We hope you can join us for Gather's upcoming virtual convenings this month with Stanford longevity expert Susan Wilner Golden (May 16), and Stanford social psychologist Geoffrey Cohen (May 31).
**All registrants for both convenings will be entered into a drawing for one of 10 free copies of both Susan Golden's book STAGE (Not Age) and Geoffrey Cohen's book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides.**
Rethink Everything You Think You Know About People Over 60:
How Museums Can Better Understand and Serve a Valuable and Vibrant Population
A Conversation with Professor Susan Golden, Stanford University
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 10am PT / 1pm ET
While museums have been chasing younger audiences for decades with mixed results, there has been less attention paid to the growing size and opportunity that adults over 60 present. Much of that lack of attention has been shaped by myths or misunderstandings about the size, vibrancy, and economic power of adults in this stage of life. As people live longer and work longer, the market for where and how they spend their time and money continues to grow in size and variety, and museums, as many of us already understand, are one of those places.
Stanford Professor and author Dr. Susan Wilner Golden joins us to talk about her new book, Stage (Not Age): How to Understand and Serve People Over 60 – the Fastest Growing, Most Dynamic Market in the World, which demonstrates opportunities that can be unlocked if you rethink everything you think you know about people over 60. Members of the 60-plus crowd are living longer, healthier, and more productive lives, and the products and services they use are part of a market called the longevity economy. Golden's book is the concise guide to help organizations of all types better understand and serve this market by focusing on life stage, not age, and identifying the deep diversity of needs within the demographic. Specifically, that older adults are not a single market and their needs are more heterogenous than most people think.
In this discussion Golden will help us:
• Reset our understanding of what an "old person" is.
• Help identify and overcome some of the barriers for reaching this population
• Consider best practices of organizations that have shifted strategies to reflect the new demographics and achieved success.
About Susan Wilner Golden:
Susan Wilner Golden is an expert on innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities created by the new longevity and its growing $22 trillion economy. At Stanford, she teaches at the Graduate School of Business, and is the Director of the dciX impact initiatives at the Distinguished Careers Institute. Her career includes time spent in venture capital, public health and life sciences, which provides her with a multidimensional, multidisciplinary perspective on longevity opportunities. Golden herself is an example of stage (and not age), living a multistage life, and taking a career break from venture capital to focus on her caregiving stage. She received her doctorate in science from Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Belonging and Museums: Creating Connection and Bridging Divides
A Conversation with Professor Geoff Cohen, Stanford University
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 | 11am PT / 2pm ET
We live in enormously polarized times. From politics to race, religion, gender, and class, division runs rampant. In 2020, 40 percent of each political party said that supporters of the opposing party were "downright evil." In 2019, hate crimes reached a ten-year high in the United States. One in five Americans suffers from chronic loneliness, with teenagers and young adults at increasing risk. Social ties at work, at school, and in our communities have frayed. How did we become so alienated? Why is our sense of belonging so undermined? What if there were a set of science-backed techniques for navigating modern social life that could help us overcome our differences, create empathy, and forge lasting connections even across divides? What if there were a useful set of takeaways for organizations of all stripes to create connection even during challenging times?
We all feel a deep need to belong, but most of us don't fully appreciate that need in others. Often inadvertently, we behave in ways that threaten others' sense of belonging. Yet small acts that establish connection have been shown to lessen political polarization, improve motivation and performance in school and work, combat racism in our communities, enhance health and well-being, and unleash the potential in ourselves and in our relationships. In his new book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Stanford social psychologist Geoffrey Cohen applies his and others' groundbreaking research to the myriad problems of communal existence and offers concrete solutions for improving daily life at work, in school, in our homes, and in our communities, including places like museums.
In this discussion, Cohen will help us:
• Gain a better understanding of what belonging is and why it matters.
• Learn some science-backed techniques that can help us overcome differences, create empathy, and build lasting connections.
• Explore how small acts can have big impacts and create environments where everyone feels like they can belong and flourish.
About Geoffrey Cohen:
Geoffrey L. Cohen is professor of psychology and the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business at Stanford University. Professor Cohen's research examines processes that shape people's sense of belonging and self and implications for social problems. He studies the big and small threats to belonging and self-integrity that people encounter in school, work, and health care settings, and strategies to create more inclusive spaces for people from all walks of life. He believes that the development of psychological theory is facilitated not only by descriptive and observational research but by theory-driven intervention. He has long been inspired by Kurt Lewin's quip, "The best way to try to understand something is to try to change it."
Everyone is welcome! We hope you can join us.
Missed our April Convening?
If you missed our April conveying with audience engagement expert Adam Rozan on "Audiences, Purpose, and Personalization in Museums," visit Gather's community site to read a recap or watch a recording of the program. ------------------------------
Robert Urstein PhD
Co-Founder, Gather Learning
San Francisco CA
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