Mind the Age Gap | Retirement Age, Identity and the Psychology of Ageing

What does retirement age really mean in modern life?

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael Comyn explores the idea of the “age gap” — the gap between chronological age and how we actually experience ourselves.

The reflection begins with a moment in a bank: an older couple being gently coached through online banking. They were not confused. They looked displaced. That observation opens a wider discussion about ageing, identity, and the subtle ways institutions categorise people after 65.

Retirement age began as a 19th-century pension policy in Germany. Over time, it evolved into a powerful cultural label. Today, that label influences marketing, workplace perceptions, digital design, and even the tone of television advertising.

In this episode, Michael explores:

• The history of retirement age and its origins in public policy

• The psychology of subjective age and why most adults over 60 feel younger than their years

• The impact of marketing stereotypes, including the Werther’s Original “grandfather” campaign

• Why certain UK television channels seem dominated by funeral and cremation advertising

• The cultural reality that people now in their seventies once danced to The Rolling Stones

• Why ageing is not the issue, dismissal is

This episode blends psychology, leadership insight, cultural observation, and personal reflection to ask a simple question:

Is the real gap between 50 and 65 — or between vitality and resignation?

If you’ve ever felt younger than your demographic category, or sensed the system quietly repositioning you, this conversation will resonate.

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This week, during a leadership course, a participant shared a line from her father that stopped the room:

“Whatever the mistake, it’s the lie afterwards that hurts more.”

In this episode of Mind the Gap, Michael explores why that simple sentence holds up across high-trust professions and high-pressure environments.

From medical errors in hospital settings to cockpit decision-making in aviation, from financial oversight to corporate governance, the issue is rarely the original human error. The more serious damage often comes from concealment.

This episode examines:

• The difference between human error and reckless behaviour

• What Just Culture really means in healthcare and aviation

• Why psychological safety determines whether truth surfaces early

• How fear of punishment drives cover-ups

• Why timely honesty strengthens trust rather than weakens it

Drawing on insights from leadership coaching, aviation training and emotional intelligence, Michael reflects on why cultures collapse not because people are imperfect, but because people feel unsafe admitting imperfection.

If you lead a team, work in a regulated profession, or simply care about integrity in relationships, this episode asks a direct question:

Do people around you believe they can survive being wrong?

About Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap is a leadership and emotional intelligence podcast hosted by Michael Comyn, broadcaster, author and executive coach. Each episode explores the space between intention and impact, and the small decisions that shape trust, culture and character.

Michael’s books Mind the Gap, The Next Station Is… and Between the Lines are available on Amazon.

Follow the podcast for weekly reflections on leadership, communication and the psychology behind how we show up.

Here’s the thing. Most of us spend our lives editing ourselves in real time. Softening opinions. Swallowing reactions. Running everything through an internal risk assessment before it ever reaches our mouth.

And then, occasionally, we meet someone who doesn’t do that.

This episode was sparked by conversations with people on the autism spectrum, and by watching The Assembly. What struck me wasn’t shock value or bluntness for its own sake. It was the relief. The calm. The honesty of hearing what someone actually thinks, without the usual social varnish.

So this isn’t an argument for saying everything that pops into your head. That’s not wisdom, that’s impulse. What this really explores is something subtler.

Which filters serve kindness?

Which filters serve fear?

Which filters are about protecting a persona?

And which filters help us stay aligned with who we actually are?

We talk about non-standard communication, what it teaches us about clarity and presence, and why “social polish” can sometimes drift into quiet self-betrayal. We also look at the cost of constant self-monitoring, the exhaustion of performing, and the freedom that comes from choosing fewer, better filters rather than none at all.

This is a reflective episode. No Stoic lectures. No tidy conclusions. Just an invitation to notice where you’re editing yourself unnecessarily, and what might happen if you eased off, just a little.