Hi Jane. Great idea.

Take a look at the attached that I wrote for pour local rag and if it seems that I might fill a niche in your story please feel free to contact me at 202-546-5628.

 My Own Boomer in Transition Story
I was born in 1946 so I share the distinction
of being among the oldest Boomers. I have
a wonderful wife Marilu, who makes spectacular
beaded necklaces and two dogs that make me a
fi xture at Congressional Cemetery. I have lived
on the Hill and gone to St. Marks Church for almost
30 years and I am seeing a lot of gray hair
in the mirror these days.
I have been interested in Boomers as a group
since I realized we could shake up our parents
by all deciding to wear our hair long like the
Beatles. Now I work as an executive coach to
help Boomers fi nd their place in retirement or
to fi nd a better job if they just don’t fi t where
they are.
I have been a transition junkie since I ended
up in Tangiers, Morocco three weeks after I
was born in Chicago. As a Foreign Service brat I
moved from place to place and changed schools
often. Some transitions were hilarious – I remember
returning from 3rd and 4th grades at
my tiny English boarding school to tell my classmates
at Alice Deal Junior High School about
American history from King George’s perspective.
They were astonished to think that the disaster
at Yorktown was a point of view. Some transitions
were painful. All were instructive.
After college in the Midwest and stints at
the divinity and business schools at Harvard, I
came to Washington to work for Cap Weinberger
when he was running HEW. After 12 years as a
Fed and as a newly certifi ed candidate for the
Senior Executive Service, I moved to the White
House to become the Deputy Director of The
President’s Commission on Executive Exchange.
My job was to fi nd one-year assignments in the
private sector for Senior Federal Executives as a
counterpart to senior private sector people who
came to serve as Special Assistants to the Cabinet
Secretaries. I loved career counseling and
helping the senior Feds identify work that was
both useful to their future federal career and
personally satisfying.
In my next incarnation I spent 20 years as a
non-profi t senior executive for The National AIDS
Fund, the Washington National Cathedral, The
Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and Experience
Corps. Experience Corps creates community
service opportunities for boomers in retirement.
That started me thinking even more deeply about
what I wanted to do next.
I mulled over each of my own professional
transitions and how they had forced me to ask
myself what I really wanted to do. I remembered
well how disorienting it was to change professional
identities. One day I was a titled “somebody”
and the next I was confused, anxious and
beginning the hard work of recreating a new and
meaningful place in the world. After much soul
searching by myself and with Marilu, I decided
to turn pro.
I began by interviewing some of the best executive
career coaches in the world asking for
advice about my next steps. They all said three
things: read extensively, go to an accredited
coach training program, and get a mentor coach
for yourself. I followed their advice and after an
intensive course at Coach University I created my
company “Smooth Transitions – providing clarity,
confi dence and concrete tools for executives in
transition.” As I tell my clients who want to hang
out their own shingle, I am now the VP of Everything,
which means fi xing my own computer
– very scary – and Kinko’s is my back offi ce.
During this amazing period of transition into
the work I love, I have learned three things:
• that I can manage the unease of living
without a steady paycheck with a little belt
tightening and an eye for deals,
• that I love the sense of personal freedom
because my time is my own for the fi rst time
in 40 years, and
• that I value and respect my wonderful clients
and I am grateful for the opportunity to share
the important and intimate issues of their
lives. ■

Baby Boomers: What’s Next? Boomers5i0n+Transition

By Peter Sherer The next 16 years will see baby
boomers reinvent “retirement,”
but there is no roadmap. Boomers
are inventing what to do after their
fi rst career as they go along. No new
news here. Boomers have rewritten
the rules for every stage of life
since elementary schools exploded
with this Howdy Doody lunch box
crowd.
Most boomers are uncertain
about what they are going to do after
completing full-time work. As an
executive coach specializing in transitions
for those over 50, I know that
boomers are starving for intelligent
and supportive information about
the choices for this next phase of life.
Th ey want to discover who they are
now and how to identify and match
their personal preferences with the
needs of private, public or non-profit
sector organizations. Th e old joke
about “I don’t know what I want to
be when I grow up” takes on real urgency
as boomers start to consider
their options after they have met
the child rearing and career building
goals of earlier middle age.
Th is article is the fi rst of a monthly
series called “50+ – Boomers in
Transition.” It will focus on how
boomers are coping with this major
transition in life. Future topics might
be “Emerging boomer business opportunities,”
“How the marketing
people see boomers,” and “Capitol
Hill Boomers – What are they up to
now?” to name just a few. Th ere will
also be a section called “Ask Peter”
where I will answer readers’ questions
about the best resources on
transition, part-time work opportunities,
fi nding a great nonprofi t slot
and how boomer couples can handle
issues like “he wants to read at the
beach full-time and she wants to
join the Peace Corps.”
I won’t always be this earnest but
I will do my best to bring you the
absolutely latest thinking and action
from the boomer “retirement” front.
What Now?
When was the last time you heard
a 50ish friend say, “I am really looking
forward to playing shuffl eboard
for 30 years?”
Cher, Bill Clinton, Susan Sarandon,
Prince Charles, Linda Rondstat,
Carlos Santana, Twiggy, Al
Gore, David Bowie, Candace Bergen,
Ozzy Osbourne, Laura Bush
and Jimmy Buff ett are all trying to
fi gure out what it means to be 60,
just like many of us on the Hill.
Th e buzz out there is that boomers
are going to play golf full-time,
suck down huge gulps of government
benefi ts and create permanent
debtors out of the next two generations.
I don’t think so.
Th e opportunity for the aging
boomer generation (people born between
1946 and 1964) has been consistently
under reported. Let’s look
at the big picture.
The Big Picture
Th e chart on page 130 shows the
current composition of the American
workforce as a whole, and surprisingly,
with a very few exceptions, it
represents the age distribution withby
Peter Sherer
Reprinted from the Hill Rag, October, 2007, page 118.
4,500 –
4,300 –
4,100 –
3,900 –
3,700 –
3,500 –
3,300 –
3,100 –
2,900 –
2,700 –
2,500 –
Number of Births, in Thousands
1946
COMPOSITION OF THE WORK FORCE
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1987
1989
1991
1993
in almost every corporation, government agency and non-profi t.
Th e red bars are boomers, blue bars represent the Generation X
crowd (people born between 1965 and 1985) and the yellow bars
are the Generation Y group (people born since 1985).
Th e bottom axis shows every year from 1946, the beginning of
the Baby Boom, through 1995 which is the year the youngest current
Gen Y workers were born. Th e left hand axis shows how many
people were born in each year.
Th e most important idea here is that as the boomers retire, the
Gen Xers just behind them will be too young and too few in number
to fi ll all the empty chairs. By 2010 the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics estimates that about 10 million jobs nationally will be unfi
lled every year. Th at means boomer experience will be extremely
welcome in every workplace.
In addition, the Gen Xers are now between 23 and 43 years old.
As boomers move on from full-time jobs over the next ten years,
the oldest Gen Xers will only be in their mid fi fties while most will
still be in their mid to late thirties. Th ey may be talented, but they
won’t have the same hard won experience or wisdom, which means
if they are smart, they will value having boomer colleagues.

