Years ago, when my firm was just getting established, I was pitching for a new creative contract. I brought along an older male consultant who had wrinkles, a pot belly, thinning hair, and a 30-year-old portfolio of corporate speech writing. I wanted him to accompany me because I was attempting to fend off ageism as an insecure, self-conscious, entrepreneur scared to go alone into a dark wood-paneled boardroom, feeling that my experience was not commensurate with my talent.
During the meeting, I was asked by the prospect how old I was. I paused, thinking: Why was he asking? What if I told the truth? Even back then, I understood that people thought I was 20 years younger than I was. I was torn between telling the truth or lying. I didn’t want to be judged based on my actual age.
I was not willing to risk losing a lucrative contract to make sure that the prospect did not know how old I was but I succumbed to telling the truth. Deep down, I felt that I had made a tactical error against ageism. I was right. The man’s mouth dropped open. He looked at me, shocked, and said, “I had no idea you were that old.”
He’s not alone. A survey from the nonprofit Transamerica Institute found that more than a third (35%) of employers thought that someone 58 years old was “too old” to hire.
