Everyone wants long term success. But it is elusive for most.

Long term success is dependent on knowing where you are now and where you are headed. Then closing the gap. Frequently. Continuously.  Whether it’s your business, your career or your life at home., it’s easy to get off track, lose touch or get buried under. Without a true sense of where you are in the moment, it is impossible to realize your dreams or be a leader in your field.

Re-calibrate your profound knowledge

The only way we can take 100% responsibility for sustaining our success is to keep re-calibrating-in every aspect of our lives and organizations.

Key to successful recalibration is to acquire what my dear departed mentor, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, coined as Profound Knowledge. This umbrella phrase emphasizes understanding change and how to measure it, being aware of emerging trends and shifts, and learning how to apply this knowledge to leading and sustaining long term success.

Bottom line: If we don’t acquire Profound Knowledge we cannot know how to prepare for and leverage coming change, thus how to sustain our success long term.

Understanding change means understanding shifts in our personal world as well as tracking trends that capsize us, overtake us, or cause us to flounder.

Learning the Hard Way

Unfortunately one of my Gen X male clients learned this the hard way. A rising star in his field and recently married, he was planning far a great future for his kids, tons of time for fun and all the trappings of success. As if out of the blue, the rug got pulled out from under him. His “Happy Homemaker” wife fled, saying I’m out of here!

Somewhere along the way there was a breakdown or perhaps many small fissures below the surface. Had they been recalibrating an checking in with each other, communicating the truth of what was so for each of them…perhaps they could have saved their marriage…or at least ended it with love, grace, and forgiveness.

Even in the most secure relationships, unexpected change happens to ruffle our plans. A recently returned to work mother of teenage kids reported that her new career is now going gangbusters and she no longer worries about the empty-nest . But, the new ripple in her life is that her once very successful husband, in his late 40’s, now faces an unknown future. Surprised by the shifts in his industry, “suddenly” he and his business partner are facing the probability of closing their doors. What once appeared to be the sure path to their dreams, is no crumbling beneath them.

Change is inevitable. If you can learn what Profound Knowledge is and apply it you can avoid these same pitfalls and NOT LEARN THE HARD WAY!

What steps are you going to take to future cast your long term success?

I’ve talked before about the ongoing trend of women leaving the corporate world to start their own businesses. This is no surprise considering the glass ceiling is still unbreakable in many companies throughout Corporate America.

Many women, especially women over 50, who have spent their working lives climbing the corporate ladder are faced with the difficult choice between leaving to start their own businesses or staying with their company and striving to be one of the exceptions, perhaps fighting to change the system from the inside, like such notable women as Virginia M. Rometty, IBM’s next chief executive, or Anne Mulcahy at Xerox, Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, Peggy Foran at Pfizer, and Sarah Teslik at Apache Corporation, who led their companies to sign the Aspen Principles, by which companies, investors, and corporate governance professionals agreed to commit to long-term value creation over short-term profits.

The question is, with the Great Recession and the worldwide Occupy protests against corporate greed, fraud, and environmental destruction, will we soon see a shift? Will we collectively force the hand of Corporate America to recognize that transformation begins with visionary leaders who understand how to do good while doing well? Are we on the verge of seeing the collapse of the old corporate culture, and if so, will we also see fragments of that glass ceiling among the debris?

Some would say only time will tell, but that view discounts the power we have to change our own future. Time may tell us what has worked, and what hasn’t, in the past. (For a fascinating and timely look at the past and present of corporations, I highly recommend the film The Corporation). Time may tell us when we are repeating history, and what we can learn from how we have reacted or responded to epochal change in the past—conservative and restrictive, wild and revolutionary, consciously evolutionary, or downright transformative.

But time doesn’t tell us everything. Time doesn’t have a voice. We do. We can’t predict the future, but we can lead the way toward creating alternative futures that transform the world as we know it.

Whether you are a career professional or a new or seasoned entrepreneur, you cannot afford to ignore the opportunity we have right now to step up amid the chaos and lead the way to a greater future—not just for women, but for the world. Protesting is powerful, but it’s not enough. We can’t just decry the problem. We have to step in with solutions.

Now is the time to listen to that visionary voice inside you. No doubt the world chaos has stirred her. The world is literally crying out for creative disruption of the status quo, for new ideas to change business so that it reflects our values, honors our responsibility to each other and to our planet, and capitalizes and strengthens the interconnected global society we have become.

How do you want to see the future of business, big and small? When you envision the ideal marketplace, what do you see specifically? What are you going to do today to start making that vision a reality?

The new reality is that our employees and leaders will be working until we die. A report by the British trends consultancy The Future Laboratory, supports my view that in time more and more employees will want to age in place, but in the workplace. Let’s face the facts. It’s not just Baby Boomers who have another good twenty to thirty years of being productive and adding value; our current 40-somethings have the option of working at least another thirty to forty years more if they choose to do so.

