The Same Rain Falls Upon Us All
Do you intrinsically know that adverse incidents in our industry are on the rise? Logically, how could they not be?
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Author: John Gonzales
A 9MM Luger Inspires a Passion for Senior Living
The connection between these two experiences …. It was these life experiences that drove my decision to make senior living my career.
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The Perfect Storm — Will We Sink or Swim?
Inflation, recession, the pandemic aftermath, and the shortage of workers in the workforce continue to impact our industry.
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“Once Upon a Time . . .” The Power of A Story
Share and celebrate your residents’ unique stories with your staff, then turn the page and keep writing with them.
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Fear, Anger, Confusion – Is This What They Feel Too?
A sudden hospital stay in the pandemic era provides a humbling, profound lesson in emotional intelligence.
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The Chicken Door
On a trip to Disney World with my kids, I discovered the Chicken Door to avoid humiliation. What a brilliant idea. If only real life had them.
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The Rising Need for Senior Services in Our Prison System
Over the next 10 years, the elderly prisoner population is anticipated to reach nearly 400,000. How will our society choose to deal with this population and their unique needs?
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Changing the Way People View Aging in America
Ah, to be young, and driven, and naïve enough to think that was possible.
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Trusting Your Gut – Confessions of a Former Executive Director
This industry seems to require constant internal conflict. Can we do it better?
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NIMBY Memory Care — Has It Been A Problem For You?
I recently worked with a developer on a new memory care community located in a prestigious area in the mid-Atlantic . . . and it was an eye-opener!
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Emotional Stupidity
It never ceases to amaze me how many companies in our industry simply do not resource this incredibly important skill for leaders and employees.
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The Secret to My Incredible Bolognese Sauce
Great ingredients treated right make for an amazing culinary creation. Likewise, great employees treated right can make for an amazing workplace culture.
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Growing the Next Generation of Industry Leaders
What happened to personal drive and self initiative? Is it their own lack of ambition or are current employees simply unaware of opportunities for career growth in senior housing?
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When Leaders Lie — Part 3; The Plague of Ignorance
Without proper immunization, ignorance is a disease that spreads quickly and can run rampant through an organization, destroying the foundations of even the strongest leadership.
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A Commentary on the Perils of Management Companies
Management companies can be a difficult beast to train as they grow, and make no mistake, those difficulties can come at the expense of ownership groups. It seems like no one is asking the right questions.
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When Leaders Lie — Part Two
Since writing “When Leaders Lie”, I was reminded of one of my first encounters with the temptation to “lie” as a young leader and I thought I’d share.
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When Leaders Lie
Have you ever had the experience of knowing a colleague, mentor or supervisor lied?
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The Rise of the Robo-Caregiver
Is it really too much of a stretch to foresee the day when our own industry – and other health and health-related industries – gravitates towards these advances in technology?
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It Sounds Bizarre, But Your Next Employee Of The Month Just Might Be A Stoner
Is it time for us to rethink our employment policies related to recreational marijuana?
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Run, Hide or Fight . . . in Senior Housing?!
“Active Shooter” events have become a reality across the country . . . including within our own industry. We need to be proactive in preparing for the worst.
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The Future of Senior Housing: Don’t Be Short Sighted
We need to rebrand our industry in a way that creates interest and excitement about what we do and the lives we touch.
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Identify Your Highest Value Prospects
So often we feel the solution is more leads and we forget to shop the existing database.
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Are you sitting on a pile of gold, or a pile of garbage – Do you even know?
Over the many years I’ve spent in senior housing, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had discussions about the need to sift through our lead database
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The Future is Now (Almost): What Senior Living Leaders Should Be Thinking About Today
A follow up to our interview with Sage Age Strategies’ (a Senior Housing Forum Partner) President...
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A Better Mousetrap
I was recently asked by a client to research and recommend a software system for use in his...
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Faith Ott on Leadership and the Future of Senior Living
We recently had the opportunity to interview Faith Ott, President and Executive Consultant for...
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Sage Age Strategies — One of America’s Fastest Growing Companies
Sage Age Strategies: Fantastic growth puts them on the INC 5,000 list.
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How’s Your Online “Curb Appeal?” Is it Time to Redesign?
From time to time websites do need to be redesigned. A look at how often and when it should happen.
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You’re Moving Where, Mom?
Recently, my mother-in-law moved from Seattle, Washington – where she had lived for the last 20 years – to Sun City West, Arizona a place she visited once before pulling the trigger.
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Online Marketing: Ready, Aim, Fire! Repeat as Necessary
It is an evolution of online marketing, and you should be using it.
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Hello! How May I Discourage You, Today?
Ridiculous, isn’t it?Too often that is how senior living front desk staff come across to the...
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6 Lessons From a Secret Shopper
If you are intent on figuring out how to go the last mile in your senior living community it is almost impossible to do without a set of outside eyes.
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Top 3 reasons You Should Leave the Secret Shopping to the Professionals
Recently, while consulting onsite at an assisted living community in NV, I opted to spend my weekend observing the activity at the community rather than lose any more money at the penny slots.
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“I will not move into your community, for it is exactly the place I do not wish to be!”
Marketing and Sales Lessons from Sam I AmHow many times have you read Dr. Seuss’s classic, Green...
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Icing on the Cake
Positive online reviews are powerful weapons in the war of online competition.
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How to Generate Positive On-Line Reviews
Some great specific tips for getting great online reviews.
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How Is Your Online Reputation?
So how would you answer the question? Do you know? What sites have you checked? When did you last check?
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High Tech with High Touch is a Formula for Success
Sage Age offers some thoughts on how to pull off great marketing events.
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My Tale of Woe
Technology can radically improve the lives of seniors.
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New Habits of Old Decision-Makers
The way these increasingly influential baby boomers seek out and research potential communities for their parents is vital to staying in the game.
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Why Short-term Sales Goals can Kill You
Getting your senior community full takes both short-term and long-term strategies. It is easy to get let short-term goals get in the way of the long view.
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Hummingbird and Senior Housing Marketing
Google is quietly changing the way it presents search results using a new smart and intuitive...
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Senior Housing Fiction: Avatar – The second half
From Part One:
“Shut up and kiss me,” she mercifully whispered to him. He was smart enough to comply.
“Thomas, I never want this moment to end…I want us to…to -”
Angry bright light exploded all around him. . . .
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Senior Housing Fiction: “Where Avatars Fear to Tread”
I have never published senior housing fiction before, actually I am not sure I have ever seen...
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Rethinking Profit Margins in Senior Housing
As residents require more care, the cost of that care frequently reduces margins (as a percentage), even though it may very well mean more money flowing to the bottom line. We need to reexamine how we evaluate margins in Senior Housing.
Read MoreGood for the Goose . . .
Imagine if Emeritus CEO, Granger Cobb, would have said, “I am 100% confident in the training, care and services that we provide. That is precisely why my own mother lives in this community.”
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Dangerous Bridges – – A Commentary on the PBS Expose of Emeritus and Assisted Living
When I was asked to write this commentary, I assumed I too would take the familiar position dictated by my “corporate instinct” and rush to the defense of our industry, because one of our own was being attacked. “Let him without sin cast the first stone,” right?
Read MorePop Rocks for Dinner
What is your take-away from senior living sessions, new buzzwords, or real and valuable concepts that will improve the lives of your seniors and staff?
Read MoreThe Dirty Secret about Assisted Living
The dirty little secret about our business is that, despite a company’s size, corporate mission, experience, capital resources, quality brochures and even flashy media, this industry lives and breathes based on the actions of a caregiver, making $11.25 an hour, doing the right thing at 3 am…night after night.
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