helped them become the best version of themselves and who they are today and create the incredible life that they wanted. Subscribe and follow us. Share this with friends who are also driven and aiming for more because you'll hear stories and tips that you'll hear nowhere else. Hi, I'm Ilana Golan, CEO of Leap Academy,

which helps driven professionals reinvent, leap their careers to the next level. Now let's get started. Hey there. Thank you for joining us in the Leap Show. From time to time, I want to come solo to share a topic that I believe is absolutely crucial for people to listen, to hear. And today I want to talk about a really important one, which is ageism. It's a difficult topic. We see incredible people run into it again and again and again. So I want you to listen carefully. Look, if I just search on the web

for the definition of ageism, it's basically prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age, right? Now, depends on the role, depends on the position, the experience, the reputation, we're going to see ageism anywhere between 40 to 60 plus. Why does it even happen? Let's take a look at two examples. Let's first of all imagine that I'm a hiring manager and I'm interviewing two individuals. They have the same skills. Let's assume they're individual contributors. They don't have teams or the middle level management. Somewhat technical, maybe. Maybe product, maybe program management, maybe whatever, marketing, technical marketing,

technical sales, whatever, right? Imagine something like this. One is a 50-year-old. One is a 30-year-old. They have roughly 100K salary difference between them and between the expectation. They sound pretty much the same. Who do I choose? Now, I want you to think honestly with yourself. Who do you choose? Forget discrimination. Forget being good. Right now, you need to make the right decision for your organization. Who do you choose? The truth is that you choose the 30-year-old. If they sound exactly the same,

you're going to choose the hungry, the person that is right out of college, that will work harder, maybe longer hours, that whatever it is, that's the person that you're going to choose. Now, I want you to look at a second example. And let's assume I'm interviewing another person, a 30-year-old, similar role, that they've done only one role prior, right? And again, they sound awesome, but they've done only one thing in their experience. On the other hand, I'm interviewing a 55-year-old. They doubled the business year over year. They were involved with a $100 million project. Mind-blowing success. Clearly stand out on everything, whether cloud, AI, whatever.

They are clearly subject matter experts. They've been speakers in significant events. They've been on stages. They've been in articles. We've been seeing them in panels. Like, wow. Like they are clearly, maybe they're on some advisors, maybe on some boards, pretty clear. They can make a big impact in the company. Now, obviously it depends what I need. Do I want a junior role? Do I want somebody that can move the company to the next level? But if I am a hiring manager that wants somebody that will move the company to the next level, at this point, I will choose the 55-year-old. Because they bring all that experience, all that combination of expertise and experience, the thing that they've done, an achievement that will clearly move the needle on the company. So what I want you to understand

is the company will always do what's right for the company. The hiring manager will do what's right for them or for the company. So as long as you compete with the people that are right out of college, they're younger, they're hungry, they cost a hundred K or two hundred K or whatever less, you will lose and you will see ageism again and again and again. So how do we combat ageism and how do we know this works? Okay, so I want to explain something. We usually share this with hundreds of our clients.

Some of them are individual contributors. Some of them are directors, vice president. They're in our Leap Academy. They're trying to land the next role, fast track to higher positions, all the way to C-suite, maybe leap to entrepreneurship, maybe sometimes even create portfolio careers so that they can create freedom, thought leadership, legacy down the road.

Okay. So we see those people again and again. And for many of them, ageism is real. It's actually real. But we want to teach them how to turn their age into an advantage. Not only that it's not going to be your disadvantage, it's going to be your advantage. And what's beautiful about this is that when that happens, not only that you're safer in the workplace and you're landing these opportunities faster, but now you're more fulfilled.

You have a seat at the table. You're more respected. You're more seen. You're valued more. You're paid more and more opportunities will keep coming your way down the road, right? So that's why it's an incredible win-win. Now, the only way to turn this around and to turn ageism upside down is to create what we call a safety net and to differentiate yourself based on this amazing combination that we just talked about, based on the skills and expertise and connections that you have and things that you overcame and achievement that you have and awards that you've done, et cetera, et cetera, right? That's why when I presented the two scenarios, the second one was very clearly articulated a lot better. And that's why the 55-year-old was a clear winner versus when they kind of sounded the same. Now, the beautiful thing is with age, you already have a story.

