by Robert Lipsyte
Reinventing Yourself
Baby boomers are reinventing themselves in the second half of life, engaging in encore careers that are meaningful and fit their lifestyle.
Award winning journalist Robert Lipsyte, in the 20- part PBS series Life (Part 2), interviewed leading experts on encore careers.
When it comes to midlife, many people don't have the choice to fully retire as previous generations,” explained Richard Leider, author of Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life. “Throughout the history we've always used the “D” words like “decline” and go “disappear” and “disabilities,” and now we're using new “R” words rather than retirement like “reinvent” and “renew,” and my favorite one, “repack” your bags, so to speak. I think it's a new reality…living longer…new choices, new language.”
Unlike the Silent Generation who really did retire in their Golden Years, boomers are searching for meaning and fulfillment. They are thinking how they will stay engaged in ways that have impact. “Many don't want the same thing as their parents,” J. Walker Smith said, President of Yankelovich, and author of Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Live Today.
“Boomers are also facing a new economic reality as they get older. They may discover their savings have not gotten them to the point they'd like to be at in retirement age.”
Jobs have mostly been a social place for boomers, unlike previous generations where people worked for one company and retired. “Our parents worked at the same place. A lot of people got burned out in factory work. It was hard, it was grinding,” adds Chris Farrell, of the Public Radio program Marketplace Money. “Today, boomers are living longer, healthier, and are better educated. You say good-bye to your workmates, but you go take another job. That's the real change that's happening.”
So while boomers are finding actual retirement less achievable, according to Leider, today's 50 plus generation are looking for a combination of work and partial retirement. “It's not either/or. It's not work/or, it's both, it's balance.”
Boomers reflect the whole notion put forth by E.B. White. "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world or a desire to savor the world-- this makes it hard to plan the day." Leider thinks boomers are wanting to “both savor, whether it's golf or anything else, and save, meaning work-- do something meaningful with their time, balance their personal portfolio.”
“If only 5 percent of the boomers launched encore careers, you're talking about 80 million people. That's the same number that went to retirement communities in the last generation. That would be 40 million years of service dedicated to the environment, to education, to health, if people had 10-year careers.”
Boomers should begin thinking of encore careers well before 60. “When we did research on people who wanted encore careers a few years ago, it turned out 50 to 55 was the period when most people wanted to shift,” explains Marc Freedman, Founder of Civic Ventures, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making sure that society benefits from the wisdom and experience of people over 55. “Some had saved so that they could make that transition, some had to delay it, but I think people want to start early so they'll have enough time to go through the inevitable ups and downs and have a whole career trajectory.”
As Joseph Campbell said
of midlife, “It is when you get to the top of the ladder, but discover it's leaning against the wrong wall." People are going to have another chapter in their lives and a second chance at purpose. “They can't just continue what they've been doing all along.
They have to find a new source of fulfillment,” Freedman said. For many boomers, staying engaged will push them to seek out an intergenerational world. “The whole notion of isolation being fatal...whether it's coming back from an illness or leaving the workplace….they don't want to be isolated.”
“When I was a youngie, I remember the term “dead wood. You wanted to push those old guys out of the way. Now, isn't there that same kind of pressure to get rid of the older Boomers?” Lipsyte asked.
“There absolutely is because there's several factors going on,” Farrell said. “One is, most companies…just as soon get rid of you and hire a young person. That person is cheaper. They have a future ahead of them and they're (companies) going to invest some resources behind them. Yet at the same time, you have this aging generation that's still vital and believes they have something to contribute, and they're educated. So it's a clash, and anybody who is in a situation wants to continue working, they're going to have to be active to make that happen. It's not going to be about working at the same firm or the same company.” Farrell said, “You probably might be dead wood at that place.”
In today's marketplace, people over 50 want to find jobs in fast-faced high-tech organizations. To find work in a high unemployment market, Smith says boomers need a sounding board, a way to expand their network, stay in contact and discover where the opportunities are.
The second thing boomers will need to do is reinvent themselves…even if that means continuing their education and going back to school. “So at 50, as you're beginning to approach a transition, you should start experimenting,” he said. Boomers need to find some way to determine what is of interest to them and what they can do.
The third thing for boomers in particular, “is to become as proficient as possible with all the technologies that are available today, because these kinds of technologies are going to be driving the future of opportunities. If you want to matter in the future you're going to have to be very technologically conversant,” he said.
“Time is your most precious commodity,” Leider said, “particularly for the boomers, and they know this. They want to use their gifts on something they care about in an environment that values them. That's the trick. When they find that, they have a reason to get up in the morning.”
Boomers seeking encore jobs are moving into significant fields like nursing, teaching, and nonprofit positions. “Not only leadership positions, but on the ground working with homeless people, trying to help solve day-to-day problems in their communities,” Freedman explained. “A lot of people are moving into government service, especially at the state and local level. They're all taking these jobs that are practical idealism.”
Opposed to the previous generation that could afford to volunteer in this stage of life, Freedman says this generation needs “the practicalities of income and benefits. But they still aspire to give something back in this stage.” Freedman views encore careers as a hybrid between work and service.
One of the great challenges for boomers who need to go back to school will be to maintain income to pay for education. “I think we need a human resource policy for the second half of life that helps people make the transition, that meets them halfway, and I think we have some institutions out there that are perfectly poised to do this,” Freedman said. “Community colleges are in every community around the country, they're inexpensive, and more and more are providing expedited programs to help people move into areas like health care, into green-collar jobs, into education. So I think we can take some of the institutions we already have and help them adapt so that they can meet the needs of this population.”