What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life?

My theme for leadership is learning to live your best life.  When people truly understand how they influence others and are committed to creating an positive work environment, then others will want to be around them.  They know what to do to to take advantages of their strengths and they know what to work on to minimize their weaknesses.  But the most important person to lead is themselves.

My current passion is developing a new model for retirement.  The title of the book by my mentor, Dr. Elmer Burack, says it perfectly:  Retiring Retirement.  Instead of thinking of retirement as way off into the future, we need to start thinking earlier about what we want to do in the various phases of our life.  If the average life span is 77, then at what point are we middle ages?  Since we can't retire from life, we need to think about what we need to do to live our best life.  So much of the current retirement information and messages center around financial planning.  While being financially prepared is critical, there is more to living a quality life than money. 

My seminar, Striving for Wisdom, Becoming a Sage, is designed to help people (primarily 40-60 year olds) process the question:  What should I do with the rest of my life?  This phase is being referred to by several terms such as the next chapter or the second half of life. 

This seminar is based on a holistic model of living that integrates financial planning while taking into consideration our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health and well-being.

Shoshana Zuboff is a leader in this field and currently lives in London.  She has brought these issues to our attention through her Odyssey program with Harvard Unversity.  My seminar is designed for men and women (couples are welcome) who want to continue to learn, grow, and develop for the rest of their lives.  Since learning is a reason for living, we need to keep learning about the phases of human development.  We learn how to become elders in society rather than just getting older.  We leave with a plan to re-energize ourselves for this next phase of life.  What I have learned in my research is that we can never start to think about this too early.  Similar to financial planning, there are so many benefits to have explored this territory early.   

Leadership Development

For several years, I have been focused on reading, writing, studying, and thinking about leadership.  I have interviewed more than 40 thought leaders (authors and/or executive coaches) about the kinds of leaders needed for these uncertain times and how to best prepare people for the roles and challenges they will face.  Based on the interviews, I developed a holistic model of leadership that serves as the framework for the book I am writing.  I am passionate about sharing what I have learned with others through writing, speaking, and developing seminars.

While I customize my leadership development seminars for each organization based on their needs, the themes I integrate into my work include helping leaders at all levels realize: 

• Leadership is about who you are more than it is about what you do.
• Leadership is an evolving process of becoming a more effective leader because the environment and situation changes.
• Leadership is about relationships and trust is the key ingredient.  Without trust, it does not matter much what you say or do.
• You are not an effective leader if others do not want to follow you.
• You need to understand the dark side of the ego in order to be effective.
• Leaders need to be held accountable and reward systems need to be structured for creating a place where people want to work.

If organizations are going to develop, people must develop.  For me, leadership is about becoming the best person you can be or learning to live your best life.  If I can help facilitate organizational and individual development, please contact me.  I would enjoy hearing from you.

Table of Contents

I think the table of contents for the blog will be: 

• Becoming a Sage
• Leadership
• Education
• Special Interests
• Life Thoughts

What do you think of these categories?

My Thoughts on Blogging

Since writing and talking are two of my favorite things, blogging should be a great tool for me.  Thanks for my blog coach, Mike, I am going to learn how to leverage this tool and take advantage of the opportunities.  Thanks Mike.