Lois Melbourne doesn't describe herself as having retired. She retired from operating a business. At 46!

After years as CEO of Aquire, a company she and her husband built, selling the business gave Lois something she hadn't had before: the freedom to pursue ideas that had been waiting for her attention. Since then, she has written children's books, created a nonprofit, written a science fiction novel and begun another, supported philanthropic causes, continued her own education, and most recently launched a podcast about jewelry.

At 60, Lois is still learning, creating, and contributing. She just gets to decide what comes next.

What Drove the Pivot

Lois's most significant pivot came when she sold Aquire and stepped away from operating a business. She already knew one thing she wanted to do. For years, she had carried around an idea for children's books that would help young people explore careers. Her years in HR had shown her how often adults ended up in careers that didn't always fit them. She wanted to reach people earlier.

Within two months of selling the company, she dove into creating children’s books and My Future Story, the nonprofit that supported them. She later became involved with Mission 44, a larger global organization helping young people develop confidence and explore opportunities, particularly in STEM.

Then came other interests. She wrote Moral Code, a science fiction novel about ethical artificial intelligence whose AI character has a prime directive to protect children. She is now writing historical fiction about strong women in 1920s Chicago.

The subjects change. The desire to create, learn, and contribute doesn't.

Transition Process

Lois knew what she wanted to do next, which helped. What surprised her was the loss of identity. For 18 years, she had been a CEO. Suddenly she wasn't. She remembers struggling with something as basic as how to introduce herself.

Writing gave her both a creative outlet and a new identity, although she was slow to claim it. Even after publishing children's books, she would say she was “writing books.” It wasn't until her third book, the novel, that she introduced herself as an author. A friend standing beside her noticed immediately: “You're finally calling yourself an author.”

Our conversation took an interesting turn here. Lois described the American tendency to reduce identity to a “nugget,” usually a professional label that tells others where to place us. She believes other cultures are often less likely to begin with occupation and more likely to ask who you are, what interests you, and what brought you together.

Leaving the CEO identity allowed Lois to discover how much more there was to her.

She also invested seriously in learning. Children's publishing was a new world, so she attended conferences, took webinars, and learned the business. Her previous experience selling software and hearing “no” repeatedly proved unexpectedly useful. A publisher rejecting a book wasn't personal. She simply had to find the right match.

Current Direction

Lois's latest project is What a Gem, a podcast born from her lifelong love of jewelry. For Lois, jewelry is personal storytelling. Pieces remind her of people, places, accomplishments, and experiences. She loves meeting jewelry artists and understanding their craft. The podcast allows her to learn about something that brings her joy and then give that learning back to others.

She's also discovering how much work goes into building an audience, learning Instagram, creating content, and figuring out what attracts people. She didn't expect it to consume quite so much time. She loves it anyway.

The podcast may someday become a business. Or it may not. That isn't currently the point. Lois is enjoying learning something new, telling stories, meeting interesting people, and contributing to an industry that has brought her pleasure throughout her life.

And she continues to invest in learning elsewhere. For more than a decade, she has participated in an annual Harvard program through Young Presidents' Organization and now returns as a study group leader, helping other CEOs through the experience.

Advice for Others

Lois has had years to think about what makes life after a traditional career fulfilling. Her advice:

• Don't wait to explore what interests you. Before retirement arrives, pay attention to what inspires you and what you might want to pursue when you have more time.

• Ask what your retirement will contribute to the world. Contribution doesn't have to mean money or serving on boards. Writing, teaching, creating, mentoring, and volunteering all count.

• Invest in yourself and keep learning. Take the class. Attend the conference. Learn something unfamiliar. Spend time and money on things that give you a buzz.

• Don't be afraid to pivot from your pivot. An interest doesn't have to become a lifelong commitment. Try it, learn from it, and move on if something else calls.

• Protect your relationships. Without the built-in connections of work, your world can shrink quickly. Lois has found that retirement has also given her time to deepen important friendships.

Lois calls retirement “kindergarten,” a time to test things, discover what you like, and keep learning. That's what makes her a Continuous Contributor. She hasn't replaced one career with another, and she isn't trying to recreate the CEO role she left behind. She's allowing curiosity, creativity, learning, relationships, and contribution to keep leading her toward the next thing.

For Lois, retirement wasn't an ending. It was permission to become more than one thing.