There is life beyond success and significance. And a lot of us are about to confront this reality. Me too.   

A couple of weeks ago, my partner in ministry of ten years, Tom Wilson, walked into my office to tell me that he wanted to “step down” from his position which I used to call “CEO of all that I do.” Tom said, “Looking back, I believe that at age 64 I have done what God brought me here to do. It’s time for me to move on to the next season of my life. I will take with me a great sense of accomplishment and joy as I discern God’s plan for my life.”   

That is certainly true. During the past ten years, Tom has been responsible for leading the organization through important changes including strategic program changes in both of our major divisions, Leadership Network and Halftime, in recruiting a very engaged and brilliant Board of Trustees, and expanding the funding model. Leadership Network and Halftime are different places in many ways based on Tom’s heart for God and passion to achieve great results for clients. Both have very strong and capable leaders at the helm.   

I am in it for as much life as I am allowed to have. Alongside the great leadership of these two organizations, I have a very few personal projects in a parallel career. Being Chairman of The Drucker Institute is the largest of these, but not the only one. All of these “alongside” projects have superb leadership teams. I’m very much involved but out of the business of hands-on day to day management.   

With a big birthday coming up this month, I am finding myself in my 70’s on the verge of confronting a new season of my own life. When I wrote Halftime, at age 56 in 1995, I mainly targeted a thundering herd of baby boomers ten or fifteen years younger than me who were considering what to do in midlife. I focused on Seasons I and II, calling them Success and Significance. Henry Nouwen, the Catholic priest and writer, was kind enough to endorse the book. Over dinner he was also thoughtful enough to tell me that there was a season beyond Significance that I wasn’t quite ready to deal with. He called it Surrender by which he meant giving one’s life over to a cause(s) larger than ourselves. That’s Life III!   

I now find myself confronting Life III and I am increasingly conscious that I have a lot of company in this dilemma. Not long ago, a huge study was done. 350,000 Americans from very young ages to very old ages were asked what season of their lives produced the greatest amount of happiness. It was discovered that after age 50 not all but most people are happier, less anxious, less stressed, with less hostile emotions. 

Lessons from Finishing Well 

In 2003-2004, I spent a year and a half researching and writing Finishing Well. I might have sold more books using a random sample of the population at large, but I chose instead to interview 120 people that I called pacemakers and code breakers. I’ve always learned most from people who are leading change, giving shape to the future.   

This past extended Labor Day weekend, I chose to go back to Finishing Well to see what clues I could find for Life III. These were all people I admired a great deal. The age range when I did the interviews was 42-94. Most were clustered in their 50’s and 60’s with a few 70’s. I knew them then and I still know most of them. They are now in their 60’s and early 70’s. I selected them for the pure joy of being in their presence then. What lessons could they teach me now? 

• Four had died, all of natural causes. 
• Not one of them had disgraced themselves. 
• Virtually every single one had “surrendered themselves” to making a difference in the world in a cause that was larger than themselves. 

 
The Two Foremost Factors for Life III Happiness 

My initial conclusions recollecting these examples resolved themselves into two critical factors: preparation and engagement.

Preparation 

Jim Collins, one of the Finishing Wellinterviewees and perhaps the most curious person I know, has just completed a nine-year research project that will be released in the fall. It is sure to be a best seller. The question he explores is which individuals and companies survive and win in conditions of chaos and utter unpredictability? Arguably the question for our turbulent times. I will be standing in line to get the first copy, but from what I could pry out of Collins over dinner, the X factor that separates the survivors from those who go over the falls is Preparation, having enough margin for unpredictability to survive whatever surprise is around the bend.   

Not surprisingly, the broader answer has a lot to do with education. According to an article in the current issue of Atlantic Magazine, titled “Can the Middle Class be Saved?:”   

“In March, the national unemployment rate was 12 percent for people with only a high-school diploma, 4.5 percent for college grads, and 2 percent for those with a professional degree.”    

Revisiting my interviews, virtually all of my 62 interviewees were college graduates, many with advanced degrees: PhDs, MD’s, law degrees, MBA’s. They all seem to be Finishing Well. 

Vigorous Engagement 

“Retirement from” was a big factor almost always followed by “retirement to:” 

• Frances Hesselbein still chairs Leader to Leader Institute and has been selected to do leadership programs at West Point. 
• Steve Reinemund (ex PepsiCo) is Dean of the Business School at Wake Forrest. 
• John Castle (ex EDS) is the homeless czar in Dallas. 
• John Snyder (Snyder Oil) is encouraging development of medical clinics in churches. 
• Wally Hawley (McKinsey, InterWest) is what I call “a portfolio person,” with a venture capitalist’s collection of difference-making projects, including Leadership Network, Stanford, and YoungLife. 
• Randy Best (Venture Capitalist) is vigorously leading the addition of on-line in higher education in Latin America — some U.S. universities as well.  

I could go on, but my favorite example is Doris Drucker who has traveled to Europe, China, Japan, and Korea on behalf of The Drucker Institute. She also plays competitive senior tennis tournaments at age 100. She says reluctantly, “I have to play doubles now.” 

So What About You? 

1. What stage of life do you find yourself in these days? 
2. What’s next? What opportunities has your life prepared you for now? 
3. What do you want to be remembered for?   

READ WILL MANCINI’S FULL BLOG

“Finally, the executive is within an organization… He sees the outside only through think and distorting lenses, if at all… Specifically, there are no results within the organization. All the results are on the outside.” – Peter Drucker in The Effective Executive

READ MORE