Age of Innovation

Announcing Encore.org

There's a reason this blog has gone dormant -- in conjunction with the publication of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, by Marc Freedman, we've launched a new site at www.encore.org. The site includes a news section (www.encore.org/news) that will cover all things encore career, including much of what would have been covered on Age of Innovation.  In a few days, I'll be shutting this site and redirecting AgeofInnovation.org to the new site. We've already posted a wealth of content. Check it out!

--David Bank

Rocky's Encore

Actually, there have already been five encores for Rocky Balboa and some would argue that's a few too many. But Sylvester Stallone's boxer is climbing back in the ring for one more shot, this time not for a championship but for significance.

The significance of 60, not surprisingly, is preoccupying Stallone himself these days, who told the New York Times that he was tryig to rid himself of the "regrets" he's had in the last 15 years. Being "deemed someone whose message or talent has run its course is a very very tough piece of information to swallow."

"Every generation runs its course, and they are expected to step aside for the next generation," Stallone said. "My peers are going through it right now, and they feel they have much to contribute, but the opportunity is no longer there. They're considered obsolete, and it's just not true. this film is about how we still have something more to say."

It will be interesting to see what Stallone really does have to say. In particular it might have been interesting for Rocky to have a different idea of how to regain significance than climbing back in the ring to get battered again. Despite improvements in the health of older adults, I don't think "exhibition boxer" is going to be particularly popular as an encore career.

--David Bank

Social Capitalists

Fast Company magazine announced its annual Social Capitalist Awards and, for the first time, Civic Ventures is a winner! We're in good (fast?) company, with a list that includes City Year, Jumpstart, Citizen Schools, Heifer International, Teach for America, DonorsChoose, the Grameent Foundation USA and HandOn Network. The winners will be featured in Fast Company's December/January issue, which will be on newstands next week.

Civic Ventures is the only winner focused on the aging of America, specifically the aging of the baby boom generation. "Where others see the high costs of an aging society, Civic Ventures acts in new and creative ways to uncover the value of experience in a society with unmet needs," said Mark Vamos, editor of Fast Company. "That's the kind of thinking, leadership and innovation that we're pleased to honor with the 2007 Social Capitalist Award."

Fast Company singled out two Civic Ventures' initiatives: Experience Corps, an intensive, team-based program that engaged 2,000 tutors and mentors over age 55 in underserved public schools in 19 cities; and The Purpose Prize, which invests up to $100,000 in social innovators over 60. (By the way, nominations for the 2007 Purpose Prizes are open at www.purposeprize.org).

--David Bank

Politicians Missing the Bigger Picture on Aging

John Gomperts, head of Experience Corps, posted this on SharingWitness.org, Billy Shore's good new blog:

With the midterm elections just weeks away, get ready to hear a lot about "protecting our senior citizens." Year after year, it seems politicians only know how to talk about older adults (almost always referred to as "our senior citizens") as if they were delicate pieces of china. We owe older adults health and income security, of course. And it’s clearly worth debating how best to achieve it.

But "protecting" is hardly the entire story about the aging of America. Most people over 60 are neither frail nor elderly, most are interested in many issues beyond their own well being, and most contribute to society in ways both big and small.

All the political talk about "protecting our senior citizens" is even stranger given how many of our political leaders are themselves over 60 and showing no signs of leaving office. Those who do "retire" often do their best work after they've left elected office. For some great examples, politicians need look no further than our recent past Presidents, whose efforts are chronicled in Second Acts, a new book by Peter Updegrove.

Jimmy Carter set a high bar. When you’re building houses and observing international elections, I’d say you don’t need much "protecting." And earlier this month, Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton jointly received the Liberty Award for their work on disaster response after the tsunami in Asia and hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast.

