Making a Difference in the Second
Half of Your Life

by Robin C. Bonner

The Better Half?
We’re finished raising our families. We’ve launched our children into productive lives of their own. So, we turn our attention inward. Are we happy doing what we’re doing—are we doing what we love? Are we making a difference in the world? How can we make each day count, now that we perhaps don’t need to focus on money as much?

I suppose I’ve thought about these questions at one time or another. But when WHYY of Philadelphia addressed them recently, I paid attention. Was I where I wanted to be in my career? Did what I was doing from 9 to 5 each day (and often beyond) fit into my value system? Was it challenging? My career in publishing and communications spans more than 25 years, and the roles I’ve had promote learning and education—things I believe in. That makes me one of the lucky ones. Still, I wondered what other people are doing at this time of their lives. I know some who aren’t happy (and some who are in fact depressed).

On Monday, June 11, 2007, WHYY brought together author Marc Freedman (Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, PublicAffairs, 2007) and former Philadelphia mayor Dr. W. Wilson Goode (founder of the nonprofit Amachi) in a live, in-studio program to discuss what people do with their time and careers later in life. “Boomervision: The New Revolutionaries” was the last segment in WHYY’s series “Coming of Age,” a regional program designed to promote discussion on topics of aging. I have a WHYY membership, so a blurb hit my inbox, advertising the event. WHYY members and the general public were invited. I signed up. It sounded interesting.

WHYY billed the program as a revolution that’s happening on the job. The ad reads “Tens of millions of people 50+ are entering a new stage of work at a life juncture when their parents headed to the sidelines. The big question is: With so many people 50+ fueled by passion, purpose, and a penchant for improving the world, what kind of work will they do?” This is a good question—and one that Marc Freedman and Wilson Goode explored during their hour-long chat.

Marc Freedman and Civic Ventures
Marc Freedman, CEO and founder of the San Francisco–based think tank Civic Ventures
• Founded in the late 1990s by John Gardner and Marc Freedman.
• Generates programs that use the experience, wisdom, and passion of people over 60.
• Rewards social innovation by older people with the Purpose Prize (2006, 2007).
• Conducts surveys and publishes books and articles on topics of social innovation.

Dr. Wilson Goode: Mayor, Minister, Mentor
Dr. W. Wilson Goode, who appeared with Freedman on the WHYY program, was mayor of Philadelphia from 1984 to 1992. He received Civic Venture’s first Purpose Prize in 2006 for his work in founding the faith-based model organization Amachi, which helps children of incarcerated parents. (The Nigerian word Amachi means “Who knows but what God has brought us through this child.”) From its beginnings in Philadelphia in September 2000, the group has grown to include more than 273 programs in 48 states and Canada and has helped 75,000 children. According to Goode, more than 7.3 million children come from families with at least one parent in jail, and 70% of these children will eventually spend time in jail themselves if the cycle isn’t broken.

Goode shared memories from his own childhood. He came to Philadelphia from the South in 1953 to live with relatives when his father was imprisoned. Although Goode was a model student, his high-school guidance counselor discouraged him from applying to college, so he took factory work. A trusted minister, however, mentored him and he eventually did attend college—and went on to experience success in his life. Now Goode wants to give something back to the community. In his own words, he created Amachi because “it was not logical to amass all that knowledge and not use it.” It didn’t make sense to think about retirement; it was better “to spend the next 20 to 30 years working to improve society for my children and grandchildren.”

The Evolution of Retirement
Marc Freedman and Wilson Goode think alike on this subject. Freedman produced his book Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America (PublicAffairs, 2000) with the same goal in mind: that of encouraging people to take on meaningful work in lieu of retirement. During the program, he relayed a bit of history that had affected him greatly. It involved a series of events near Phoenix, Arizona, on and about December 31, 1959. A developer was building the first large-scale leisure retirement complex—Sun City—touting that it would “create a new way of life for older people.” Millions of dollars and countless hours had been poured into the project, so concern about its success had generated a lot of hand-wringing. Pools, shuffleboard, restaurants, and spas—nothing was spared, and no one under 50 could buy into it. But would anyone be interested?

