Some soon-to-be retirees look forward to blank calendars and think that when they leave their jobs they’ll do a little of this and a little of that. You, however, might want a little more structure and purpose.
Maybe retirement will be your time to make a difference in the world. Janet Cranford, a career change and life transition coach, points out that a growing number of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are starting small businesses or nonprofits, hoping to make a positive social impact in their own communities.
Here’s an excerpt from a blog post on Janet’s Career Change Pathways site—helping you answer the question “Cultural Creatives: Could You Be One?”.
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“I’m sure much of this increase [in people starting social mission- driven businesses or non-profits] is due to the current economic situation. But I also like to think we’re starting to see the emergence of Cultural Creatives, as predicted by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson back in 2000.
Who are the Cultural Creatives? According to Ray and Anderson, over 25% of the population are Cultural Creatives. For these people, things like relationship and community are far more valuable than material success and technological advances. They also value:
- social justice and peace
- community building
- simpler, more frugal way of life
- authenticity
- personal and spiritual growth
Cultural Creatives are concerned about the health of the planet, as well as the well-being of our future generations. Seeing the world and everything in it as connected and interrelated, they’re well aware that what each of us does has an impact far beyond what we can imagine.
So even though Cultural Creatives prefer living on a smaller scale and creating smaller companies, they know that the work they do on the local level can have a global impact. It’s a good thing that Cultural Creatives don’t belong to any one age group or political party, because it’s going to take all of us working together to address the tremendous challenges we’re facing today.
Ray and Anderson found that Cultural Creatives don’t recognize themselves as a group, so they haven’t yet come together or fully realized the kind of changes they could make in our world.”
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Could you be a Cultural Creative? Link to Janet’s article to find out. Then think of all the other women you know who fit this description and brainstorm about ways you could work together to fend off retirement—and create new, and perhaps simple, possibilities for positive change.
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