Don’t let the generation gap become a communications gap

Irene Olsen works in Milford, Conn. Olsen 95 works 20 hours a week at the Milford Senior Center to pay for rising taxes and utilities. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey)

A few years ago, Joe Navarro was looking for a way to make himself more marketable in the job market. He thought getting another degree would help him do that, so he started looking into all the options. After some thought and consideration, Navarro enrolled at the University of La Verne in La Verne, Calif., and started working on a master’s degree in gerontology.

It’s not an obvious choice—many benefits brokers and agents obtain advanced marketing degrees, MBAs or even liberal arts degrees—but Navarro says it was the right call. He learned about far more than just the elderly. He learned about the process of aging, and that helps him think about ways to communicate with the different generations currently represented in the American workplace.