There exists a "gray ceiling" image--characterized by burnout, obsolescence, and career plateauing--that keeps many aging workers from reaching their potential. In the workplace, there is an clear age bias where recruiters favor younger applicants. You have only 5 years when most people are free of age bias-35-40. Otherwise, often you are viewed as either too young or too old.

Myths about aging are perpetuated by our media. Do you remember the movie, Cocoon, a movie about old people, which starred Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy all over the age of 70 at the time? When the film's director reviewed the film's early takes, he decided something was wrong. His actors weren't acting like old people-their posture was too straight, step to lively, and speech too clear. So the director hired acting instructors to teach them how to act like much older, less able people.

Aging is no longer viewed as a natural stage of life, but a horror and devastating progression. Why are we as a human race so set on reversing the inevitable? The war on aging is on, but has our obsession gone too far? The statistics show that more and more women are getting facelifts, and they also show that women are becoming interested in the procedure at a younger age. Women are now getting facelifts even as young as in their thirties. According to a report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, procedures such as plastic surgery, Botox and wrinkle fillers are up 99 percent since 2000.

Yet, and this is important, most of the studies of aging have focused on the 5% who are sick or diseased. Actually we have very few studies about physically and mentally HEALTHY aging adults. Biogerentology, the biology of aging, is a science that is only 40 years old. One of the problems of our view of aging is our medical model which focuses on sickness instead of health. In contrast, the new advances in mind-body connection and neuroscience research show great promise in helping people with aging and maintaining good health.

What is the upside to aging? What are some myths that seem to be perpetuated about aging:

• Myth 1: A significant % of older people are either senile or suffer from dementia. Fact: Only 6-8% of people over the age of 65 have dementia;
• Myth 2: Older people suffer from rigid thinking. Fact: 41% of people over 65 use the Internet. Brain science shows we can learn easily well into our 90's.
• Myth 3: Most older people have health problems. Facts: 75% of people aged 65-74 are in good health; over 60% age 75+ are in good health; 40% over age 80 are fully functional.
• Myth 4: Sexual activity declines significantly with aging: Facts: A recent study showed that 93% of people are sexually active in their 50's; 81% in their 60's and 75% in their 70's.
• Myth 5: Older people exhibit significant cognitive decline. Fact: A recent study showed that in terms of verbal meaning, inductive reasoning, spatial orientation, numerical ability and word fluency the people studied 50-80 did not show any significant decline

Studies of older workers in the workplace have shown that older workers engage in less unethical and/or criminal activity; have higher levels of participation in politics and volunteerism; have fewer workplace accidents; have better visual acuity; have less conflict with co-workers; have fewer power struggles; are less ego driven; have less health costs than younger workers; have greater loyalty to the organization; have more positive attitudes than younger workers; are more resilient under stress; do better quality work; have less job turnover; are more trainable and have a less net cost compared to younger workers.

Some of the world's great achievements were accomplished by older people, not the youngest geniuses: It was during their "sunset strolls," that Michelangelo, at 88,was designing the dome of St. Peter's Basilica; Stradivarius, in his 90's produced two of his most famous violins; Verdi, when 80, composed the opera "Falstaff;"  Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Monitor at 87; Frank Lloyd Wright was 91 when he designed the Guggenheim Museum; Peter Drucker wrote his famous book on management when he was 89; George Burns was still performing in his 90's; Dr. Seuss was 82 when he wrote one of his last children's books;Olive Riley, believed to be the world's oldest blogger at 108, writes a blog every day;Arthur Winston, 100, worked for 72 years for the same company, Los Angles Metro; Jennifer Figge, 57 was the first woman to swim the Atlantic Ocean; John Whittemore, 104, continued to compete in Track and Field; and John Kelly was still competing in Marathon and Iron man competitions at 97.

We also commonly think of older people as being poor and penniless. But the current senior population possesses over $900 billion in spending money. Nearly a quarter of householders aged 65 to 69 have a net worth of $250,000 or more. Seniors spend more than $30 billion on travel each year. According to George Moschis, of the Center for Mature Consumer Studies, "the 55-plus age group controls more than three-fourths of this country's wealth and the 65-plus group has twice as much per capita income as the average baby boomer."

Businesses do not consider aging people a viable demographic market, community organizations labeled them recipients rather than contributors, and when they were included in commercials, movies or news segments, they are portrayed as unhealthy, unproductive and uninvolved: a burden on the economy and the younger generations.

In "The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife" ,Marc Freedman argues that we need a "new map of life" to deal with this powerful demographic change. Mr. Freedman is founder and chief executive of Civic Ventures, a nonprofit research group focused on boomers. He points out that while medical science, improved nutrition and other advances have succeeded in extending our lives, our ability to redefine these longer lives has lagged woefully behind. Freedman wants to broaden the way that people think about this part of life, which he calls the "encore stage." The encore stage is not about "clinging to our lost youth," he says. Rather, it means using one's evolving identity and experience in ways that are characterized by "purpose, contribution and commitment, particularly to the well-being of future generations."

If people live 85 years or longer, does it make sense to put so much pressure on people in their 20s and early 30s to complete their education, form a family, and start a career? A new view of age-related goals and activities may be more sensible.

Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of the Families and Work Institute says that companies need to recreate work places that are multigenerational and that will require rethinking how work is organized, including more flexible work-life arrangements.

One of the critical issues we face in the potential loss of aging workers from the workplace to retirement is the loss of knowledge. A 2006 Ernst and Young study report that companies are more likely to be concerned about knowledge loss and transfer, but they are doing little about it.