The Future Laboratory’s findings point to a growing trend in which most of us will continue to work into old age; thus, our workplaces will morph into a new form, an Ageless Workplace! Clearly it’s time to retread forced retirement into voluntary “returnment.”

The future of the marketplace (and the world) lies in the rapidly growing values-based business model. People are now spending their money consciously, choosing to buy from companies that are making a difference in the world over those that aren’t. More often than not, these are small, women-led businesses, the emerging new “Boomer Women Mean Business” story. Increasing numbers of these Boomer led enterprises are supported by Ageless Women of all ages.

To delve more into this concept check out my Amazon Bestseller Gray is the New Green.

You will have the opportunity to examine the hottest topic on the minds of leading CSAs and newbies alike.

Join me to kick-start a unique conversation on how to turn what keeps CSAs like you up at night into assets for the Longevity Economy.

Insights gained will become the foundation for developing and implementing effective, innovative – yes, even visionary, new approaches.

Leading GeroFuturist best-selling author, firecracker speaker, game changer, and thought leader on the Longevity Economy, 40+ market, the business of aging, and ageless aging. A world-class trusted advisor, Master Certified Coach and expert authority, Karen boldly advocates for the new story of our age.  Karen guides go-getter entrepreneurs, trailblazers, and visionary leaders to their niche in the global business of aging while evolving their role in response to this new narrative. Karen is an in-demand speaker known for dynamic presentations and a remarkable gift for captivating any audience!

Contact Information: http://www.karensands.com/ | 203-266-1100 | Karen@KarenSands.com| https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensands/

Books:http://www.karensands.com/store/
The Ageless Way
The Ageless Way – A Companion Journal/Workbook
The Greatness Challenge
Gray is the New Green
Visionaries Have Wrinkles
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Journal
Visionaries Have Wrinkles Reflections Card Deck
Ageless Reinvention (Releasing 2018-2019)
Mastering Reinvention for Midlife & Beyond – (Re-releasing 2018-2019)

In 2017 surveys showed a large majority of Boomers planning to continue working past retirement age, some by necessity and some by design. But now we can see signs of economic recovery with over 50 percent of Boomers born in 1946 saying they are now fully retired.

Does this mean that Boomers are headed for “Retirement as usual”? I highly doubt it. All this means is that necessity is becoming less of a driving force, enabling more and more of us to design the Third and Fourth Age of our lives.

As more and more employers recognize the need to capitalize on their experienced workforce before losing them, we should see an increasing emphasis on flexible work arrangements—part-time work, consulting, and job sharing, just to name a few. This in turn will provide more visible options for Boomers to consider beyond the false dichotomy of retiring or not retiring.

Forward-thinking companies have already begun this shift, but far too many are not looking past their own noses and preparing now for the coming wave of Boomers making pivotal choices about how to design their lives. For many businesses, the planning for a changing workforce won’t happen until the sheer numbers of Boomers on the precipice of leaving reach a critical mass.

This is a huge mistake for these businesses, of course, but this lack of foresight does not have to extend to the rest of us.

We all have the opportunity, no matter our age or stage, to design our futures starting today. You don’t have to wait for your company to provide options for you. Now is the time to develop your own game plan, to think BIG about the next stage of your life, and to then create your own options to make that big vision happen.

This may mean going to your employer and laying out your plans and what you need from them to make those plans happen in ways that are advantageous for both of you. Or this may mean laying out a succession and exit strategy that takes you into your own business, your chance to combine profit and purpose, to make a living and a difference while enjoying more flexibility to work where and when you want.

I suspect that future surveys of Boomers will demonstrate far more variety in working arrangements as well as many more Boomerpreneurs on the horizon. This will be not only a result of economic recovery but also a stimulus toward economic growth and sustainable success for individuals, our nation, and the planet.

Have you figured out What’s Next for you as you head into your Third or Fourth Age?

I want to respond to a query I’m often asked: “Why do you prefer to focus on the forty-plus segment versus solely focusing on fifty-plus, especially Baby Boomers?” My response is much the same as David Wolfe’s on this topic, as he describes the future of the Ageless Market:

“Markets over forty will grow at a far faster clip than markets under forty.”

This changes everything. Marketing and sales become all about serving the Ageless Market, principally Ageless Women.

As you are well aware now, the 50-plus demographic is an unstoppable powerful force for change, which is impacting the United States economy, as well as most other economies, and will for generations to come.

The group of “oldies but goodies” now 50-plus are expected to represent 54 percent of the over-25 population by 2032. With thirty more years now added to expected lifespans, this group is morphing everything in its path as it moves from an elongated productive midlife into a later and later onset of old old age. A briefing paper prepared for AARP by Oxford Economics states that this force of older people in the United States alone is composed of 106 million people responsible for at least $7.1 trillion in annual economic activity—a figure that is expected to reach well over $13.5 trillion in real terms by 2032.

