Right Sizing My Encore Career

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions…….Stephen Covey

After 30 years of public speaking, I am leaving the main stage and focusing my encore career on working with small study groups.  I am deeply grateful for the amazing opportunities I have been offered to present my material from the main stage. It has truly been a once in a lifetime experience, and I proud of my work as a public speaker.  But everything has its moment and then it changes, so I’m moving to the more relaxed and collaborative environment of small study groups.  Simply put, I am moving home.

From a mentoring perspective, small study groups have the look and feel of graduate school courses with a flexible capacity to follow the organic flow of topics and themes.  That’s why I include in all of my small study group sessions a wide variety of books, articles, videos and mind maps along with a road map of where we are going. I am also a big believer in quality handouts and provide collateral materials that enrich and expand small group conversations.

Not surprisingly, the overarching theme of my small group sessions are the two treacherous transitions of the second half of life: The Middle and Last Crossing. Most small study groups I work with have both cohorts in attendance making my material as much about them as it is about their clients or patients.  

After 30 years of teaching this material, I have a larger inventory of topics and themes for small study groups to choose from. In addition, they can create their own agenda.  Either way, there’s never a shortage of topics to talk about in these sessions.

Finally, I have no intentions of recreating the past.  Encore careers mark the final chapter of purpose, direction and engagement we lump into what we call “the work.” In my opinion, this is a linguistic insult. Truth be told, encore careers are not just another version of work. They are a glorious convergence of depth, maturity and creativity, which happens to be the ideal prerequisite for being a mentor.

If you are interested in arranging a mentoring session with me for your small study group, please fill in the form below. Once submitted, I will be in touch with you to see if the opportunity is a good fit for both of us.‘’

Follow up note since this blog was posted from Jean-Luc Bourbon from Lucent Wealth Planning:

Our study group was grateful to hear David Solie’s transformative knowledge and wisdom about aging and communication. We were particularly impressed by the collective stories and lessons David inspired group members to share.  David’s coaching and a small group dynamic sparked many memorable insights.

4 responses to “Right Sizing My Encore Career

  1. Congratulations, David, as you enter this new season. You continue to be a blessing to many, including yours truly. Blessings.

  2. Ahhhhhh weeeee Daveeed )))))

    Here’s and cheers to

    the next stage
    the next piece
    the next poetic ripple

    you bring to our participatory theatre of life !

    Your many roles, especially the recurring one as a hero, you saved me from my own ignorance & inspired compelled and provoked me to

    MAKE MOMENTS
    MASSAGE MOMENTS
    ALLOW MOMENTS

    rather than just get thru them…

    This standingOH is for YOU sir….and your
    fellow evangelist for Seniors Jon Schaeffer,
    who brought me to your work…

  3. How wonderful for you, David. I hope to be right behind you with an Encore career in just a few years. I am so grateful that I heard you speak years ago, as you brought much grace and wisdom into my life.

  4. Thank you Ward…my entry into this new season is both poetic and ironic given that I’ve moved into to a life stage that I studied and wrote about for the last 30 years…While I knew my heart my developmental model of the last phase of wasn’t the whole story (no theory or model of human development is ever the whole story), I knew it played a major role in defining the perspective, behavior and priorities of older adults. You can imagine how relieved i was to find out when I crossed the seventh frontier that I was right. And I can say with full conviction, these were God’s marching order for me and I so grateful to be included in the work to restore dignity, respect and support to older adults…Blessings to you Ward for all do for seniors…David

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