Carter, Bush, and Clinton are changing the way we think and talk about older adults, as are the thousands of people engaged in their communities through programs like Experience Corps. Now, if only our political leaders would catch on…

--John Gomperts

Compensating Retired Individuals to Work in Nonprofits

(Editor's Note: Robert Chambers is the president of Bonnie CLAC, an innovative effort in New Hampshire that helps low-income people buy reliable used cars -- essential for getting to work and taking care of their families. He's received a flood of attention, including a profile in Time magazine, since being named one of the Purpose Prize finalists. )

He posted this on his new blog on the Innovation Summit site:

"The Purpose Prize inspired me to begin considering the creation of paid part-time positions for retired individuals for Bonnie CLAC. The compensation might be very modest (low) in comparison to what the individual made in a full-time career. The positions might include such flexibility as being able to take off 6 weeks in winter to visit a warmer area along with other vacation time. I have spoken to a number of retired individuals, and for many, compensation is a measure of self-satisfaction and commitment. Wealthier individuals may become so involved and enthusiastic that they donate their salary back to the organization. I do not believe that this will replace volunteerism, but for jobs for which the nonprofit needs regular professional help, it might get you a more qualified reliable individual. I believe that the compensation will inspire a greater sense of reliability and commitment, both for the organization and for the individual. It might be easier to skip a golf game on a sunny day if you are being compensated for your commitment, and the nonprofit may be able to gain reliable and committed workers that otherwise might stay on the side lines. Would this help your nonprofit? Do you have any thoughts about specific ways to recruit such individuals?

--Robert Chambers

The New Normal

I'm delighted that Roger McNamee will be joining the discussion at the Innovatoin Summit on  "Investing in Change" on Friday evening.

In my old life as a technology reporter, I knew Roger as one of the smartest, funniest and (importantly for journalists) most accessible investors around, and one of the few who plays guitar in a rock-and-roll band that unabashedly emulates the Grateful Dead. You may have seen him in the news recently when Elevation Partners (his new private equity fund that includes U2 singer Bono as a partner) made a minority investment in Forbes.

But what really prompted us to invite him to join the panel was a speech he gave last year at a tech conference called Software 2005. In the speech, he talks about technology and globalization as the context for "The New Normal," the title of his 2004 book. But what set the talk apart was his discussion of what it takes to succeed on a personal level. After all, the role of an investor is to make bets on people.

"Most of us are faced with a huge pile of things to do and decisions to make," Roger says. "More often than not, we start at the top of the pile and try to work our way through. Wrong answer. The pile never gets smaller. Here's a key insight: Most of the stuff in our inbox is just not that important. The challenge is to figure out which two or three things really matter...and focus your energy on them."

Roger makes a distinction between a job and a career. "Your job generates a W-2. Your career defines who you are," he says, urging all manner of career development, including networking and career development. "Career activities are an investment in you," he says.

The key, he says, is a long time horizon -- 10 years or more . "I am convinced that the person with the longest time horizon generally wins. Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. Bono. Steve Jobs -- I'm thinking about the current Steve Jobs Era, the one that produced Pixar and the new Apple. Each had a time horizon far longer than his competitors."

It's an interesting notion for entrepreneurs in the second half of life, and maybe worth a question on Friday evening.

--David Bank

Purpose Prize coverage

There's been a flood of media coverage of yesterday's announcement of the Purpose Prize winners. I haven't digested it all yet, but I wanted to provide the links:

"Lives of Timeless Purpose," by Sue Anne Pressley Montes (Washington Post, September 5, 2006). (Note: WP requires free registration before providing articles.)

"Awards Honor Those Who Continue Their Labor," by Larry Gordon (Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2006). Note: LAT requires free registration before providing articles.

"Former Philadelphia mayor, slain journalist's father among winners of $100,000 prizes," the Associated Press.

"After His Son's Death, A New Life's Work," Newsweek.

"For Goode, retirement with purpose," By Michael Vitez, Philadelphia Inquirer

Special Coverage: Innovation Summit

With the announcement of the winners of the Purpose Prize, Civic Ventures is convening the top 70 nominees ("Purpose Prize Fellows" at Stanford this week for the first Purpose Prize Innovation Summit.

The Age of Innovation staff -- yup, that's me -- along with the Purpose Prize Blogging Corps, will be providing special coverage of the Summit events on this site. If you really can't get enough, check out the Summit Blog. We'll be posting the best of that blog on this site as well.

--David Bank

Andre’s Encore

Looks like Andre Agassi will have to wait a few more days – or weeks – to start his new career as a full-time family man and philanthropist.

His first-round victory prevented an early exit from the U.S. Open, but Agassi has made clear he’s eager for what’s next. “I feel like I’ve been practicing 20 years for this,” he told The New York Times. What comes after his retirement from tennis, he said, “is the birth of who I’ll continue to strive to become.”

