Leading Age - January/February 2011 - 6

from the editor
A Dynamic Balance
’ve long been interested in spontaneous order, the way various systems—languages, economies or ecosystems—emerge not as a result of conscious planning by some central authority but rather out of the actions of individuals seeking their own interests. In one of my favorite books related to that subject, The Future and Its Enemies, author Virginia Postrel looks beyond what Gene Mitchell she considers one-dimensional labels like left vs. right or optimist vs. pessimist, instead seeing the world—and attitudes about it—through a different divide:

Do we search for stasis—a regulated, engineered world? Or do we embrace dynamism—a world of constant creation, discovery, and competition? Do we value stability and control, or evolution and learning? … Do we think that progress requires a central blueprint, or do we see it as a decentralized, evolutionary process? Do we consider mistakes permanent disasters, or the correctable by-products of experimentation? Do we crave predictability, or relish surprise? The thing that sent me down this line of thought was a remark in “An Odyssey of Empowerment,” a great article you’ll find on p. 20: “We kind of started the project not knowing whether the residents would engage, but they leapt in with both feet.” That’s a quote from Kathi Brueggemann, resource manager at Luther Manor in Wauwatosa, Wis. She is referring to the response of Luther Manor residents and clients to the Penelope Project, a rather open-ended experimental wellness project built around a classic of ancient literature. One theme you’ll find throughout that article is that the people involved in this very unusual and ambitious project went into it with absolutely no idea where it might lead. Openness to dynamism, the willingness to experiment and go to new places without a map, is crucial to any organization trying to thrive in difficult or uncertain environments. On the other hand, organizations with weighty responsibilities such as serving the aged, in a highly regulated environment, will always have to balance risk-taking with organization and care in leadership. This balancing act captures something important about AAHSA’s change of name to LeadingAge. Yes, the idea for a change originated at the top of the organization—within its
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LeadingAge magazine | January/February 2011

board and management—but as Larry Minnix notes on page 4, and echoed by several members I talked with, the spirit behind the change came organically from below, in the work of forward-thinking members who are expanding upon the type of mission held by the group of 99 leaders who came together in 1961 at Arden House1 to form the American Association of Homes for the Aging. Then, a collection of individual providers dedicated to housing frail and sick elders had, in a decentralized and creative way, built a model of care that met the unmet needs of the time, but also realized how they could benefit from an association to represent their needs and priorities to a wider world. That balance applies today and once again, as our members’ missions expand, their organization must respond. “My take on LeadingAge is that we’ve been LeadingAge all along even though our name was AAHSA,” says our Chair, Win Marshall. “The vision, what will be required of us as an association, is that we’ve been focused on the services we provide in our communities. As we look to the future … it will be incumbent on us to ‘expand our walls’ to incorporate our community. From an advocacy perspective and from a service perspective we need to be more global and inclusive in our services and in interacting with those outside.” Chair–Elect Audrey Weiner told me, “I think our old name very much reflected a trade association, not that there was anything the matter with that, because we were an extraordinary association. But the new brand takes advantage of all of that and adds to it our potential to have a voice in thinking about clients in a much more direct way. LeadingAge suggests that we will help to set the course of how Americans age, positively.” Kathryn Roberts, president and CEO of Ecumen, thinks of the name change as a challenge: “[It] really signifies and says out loud that we’re more than services for housing and nursing homes. It says we’re going to deliberatively modify our mission in the way we think strategically, the way we govern ourselves, the way we present ourselves to policymakers and the public. You have to have guts to be a leader. To say it out loud requires you to take up that mantle and do it.”

LeadingAge and Wellness With this issue, FutureAge becomes LeadingAge magazine, in keeping with AAHSA’s name change. It’s no accident that the theme of this issue is wellness, and Postrel’s dynamist vs. stasist distinction applies to the idea of wellness as closely as it does to the fortunes of aging-services providers.
AAHSA historians will be saddened to learn that Arden House, long owned and operated by Columbia University as a conference center, is now shuttered. The Open Space Institute, its owner since 2007, is looking for a buyer.
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Leading Age - January/February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Leading Age - January/February 2011