It is important to note that the Longevity Economy isn’t just defined by demographics. This term also applies to the total of all economic activity related to serving the needs of the post-40s in the United States, as well as the products and services this same demographic purchases directly and the continued economics their spending  engenders.

Echoing my own take on the Longevity Economy, the briefing report concludes that this is not a passing phenom- enon. Long after we 40-plussers are past tense, longer and longer life spans will result in continuously occurring large post-40 populations.

I want to share another striking and telling statistic from the briefing paper that nails the import and impact of this new economic trend “The over-50 population controls almost 80% of U.S. aggregate net worth; the average wealth of households headed by people over 50 is almost three times the size of those headed by people aged 25 to 50.”

The Effect of Longevity on Our Future Economy

We know that living longer, healthier lives, coupled with the sheer numbers of the aging Boomer population, presents us all with a financial challenge. How do we make our money last as long as we do?

Sound financial planning is an obvious answer. It’s also an ideal-world answer. In the real world, the aftereffects of the Great Recession, the costs of caring for parents and children, and the denial of the eventual effects of aging on our health are just a few factors that can make financial planning insuf- ficient to secure the future.

For many, the solution is to work past traditional retire- ment age, some by necessity but many others out of a desire to keep working. Individuals and companies are catching on to the idea of flexible working options, particularly those that allow telecommuting, job sharing, and shorter workweeks. These are benefits not just for Boomers but for the younger working generations as well.

Most age-friendly ideas for the workplace (and indeed for our homes and communities) are beneficial to all ages and stages. The sooner organizations and governments recognize this growing customer demand (and the more we emphasize it), the more prosperous and secure we will all be, in the workplace and as a nation.

To read further on The Longevity Economy please check out chapter 2 in my Amazon Bestseller Gray is the New Green.

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.

However, from the vibrating heart of our dissipating structures comes the promise of our true greatness: a greatness of awareness and action that will change the world. From the midst of the evolving Great Transition, we leave the Great Recession and the uplifting Obama era behind us as we enter an unknown, unchartered new cycle of populism and extreme radicalism ripping our valued democratic tenets to shreds and putting each of us on the line.  This Great Shift demands that we each unlock our potential for greatness which lives in each of us, and we are being called to make a difference. That is the premise of The Greatness Challenge, in which I offer a template for embracing and embodying our unique Signature Greatness DNA^SM to unleash our personal and collective greatness.

The Greatness Challenge is a manifesto for the growing wave of us who want to add value in all we do and who are being called to personal and collective evolution—from dentists to doctors, executives to engineers, artists to teachers and visionary leaders and futurists who are looking to redesign their lives so that every moment counts . . . for those of you who seek work that not only fills your bank accounts but your “values” bank as you yearn to do well doing good . . . for leaders who seek a pathway to visionary leadership, so the impact you have is of the greatest benefit for all.

To be one of the first to hear about The Greatness Challenge when it releases join us in the Secret Facebook Group here.

“I want to make every moment count.”

“Life is short.”

“It’s got to matter or why bother?”

One of my clients exclaimed during one of our recent sessions, “Oh my G-d, I just got it… I have less time before me with my wife than we have behind us. We have got to change how we are doing things!”

By the Year 2025, there will be more than 1 billion people age 60 or older. Three quarters of them will be in developing countries. And many of them right here in the United States. By the year 2020, 76 % of Americans will be 50 years or older.  With age comes many challenges but also a heightened appreciation for life and a greater thirst for meaning in work and relationships.

Psychologists Jung, Erickson and Neugarten left us developmental models to track our growth as we move through our life course. Anyone 38 or older is in what Erikson described as the “last two seasons of life.” Since most of, much of our citizenry in developed countries is over 35, this is important in understanding our times and what moves us to action.

Research confirms that accomplished and affluent Americans and Europeans in the post-9/11 and -3/11 era have become more intent on adding value, seeking meaning and significance in their lives and work. Wisdom comes with greater reflection.

Each of us is age-appropriately seeking “significance.” The highest rung on psychologist’s Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is “Self-Actualization.” With our basic needs met, we yearn to reach for more…for transcendence.

Most of our leaders, at the helm of our most powerful corporations and governments are in midlife, in one of these last two seasons. Here lies a monumentally rich possibility: We in these last two seasons can fuel the movement towards meaning, significance as well as both midlife and later life greatness.

We need a new paradigm as well as tools for midlife course correction. Baby Boomers always drive change. Now they drive a shift to lives filled with significance.

