Blog | Redirecting

Create a Vacuum: Make Space for What Comes Next

Create a Vacuum: Cleaning as a Foundation for Career Pivots and Retirement One fundamental step often overlooked is the act of cleaning or decluttering to create a vacuum into which your new passions can be created. This process is not merely about physical space; it's about mental and emotional preparation that facilitates clarity and purpose in your next chapter. The notion of creating a vacuum has served me well in my life. My career was my life into my thirties. My work

Aug 214 min read

Identity Beyond the Job: Who Are You When the Role Goes Away?

Three years ago in 2023, I left my research role at Visier. Since then, I've conducted more than 100 interviews about career and life pivots, published 89 Pivot Stories, and learned a great deal about what helps people successfully redirect their lives. I've also learned a great deal about myself. I started this research because I had failed at retiring once before. At 70, I left paid work. It didn't take. I went back to corporate work for another seven years. Three years ago

Aug 213 min read

I’m Renaming One of My Pivot Types: From Pivot in Progress to Experimenter

Last October, I wrote a piece called Cocooning or Leaping: Two Ways to Navigate Career Transition. I contrasted Resetters, who often step back and create space to reflect, with what I was then calling Pivoters in Progress. Here is how I described that second group: “They experiment, test ideas, and learn on the go.” I didn't realize it at the time, but the better name was already sitting there in the definition. Experimenters. As I've continued my research and approached 100

Aug 122 min read

What I've Been Asked Not to Publish

Layoffs, ageism, and cost cutting Many people felt they were viewed less as contributors and more as expenses on a spreadsheet. Senior employees were often targeted because of their higher salaries. Older workers described a double challenge: being seen as expensive and being viewed as having less future potential. Some people reported being pressured to accept significant pay cuts to preserve stock options or remain employed, only to be laid off later anyway. Others believed

Jun 153 min read

Don’t Go It Alone: The Role of Relationships, Networking, and Community in Successful Redirection

As I continue to interview people about career and life redirection, one theme appears so consistently that it becomes impossible to ignore: successful pivots aren’t done in solitary. We ask for and get advice and support from others. We go to others to find our next opportunity. We have a “kitchen cabinet” of advisors. Our partners, family, and friends are our resources. We live in neighborhoods. We participate in local activities. We work in organizations with colleagues, b

May 268 min read

Continuous Learning as a Success Factor in Redirecting

When I started my redirecting research through interviews and telling stories of people’s pivots, I expected to find recognizable patterns in why people redirect and how they would be successful. I assumed the drivers of pivots I’d hear about would be burnout, layoffs, a longing for more meaningful work, or a desire for better alignment between values and work life. I had seven hypotheses of success factors. I’ve written about five of them in Redirecting Foundations. I expec

Apr 2910 min read

Serial Pivoter’s Paradox: Redirection in the Messy Middle

With gratitude to a real person That last promotion into a new area you now want to pursue -- you just don't have enough experience to get the job you now really want. A serial pivoter rarely looks “linear” on paper. But in real life, the pattern is often clear: they are the person who steps into what the organization needs next, learns fast, and makes it work. They become the fixer, the translator, the bridge between functions. Over time, that range becomes a strength, and t

Mar 104 min read

Time Reconsidered for Retirees: What Still Deserves Me

When people talk about retirement, there’s a familiar script. You’ll spend your time on the three Gs: golf, going places, and grandchildren . Frank Scavo said this with a smile. Sue Van Klink later added a fourth G: great friends . That addition matters more than it first appears to. Because for many people retiring, time is no longer something to be filled. It’s something to be chosen . For much of our working lives, time is something we manage. We schedule it, allocate it,

Dec 30, 20254 min read