As I grow my 9 Lives for Women venture, I’m building partnerships with lots of interesting organizations. One particularly intriguing person I’ve met along the way is Peggy Northrop–a woman with a long list of stellar editorial credentials, including Editor-in-Chief of one of my favorites, More magazine.
Peggy’s current reinvention is heading up Work Reimagined, a joint project of AARP and Linkedin. Anyone thinking about reinvention, fending off retirement or simply seeking lifelong productivity should take a look at www.workreimagined.aarp.org. The site is full of thought-provoking advice and ideas about how to plan your second, third or tenth career.
The content is alive and engaging–and, I suspect, designed to prevent 50+ people like me from quickly throwing away the dreaded AARP envelopes that seem to taunt me in the mail. Since I’m so impressed with Work Reimagined, maybe I’ll actually open the envelope next time…instead of treating it like radioactive matter.
Because some of you might see “AARP” and not be inclined to click on the Work Reimagined link, I asked Peggy (seen at right) to give us all more insights to the site’s emphasis on lifelong passion and productivity, rather than traditional, fall-asleep-in-a-chair “retirement”.
Q. SO, AARP AND LINKEDIN. THEY SEEM LIKE UNLIKELY PARTNERS. WHAT’S THE SYNERGY?
A. AARP is the leading organization advocating for people over 50; LinkedIn is the leading professional networking site. AARP wants to serve people who are still working as well as those who are retired, so I think it’s a logical step to engage with people on a platform they already use and find relevant to their careers.
Q. AS THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE WORK REIMAGINED WEB SITE, WHO IS YOUR TARGET READERSHIP AND WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SERVE UP?
A. We know from research, as well as our own personal experience, that women and men ages 45-65 are very often in some kind of career transition. Some of us have been downsized, others are looking hard at the careers we planned at age 22 and craving something new. There’s a huge trend of people over 50 starting businesses–many out of necessity. What’s also changed is that people of this generation don’t think of retirement in the same way our parents did. We want meaningful activity–which might mean paid work or some combination of volunteering and paid work–plus we expect to keep learning and growing. Work Reimagined wants to address all of those needs, with practical help and advice as well as inspirational stories. Most important, the LinkedIn connection lets us “host” peer-to-peer discussions and invite people to surface information and advice that is relevant to them. It’s not meant to be a one-way conversation.
Q. FULL-TIME PERMANENT JOBS ARE LISTED ON THE WORK REIMAGINED SITE. AREN’T MOST PEOPLE CLOSE TO OR CONTEMPLATING RETIREMENT THINKING LESS ABOUT FULL-TIME PERMANENT? IS WORK REIMAGINED TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE THINK ABOUT AND PLAN FOR RETIREMENT MUCH EARLIER?
A. We’re deliberately leaving the retirement discussions to others. We want to engage with people ages 45-65 on the subject of work—and while some of us do want to cut back, a huge number of people in this age group still want a full time gig with benefits!
Q. WHY IS REINVENTION SUCH A CENTRAL THEME ON YOUR SITE?
A. Reinvention is a skill we all have to master. I read recently that the median length of time Americans spend on a a job is now 4.1 years. Four years! That’s an enormous societal shift. None of us can count on or expect a one-note career in one workplace for 40+ years. Thirty percent of the workforce is now “contingent”– working on a freelance, project-by-project basis–and that’s expected to grow to 50%.
Now, a lot of those contingent workers are in their 20s, but the next biggest cohort is in their 50s. So part of our mission is to support a new way of thinking about career. You have to be in charge, not just of your job search, but of your career development and training.
Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn recently wrote The Start-Up of You to address this issue. Tim Clark, an entrepreneur and business professor, recently adapted a business model tool for personal use, called Business Model You: A One-Page Method for Reinventing Your Career (it’s a great book, do check it out). So while a lot of people still bristle at the idea of “reinvention” because it sounds like a lot of work, let’s face it—these days, it’s reinvent or fall behind.
