Aging Is a Power Move: Five Lessons From a Woman Who Refused to Disappear
Five career lessons from an 80-year-old woman who reinvented herself across five decades of change.
At 80, I Never Imagined I Would Join an “Influential Women’s Network”
Honestly, when I first looked around the website, I wondered if someone had made a mistake. Most of the women were younger—building careers, launching businesses, climbing ladders, creating brands, and networking their way to success.
And then there was me.
White hair. Eight decades of life experience. A two-time cancer survivor. An author. A nonprofit advocate. A former corporate executive. A serial reinvention artist. Chief Purpose Officer of My Future Purpose. A $100,000 Purpose Prize winner from Encore.org.
So I asked myself: What exactly do I bring to the table?
The answer came quickly.
Perspective. Resilience. Reinvention. Wisdom earned the hard way.
I may not be the youngest member, but I have survived and adapted through five decades of dramatic workplace, cultural, and technological change. I have worked in nonprofits, corporations, media, entrepreneurship, and social impact. I have succeeded, failed, reinvented myself repeatedly, and learned lessons no textbook can teach.
Here are five career and life lessons from an 80-year-old woman of influence.
Lesson #1: Never Allow Yourself to Be “Inherited”
In the 1970s, I was a pioneering career woman working at the Credit Union National Association. It was a male-dominated organization serving 23,000 credit unions and 23 million members. I not only survived there—I thrived.
Our young, visionary president built an ambitious team and empowered us to think creatively, take risks, and make mistakes. I was chosen to lead marketing and advertising. Together, we transformed a sleepy trade association into an organization making national headlines.
Then leadership changed.
The president was fired, and suddenly I went from being “chosen” to being “inherited.” The energy shifted immediately.
That experience taught me one of the most important lessons of my career:
If you work in marketing, advertising, communications, or PR and are no longer “chosen” during a management transition, it may be time to quietly update your résumé.
New leadership often wants its own people, vision, and trusted team. Learn to recognize when the ground beneath you is changing.
Lesson #2: Learn to Swim in Bigger Oceans
I left Wisconsin and joined the ABC Television Network. In Madison, I had been a big fish in a small pond. At ABC Chicago, I became a minnow in an ocean.
The pressure was intense. Weekly sales goals. Fierce competition. Big personalities.
I remember a meeting where executives discussed whether cable television posed a threat to network TV. One executive confidently declared:
“Cable will be nothing more than a pimple on the ass of progress.”
We all know how that prediction turned out.
Another lesson: never assume today’s disruptor is insignificant. Stay curious. Stay flexible. Trends become transformations faster than people realize.
Eventually, I moved to ABC New York, where the ocean became even deeper. I proposed that ABC participate in an automotive conference targeting women ages 18–49. My boss responded:
“We hired you to perform a function, not to change the systems.”
That was another education.
Sometimes organizations reward innovation. Sometimes they punish it.
Learn the difference quickly.
Lesson #3: Reinvention Is Survival
Then came the 1980s. Capital Cities acquired ABC, and I became what I jokingly call a “capsized employee.”
My husband and I had just moved to Fairfield County, Connecticut. Suddenly, I was asking myself the terrifying question many people eventually face:
Now what?
The military has a phrase I love:
“Adapt and overcome.”
Nothing lasts forever—not jobs, industries, companies, titles, or identities.
The people who survive are the ones willing to reinvent themselves.
So I became an entrepreneur.
First, I had to learn how to spell the word.
I combined my financial services background with my media experience and built a consulting business helping companies like Merrill Lynch, Prudential Securities, and American Express Financial Advisors understand how to connect with pre-retired and retired women. I also produced and financed the wildly successful Dancin’ Grannies exercise videos.
Reinvention opened doors I never could have predicted.
Lesson #4: Burnout Is Real—Purpose Heals It
As I grew older, many of my clients grew younger. Some were wonderful. Some were exhausting.
I was constantly pitching, constantly selling, constantly chasing business.
I burned out.
So I stepped away and volunteered my skills to help veterans through Purple Heart Homes. I helped bring national attention to the organization through media coverage, including a Time magazine cover story and coverage in The New York Times.
Communities rallied. Volunteers stepped forward. Veterans’ homes became safer and more accessible.
That work earned me the 2013 Purpose Prize.
More importantly, it gave me something success alone never could:
Meaning.
There is a difference between making a living and making a difference.
Lesson #5: Purpose Does Not Retire
At 73, I noticed something interesting.
Everywhere I looked, people were talking about purpose. Companies were replacing mission statements with purpose statements. Individuals were searching for meaning.
I called a friend and said:
“I think there’s a business here.”
Together, we created My Future Purpose with one mission:
“Our purpose is to inspire yours.”
Today, helping people discover what comes next in life is my happy place. We have created workshops, conversations, and tools that help people reconnect with joy, meaning, and possibility.
And now, at 80, I have written a book:
From Woodstock to Wisdom… A Boomer’s Journey to 80.
My final message is simple:
Always have a purpose in what you do.
Purpose changes throughout life.
Careers change.
Titles change.
Bodies change.
The world changes.
But purpose?
Purpose does not retire.