With $10 Trillion in assets being passed down to Boomers and 50- plusers, they will hold financial control of the new paradigm. What a wonderful opportunity for the savvy leader and organization to leverage this knowledge! By championing greatness, Vanguard Leaders will trigger transformation and innovation the likes of which we have never seen… and desperately need.

Fostering greatness in our schools, at home and in the workplace, is what will empower us to stay ahead of the curve, to retain our lead as innovator and model democracy.

Our gray hair could be the start of a whole new revolution. What a fantastic opportunity for those at the helm.

Where will you start?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.

By-Pass the System

 Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Muriel Strode

When you look back at your life, will you be able to say that you lived in your groove, working and loving to the fullest degree possible?

Those who lead great lives have learned to bypass the system. That is, they are not afraid to go outside of whatever system they are in to effect change for the good of all. They have one foot in, and one foot out, living inside and outside of the box.

Look at politics, and you will see that Barak Obama worked the system but also worked outside of it to win the election.  He could bring a new visionary approach to campaigning while also playing the game.  He painted inside AND outside of the political lines.

One of my most successful clients is seeing the results that comes from bypassing the system. When he first started coaching with me, he was trying too hard to fit into the corporate culture where he worked.

But in a brief time, we got him on track by looking at what mattered to him and the ways in which his corporation did not support his most profound values—such as high integrity when doing sales. In a few months, he decided to walk his talk and be completely honest with clients, not compromising any of his convictions.

Guess what? His income nearly doubled from 180K to 350K in one year. He still enjoys playing the game, but he has fought for changes in the rules. And he is now seen as a leader and a winner…not a whiner. It’s all about bypassing the status quo, going beyond the rules of the system.

 If you want to live your groove more fully,

take these steps to BYPASS THE SYSTEM:

• Get clear about what you value and what your truth is.
• Compare your beliefs with those of the system in which you are working.
• Evaluate how you currently show up in YOUR way within the system. How can you be even truer to yourself?
• Start taking steps to live your truth and bypass the rules of the game, whenever it’s necessary, so you are bringing your great values and leadership to what you do.

If your organization will not tolerate your way of doing things, it is time to think about how you might bypass that system for good by creating your own business or finding a position with another company in greater harmony with your values.

Email me with the results. Are you creating your greater future today? How is greatness working in your life? What are you doing to make your future rock?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.

Women tend to have the blessing and the curse of being invisible, especially as we approach 50 and beyond. The negative side of being invisible is the world no longer seems to notice or care about us or what we have to say—if they ever did in the first place. We seem to lose our voice because no one is listening. Sometimes, we don’t even use our voice because we don’t believe we’ll be heard, so why bother? Being invisible contributes to the vexing problem of low self-esteem, robbing women of the confidence they need to stand up and make a difference.

But there is a positive side to being invisible, a power to being able to work behind the scenes. One that we can utilize and bend to our will and doing our bidding.  We have the the profound opportunity to influence others to make earth-shattering changes without anyone even realizing we are doing so.

But we know.

Business expert and researcher Jim Collins studied 1,435 top companies and found that only 11 companies managed sustained growth. At the helm of each company was a leader with a clear vision paired with humility, working quietly behind the scenes to shape the organization. This is but one example of the power of invisibility—if we learn to understand, embrace, and leverage it.

This concept is not new. In fact, it’s ancient, found, among other places, in Taoist wisdom. As Lao Tzu wrote of the invisible power of a leader:

“When actions are performed
Without unnecessary speech,
People say “We did it!”

David Straker describes this principle further: “In Tao, a leader is sage and invisible. With touch so light, sensitivity so sharply honed, the leader seems to do nothing special, yet somehow they achieve their goals.” The wisdom is ancient but not prevalent in our patriarchal military-industrial society, in which only visible leaders are valued, and therefore the ego constantly disrupts the natural flow.

The masculine aspect is dominant, in some women as well as in men, making invisibility undesirable and all but impossible.

But women have the opportunity to harness their dominant feminine aspect, to go with the flow, making changes and collaborating with others in ways that go unnoticed by a society so focused on the visible, on the ego. When we fly under the radar of the good old boys’ network, we can make significant, sustainable changes without anyone standing in our way. This is why women must step forward today and act on their power to make a difference—through their votes, their purchases, their leadership, their vision, and yes, their success. Striving for meaningful, sustainable, and profitable success is necessary if we are to have the resources and power to lead significant change.

The challenge is to balance the invisible and the visible, to know when we need to work behind the scenes and when we need to speak up and be heard. We need to learn how to marry our invisible power with our visible, visionary leadership. We need to lead the way toward women being a powerful presence for change without losing the invisibility required to effect that change.

I suggest we start by recognizing the power of invisibility in the first place, and understanding that to be invisible doesn’t mean to be inadequate or without value or voice—just the opposite.

In what ways can you use your invisibility to maneuver and effect change?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.