But are you telling it at the level that you should? Now, obviously, you know, with our clients, we help with that story all the time. That's what we do in Leap Academy. But it's important to pay attention to this because that's so, so, so crucial. Because from a certain age, stage, whatever titles, et cetera, responsibility, being good is just not good enough. Being a good product person, a good project manager, a good engineering leader, whatever it is, it's nice, but it's not enough. You need to rise above the noise. You need to bring your vast experience and for them to understand why do they want you? Why you was all, despite not,

despite your age, but because of your age, because of your experience, because of your expertise, why they want you. But that needs to be really, really clear. Now, the interesting part here is, you know, as we grow, you know, in organization and age and experience, et cetera, we're suddenly judged on different things. And that's why I'm saying being a good product or a good project or a good sale, technical sales or a good marketing, whatever, that's just not enough. Now they are judging you on different things. They're judging you on executive presence and how you are seen and how your network perceives you and a lot of things that on the day-to-day, you might not be paying attention to

it, but that becomes crucial for you to stay relevant, to step into these bigger roles, to step in to show why your age is the biggest advantage for the organization, right? Now, when you want to position yourself in this light, there's two things you need to notice. One, the positioning within. And it's not enough to just read a script. You need to feel it. They sense you. Every single conversation, whether it's with your peers,

with people in your workplace, with interviews, whatever, it's like a mirror. If you're not a thousand percent there, they'll sense it. Now, the beautiful thing when it is congruent, you feel more confident. You kick any imposter syndrome away, you show up beautifully. But it needs to, first of all, come from within. Now, the second thing that is really important with this positioning is that external positioning. Your brand matters. Your brand needs to tell that story. Now, the most common mistake that we see because of ageism, people are getting stressed, it's hard to find a job, and now they're starting to lower their expectations. So suddenly VPs are looking for director roles, directors are looking for senior manager roles. And it's not just the titles, it's the responsibilities, the influence, the pay. They just start lowering their boundaries. Now, the problem here is it's interesting.

They think it's going to make it easier for them to land the next opportunity. But the truth is now you're starting to compete against the younger generation. Now you're overqualified. There's no reason for them to hire you versus somebody 20 years younger. So not only that this is not accelerating, this is actually hindering you. Now, the problem is also that even if you will find that job, even if you land it, you know, you're clearly going to compromise. You won't be happy. You're not going to feel respected. You're not going to feel like you're moving forward.

It won't feel safe, you know, because again, you're not safe there because every time they're going to compare you to the 30 year old, that's not where you want to be. In fact, from a certain age, certain title, certain experience, expertise, we will actually push you to aim higher, to make your age your advantage. And a beautiful thing, this is where it's also not only that it's going to feel incredible and you're going to land these opportunities a lot faster than you can imagine, but this is where you're a lot more fulfilled and you're appreciated and you're feeling valued and you're paid your worth. And by the way, you're safer for the future and you're creating that future of yourself. But here's the thing.

Again, your story needs to be aligned and it needs to all be congruent. And sometimes we joke with our people like, do you want to be aligned and it needs to all be congruent. And sometimes we joke with our people, like, do you want to be the person flipping burgers or the business person that is running a multi-million dollar business in charge of flipping burgers? And again, there's no wrong in either one. I don't want you to get wrong, but you need to decide where you want to fit in. Because if it's that business person, executive, leader, strategist, if it is that, your brand needs to tell that story. So if I'm checking your LinkedIn, what do I see? Do I see the person that is just coding or engineering or solving some hard problems? Or am I seeing the strategist that will move the company to a next level?

Am I Googling your name? What comes up? In an interview, can you articulate your story and why are you going to move the needle on the company? Can I clearly understand why one plus one will be equal five? Because that's what I want. Okay. Now we're going to talk about branding and all the other things and other episodes, but don't forget to subscribe, like, download and share it because you don't want to miss. Plus it really helps us to bring

amazing guests and amazing content your way that you don't want to miss. Okay. So I'd love to know what you think. We'll put some links below. So just to summarize, ageism exists, but it has a solution. And the more you're strategic and intentional about your career path, the more the age becomes your advantage, not your disadvantage. So sharing some links, subscribe and download, share it with friends. See you on the next show. Thank you for listening and hope you enjoyed this show. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, share this with friends. I'll see you in the next Leap Show.