Employers believe this is the age you’re too old to hire. This is why they’re wrong

“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.”

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...