reinventing or repeating?
April 19, 2007 by Mary Wynne-Wynter+
This NYT article both inspired me and discouraged me.
Its about a new concept (trademarked!) called the life portfolio, to help corporate executives transition after severance or retirement, to something new and different. Its expensive, costs up to $25,000, and is often paid by the company as part of the severance.
Some of it is about rediscovering dreams and creativity and meaning.
REINVENTION; Helping Chart a Career’s Turning Point
By ELIZABETH POPE
Published: April 10, 2007
The introspection results in surprising transformations: engineers who become sculptors, mutual-fund analysts who take up alpaca farming and international lawyers who morph into school headmasters.
But most of it is about networking into alternative sectors, like not for profits.
About 80 percent of Portfolio clients refocus their priorities, abandoning the goal of another executive position to manage a nonprofit group, volunteer or do community service, he continued.
”We’re seeing a definite trend of people who want to turn their careers into a calling in the postcareer years,” he said. ”People worry that they’ll live to be 90 without a purpose. They’re saying, ‘I’ve got to share my good fortune and get involved with giving back.’ ”
I’m 100% in support of older people contributing their much-needed knowledge, skills and experience. But if programs like this indicate a trend, the price of admission raises barriers to most of the creative, entrepreneurial professionals who have been continually learning in the new business world trenches for over a decade. These are the people who had a different vision of the future, and who passed on the corporate hierarchy track knowing that most of that kind of experience would soon be extinct.
Hopefully, companies that hire older professionals recognize the need for new skills, experience, creativity and ideas, and not just the traditional, status quo management approaches. Here’s the reason.
‘In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.’
— Eric Hoffer
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