Subtitled: “What late bloomers can tell you about reinventing your life”
This book is an inspiring read for anyone who’s wondering if they’re too old to do anything different or even get better at what they’re doing now!
This is a fantastic combination of mini-biographies with wonderful research to back up the stories with science. And I love that Oliver is so thorough in his science that we learn how some more modern studies challenge some of our standard ways of thinking.
For example, Oliver cites one of my favorite mid-career books “From Strength to Strength” (see my takeaways here) and takes exception to that author’s approach on fluid vs crystallized intelligence. Which basically is that how quickly we can access one type of thinking decreases as we age while another one (crystallized) increases. Oliver provides newer studies (and real life examples) which show us that being less and less true.
The point being: our cognitive decline should not EVER be assumed.
Saying we’re too old to do something innovative, to learn new things, to make a big impact is completely disrupted in this book and I love that!
Oliver gives us plenty of examples of well-known people who have had non-linear careers – often happening way past the age society deems as productive. Several examples are of people who did well in one career, plateaued then moved on to something else and bloomed there as well. He offers examples of people who struggled for decades and then in their 50s – or beyond! – finally found meaningful success. And he also gives us examples of people who were in the same career their entire life, with success at the beginning, had a rough middle career, then a resurgence late.
The example he uses for that one? My favorite architect – Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wright is one of those influential artists who created amazing work but may not have had the most stellar moral code – which actually had a huge impact on his career in his 40s and 50s. He faltered in many aspects of his life and career during that time. The architectural industry tagged him as washed up and finished. And yet, he persisted. The work he did in his own ‘second act’ is even MORE influential than what he did in his first, including one his most famous works designed when he was in his 80s!
Another great example of a second act is Vera Wang. We know her as a bridal fashion icon now, but when she was in her late teens and early twenties she was a world-class figure skater, missing the Olympics by a razor thin margin. She then studied art history, worked as a fashion editor, in fact made waves as Vogue’s youngest editor, but when that career plateaued she pivoted again, even taking internships – in her late 30s – to learn what it might be like to work IN fashion instead of writing about it.
She did what I love taking my clients through – a mid-career remix. Using previous skills & experience in fresh ways, adding in natural talents & strengths, then following their curiosities as they redefine their future. It’s powerful – they feel like they’ve reclaimed their value and that’s exactly what Wang did after being overlooked as an out-of-touch fashion editor.
And these are just TWO of the many stories Oliver has stuffed into this amazing book.
Come for the inspiring stories and stay for the practical steps he offers for you to reinvent your career, your life!
Then let me know what your top takeaways are!