Investors hoped Sun City would usher in the second half of life—the time of leisure retirement, the golden years. A lot was riding on the success of that venture, and it all depended on the psychology of retirement, which had evolved over the decades. As it turned out, people lined up when the doors opened. The developers expected 10,000 visitors that weekend. They had 100,000. The time was right for leisure retirement. Freedman was amazed that so many people wanted to retire to a year-round vacation.

The underside of the story, though, was that at one time (and at present, this is sometimes still the case), people couldn’t afford to retire. For the sake of survival, many were forced to work until they were too ill to continue. In the 1950s, with the establishment of Social Security, however, all that changed. For the gainfully employed (those who paid into the system), Social Security ensured retirement. (Of course, today, Social Security doesn’t usually fund all of one’s retirement, but that’s a topic for a different article. (Take a look at “Retirement Planning: It’s Never Too Late,” by Amie Bonner, in this issue of Empty Nest.) All of a sudden, society encouraged workers to end their careers and essentially to “play golf” until they died. As the length of time between the end of work and the end of life widened, financial planners jumped in, encouraging people to seek “freedom from work.” And so, the employed saved for retirement. Workers began to invest in their post-employment years, planning for the extended leisure time they came to believe they deserved. For the first time, for the average worker, leisure time became a major goal in life.

Christopher Buckley’s novel Boomsday (Twelve, 2007) proposes a negative (albeit fictional) account of old age, in which people are euthanized when they reach the end of their usefulness to society. Freedman’s Encore fights that attitude. It celebrates “vitality”—the wisdom and experience of one’s later years—and emphasizes the ability of older people to contribute to society in an even more meaningful way than they had before. Freedman proposes that today, more and more people should postpone retirement in favor of a second career. Older Americans reach a point in their lives, he maintains, when they are faced with an identity crisis. They are not old, yet they are not young. Many use second careers to redefine themselves, to choose how they view themselves and are viewed by others. So, everyone benefits.

Research conducted by AARP indicates that baby boomers will work longer than their parents. Consequently, there is rich debate over what paths people take. Civic Ventures talked to people around the country and found that they are most interested in money and meaning. After 50, they wish to seek a more personally fulfilling job. Freedman calls the journey a hard road (only about 12% of those surveyed thought they could actually launch a second, more meaningful career). But he believes it’s a heartening story, in that many are trying it. Employers, however, often don’t help. In fact, many companies promote an unhealthy psychology of aging: As workers age, they are discouraged from contributing. Instead, they are replaced with younger, less experienced, and lower-paid workers.

These ideas were thought-provoking. Because I spent a lot of my targeted retirement savings on my kids’ education, I picture myself working, at least part-time, as long as I am able to. I like what I do, though, so that won’t be a problem for me. In any case, it’s impossible to imagine myself sitting around or not doing something significant with my time. I will never be a “leisure retiree.”

Retirement Today: Creating the Future
Now, however, according to Freedman, the pendulum representing the attitude toward older workers seems to be swinging in the other direction. Today’s labor shortages in many areas are encouraging to those in pursuit of a second career. Employers and employees are forging new relationships, and it is easier than ever to be productive and fulfilled at all stages of life. Activities other than employment, such as community service, can also be factored into the equation. In any case, Wilson Goode advises, “Don’t waste this important time of your life doing nothing. . . . Do something that has a purpose. Don’t try to solve every problem in the world—concentrate on one problem.”

According to Freedman, “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” In sum, he quotes Peter Drucker: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” By directing attention to older achievers, Civic Venture’s Purpose Prize does just that because it focuses on older, everyday people who found a way to do something special for society (and they’re not all well known—some are local heroes!). As society recognizes the value of contributions by older achievers, it will seek them out for their talent and experience—whether for employment or community service—and the cycle of purpose, of meaning, will be complete: Older people will be in demand. The slogan on The Purpose Prize Web site reads, “Don’t call it a lifetime achievement award. They’re just getting started.” To empty nesters, embarking on their journey through the second half of life, that’s a real inspiration.