From Work Life to New Life: Rewriting the Rules of Retirement for Smart Professionals Paperback – February 24, 2024

When you are starting to think about changing a well established and successful career focus it can be tough knowing who to confide in, especially when you are a senior leader and role model. That’s where this guide comes into its own. Download it and use it to coach yourself through to a point when you feel ready to share your plans with colleagues. It’s a well-written, genuinely helpful starting point for thinking about how to adapt your professional life to fit with your own changing life aspirations and expectations. It’s an easy read, brimming with real-life case studies illustrating the opportunities available as well as the pitfalls to be avoided when aiming to change track. It doesn’t sugarcoat the effort needed, it’s aimed at ‘smart professionals’ so it cuts to the chase providing structure and perspectives reflecting longitudinal research as well as c-suite level experience and challenge. Oh, and if you are really done with work that’s covered too. Highly recommend.

I found this book concise and extremely useful. The authors spell out the reality for most professionals once they are in their 50s. That, quite soon, they are going to have to address a career change. This can be either traumatic, or a great opportunity to find out what type of “second career” would really work for you. I think it covered pretty much all the options illustrated with real world examples of the different choices that many professional people had chosen. This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore what would really work for you. Based upon their real world experience of coaching so many other professionals at this stage in their career, I think everyone would find useful ideas here. A quick read too with lots of suggestions for further reading on the topics in the book.

I have recommended this book to many of my colleagues. It is never too early to start planning for the next phase. Or as the authors call it the ‘encore’ career. Full of practical tips, case study examples and insight it provides inspiration to those whose identity comes from their work and rarely give time to thinking about what next.

Articulates and clarifies the thought process with practical signposting and structures to work through. The real life case studies are particularly helpful and I would recommend it as a must read regardless of where you are in your career journey.

Articulates and brings to life the concept of 'encore' careers for professionals, providing practical guidance and case studies to manage the planning process. I wish I had read it sooner!