Q. ARE ATTITUDES TOWARD RETIREMENT REGIONAL? IN MY EAST COAST CIRCLES IT SEEMS HARD TO FIND ANYONE WHO ONLY WANTS TO PURSUE THE TYPICAL “TRAVEL AND PLAY GOLF” RETIREMENT. IS THIS TRUE OTHER THAN ON THE EAST AND WEST COASTS? HOW WIDESPREAD ARE “NON-TRADITIONAL” ATTITUDES TOWARD RETIREMENT?
A. When I was editor of More, which was aimed at women ages 40 to 60, I observed that women were comfortable with the idea of “reimagination” or “reinvention” but not at all comfortable with the idea of dead-stop “retirement.” Most of us don’t have the financial support of a pension to rely on in any case. But it’s also a generational attitude. We feel like we have a lot to offer; we have a lot of energy; and most of us have derived a great deal of pleasure and meaning from work. We won’t give that up lightly. That’s why the theme of “Work Reimagined” speaks to me, personally… I can’t see myself only traveling and gardening (my version of golf); on the other hand I don’t really want to work 14 hour days and then collapse for two weeks a year. Exploring that in-between space—what kind of work should I engage in now to support the life I want to lead over the next 5-10 years?—is really exciting. (And scary!)
Q. YOU’VE HAD SENIOR EDITORIAL ROLES AT SIX VERY DIFFERENT MAGAZINES–READER’S DIGEST, REDBOOK, AND ORGANIC STYLE, FOR EXAMPLE. EACH MOVE MUST HAVE BEEN A MINI-REINVENTION. DO YOU THINK THAT MOST PEOPLE REINVENT THEMSELVES WITHIN FAMILIAR INDUSTRIES, AS YOU HAVE–OR DO YOU SEE TRENDS TOWARD REINVENTION IN TOTALLY NEW INDUSTRIES?
A. It’s a lot harder to switch from accountant to lion tamer than to repackage your skills for a “neighboring” industry or career. I think that will always be true—unless you start your own business. But if you think in terms of transferable skills and build up a track record of success, I believe you can make pretty significant jumps. In my own case, in order to move to magazines with very different content and audiences, I couldn’t afford to have people think of me as a specialist in health (which you might expect from Health magazine) or the organic industry (Organic Style). Instead I had to present myself in a much broader way–as a branding expert, a packager of information for mass audiences, and a business-minded creative executive. I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve gone through significant reinventions, and I’m always struck by what happens when they broaden their view of what they actually do. It opens up doors.
Q. DO YOU THINK WOMEN OR MEN HAVE MORE COURAGE TO REINVENT?
A. A male friend of mine once said, “Find a man a rut, and he’ll lie down in it.” I’m not sure I agree with that, but I think women are really good at change and reinvention. Men can be too, but I think women have a leg up. Navigating the challenges of combined work and family gives you a lot of practice!
Q. I’M A BIG FAN OF MORE MAGAZINE. I’M SENSING ON WORK REIMAGINED YOU’RE TRYING TO INJECT THE SAME “STRONG WOMEN, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, AGE DOESN’T MATTER” INTO YOUR NEW VENTURE. ARE YOU NOW TRYING TO APPLY THAT “MORE” MANTRA TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN?
A. The More mantra, as you call it, is a core belief of mine. And I believe that in times of great change and transition, people need positive examples and reinforcement. None of us goes it alone. So yes, I think that a positive attitude about aging and what’s possible is really important to express in this venture.
Q. WE’RE BOTH ABOUT THE SAME AGE–LET’S JUST SAY 50+. I DON’T EVER PLAN TO RETIRE OR MOVE OUT OF CONNECTICUT. I THINK I STILL HAVE A REINVENTION OR TWO UP MY SLEEVE. HOW ABOUT YOU?
A. I am focused on building a media consulting business as well as launching Work Reimagined. And while I’m really enjoying spending the summer out of the city (in Connecticut in fact) and traveling more, I love working with teams of creative people on meaningful media projects. Whether that eventually takes me back to corporate life or into another business of my own, I plan to keep working and learning for a good long while!
That 10-letter word in this blog’s title is, of course, retirement—what many of us plan to fend off for many years. –KAS
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