The Times reported that Agassi plans to devote most of his time to his foundation, which funds programs for at-risk youth, financing college scholarships and summer camps. One recent project provides shelter for children whose homes are dangerous or whose parents cannot care for them. He’s a major funder of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in a poor section of Las Vegas, his hometown.

“In his life after tennis he will accomplish more than what he did playing tennis,” Patrick McEnroe told the New York Times. “It sounds outlandish, but I feel comfortable saying that.”

--David Bank

Bill's Encore

NBC News followed up Bill Gates' announcement that he was switching his day job from Microsoft to his foundation with stories of people of more modest means making similar switches.

They showed Catherine Meloy, who used to run a radio network and now manages Goodwill stores; Joyce Roache, a marketing executive who now runs Girls Inc., and Dick Tarlow, an ad exec who's going to Africa to help solve problems.

When it came time for the "expert" to wrap it all up, they turned to "a former reporter who chronicled Bill Gates' epic story -- and who now helps people find second careers," who declared Gates' move a benchmark.

"He was the poster child of the computer age; now he'll be the poster child for this 'encore' career, where you take on something new at midlife, says David Bank, senior vice president of Civic Ventures.

(link to the video)

It was fun to bridge my new gig with my old gig -- though I'm still riding Bill Gates' coattails! (They even had a shot of the cover of my book, briefly bumping me on Amazon from #355,672 to #42,142. Long tail, anyone?)

In any event, it does bear out my earlier posting about Bill's real passions. He really is shooting the moon.

--David Bank

Connections Cafe

The "Connections Cafe" in a corner of the public library Tempe, Arizona is the centerpiece of the city's Next Chapter project , a space for educational, volunteer and informational gatherings. Michelle Hynes, program director of Experience Corps, attended the Cafe's grand opening this week, and filed this report: 

It was such a treat to see the Cafe in action. It's open, light, very inviting with lots of small tables and a door that opens onto an outdoor patio. Colorful murals line the wall that the cafe shares with the main library space. Newspapers are available to read and return. High-speed internet access is available via two desktop terminals allowing 60-minute logons, and via wireless.  (The whole library space is wi-fi enabled and there are a number of additional internet access terminals in the library.)

We met yesterday after lunch in the big training space that runs about half the length of the cafe and looks out onto the patio. We also had the chance to see the planned office space for the Experience Corps coordinator, who will sit right inside the cafe next to Connections initiative manager Rebecca Bonds.

This morning I had an awesome triple-shot Americano direct from the hands of the cafe's new manager. All the cafe staff is college-age young (hopefully this will change over time, engaging some Boomers and others as workers), but of the six folks reading the paper or talking to friends at 9 am on Friday, three or four were "older." I'm told that in the three weeks the cafe has been open it has done a brisk business in the mornings and at lunchtime.  On the menu: Coffee, tea, smoothies, a "milk-and-cookies" treat, muffins, and some cold salads/sandwiches for lunch.

There is not a lot going on there yet -- there have been a few community meetings in the space, and Experience Corps information sessions and training will happen there. I expect that over the next couple of months lots more will be going on.

At the event this evening, 50+ people gathered to hear from the Mayor, community services director Tom Canasi, and Piper Trust program officer Carol Kratz. The mayor made Carol a latte ... great photo op. There was a lot of joking about the $500K cup of coffee, but the room was full.... the mood was upbeat... and every one was very very proud of this big accomplishment.

--Michelle Hynes

Watch, listen, or read?

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith takes a look at the question, "Can you afford to retire?" tonight on PBS's Frontline series.

If you want a broader view, check out public radio's Diane Rehm show today. Rehm explored the bigger picture of boomers and retirement with Smith; Charles Veith, president of T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services; and Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures.

Marc saved the discussion from a dreary recitation of numbers, numbers, and more numbers by drawing the focus back to the bigger trends and context -- the new stage of life between midlife careers and true old age, the world of boomers and continuing work, the historic invention of retirement and its current reinvention, and, of course, the yearning many boomers have to give back to society.

If you are a numbers person, there's a current bestseller of the same name:  The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life by Lee Eisenberg.

TV, radio, book. You choose the medium, but Marc's got the message.

--Stef Weiss