There’s a Revolution Going On: Other Boomer Factoids
• Longevity has increased 30 years in the last nine decades. A girl
born in the U.S. today has a 50/50 chance of living to 100 years
old.
• Boomers make up 28% of the general population but a whopping
46% of the Washington DC area.
• Most say that they want to work part-time at something they
love until their mid-70s. Th e tax dollars they send to the Treasury
will certainly put a big dent in the Social Security funding problem.
• Free Agent Nation – Have Brain
Will Travel – 11 million boomers will
choose to freelance and start their own
companies.
• Baby boomers own most of America’s
total fi nancial assets, and they will
only get richer as a group. An estimated
$10 trillion will be passed on to them
by their parents.
• Whole new industries will be created
to support the boomers. One
example is that FDA has approved a
computer game for boomers designed
to ward off Alzheimer’s. Can cool nursing
homes be far behind?
• Th e number of Americans aged 65
and older will double more than three
times between 2010 and 2030. By that
time, every state will look like Florida
does now with 26% of its population
over 65.
So what does all this mean about life after your fi rst career?
Beyond your First Career: Top Ten Secrets
Secret # 1 – It’s about what you want
Give yourself permission to change your thinking from what you
must do to what you want to do. Th is new focus may take some
practice because boomers will need to learn how to move from a life
of obligation to a life based on preference.
Secret # 2 – Drive on the Right Side of the Road
We all have values and beliefs that motivate us to perform at our
best. Do you want to lead activities or serve as a group member?
are you are motivated toward life long learning? to pursue power?
prestige? or mentoring among others? Understanding your very basic
drivers can help you choose activities and roles that are richly
satisfying.
Secret # 3 – Possibilities Unlimited
Remember those 10 million unfi lled jobs in 2010? How about
working in the non-profi t sector as a paid staff person or a volunteer,
or consulting with a company, or starting your own business?
Do you want a second career or a part-time job?
Secret # 4 – Believe in the Ideal
Take the time to create your personal vision of an ideal job. Th ink
about subject matter – world peace or an animal shelter? type and
size of organization, your role, your duties, the characteristics of
your supervisor, type and amount of compensation, and hours of
work. How about if you only work Tuesday, Wednesday and Th ursdays
with the summer off ?
Secret # 5 – Getting the Straight Scoop
Many people do not realize that they can ask experts in their
fi eld of interest for information and advice. Almost anyone will see
you for 30 minutes to give you the scoop if you have been referred
by someone they know and like.
Secret # 6 – Get Very Clear about your Priorities?
How much time do you want to work? How much time for travel
and family? How much for volunteering and continuing education?
With 20-25 active years still ahead, the challenge is to plan for at
least three more phases of life. Th e message is that you can have it
all, just not all at once.
Secret # 7 – You are a Star
It is remarkable how unduly modest people are as they try to describe
their accomplishments. Give yourself a break by remembering
the projects you worked on that still bring a smile to your face.
Remind yourself of what it was like when you started, what you did,
and then what happened as a result. It’s impressive!
Secret # 8 – From the Lobby to the Top Floor
An eff ective “elevator speech” is a short answer to the question
“what are you interested in doing now?” Since you won’t have much
time to capture the interest of the listener, work out your answer to
fi t in a minute or two — the length of an elevator ride. Done well,
an elevator speech will invite the listener to get excited about your
vision and share the relevant people in their network with you.
Secret # 9 – Don’t Get Stuck in Neutral
Th e guru of transition, William Bridges, has written a number of
extremely helpful books on this topic. He says that there are three
distinct phases in any transition – an ending of the old way, the neutral
zone, and a new beginning. As you wind down from your fi rst
career, you may not be in touch with exactly what you want to do
next, but you are sure it may be somewhere or something diff erent.
As time passes, you fi nd that you are neither fully engaged in your
old life nor actively involved in your new life. In fact when you enter
this neutral zone, your are between identities. Th e neutral zone can
be crazy making for all of us, but stick with it. A new vision will
come to you and you will begin again.
Secret # 10 – Listen to Warriors
Warriors are people who have made successful transitions after
their fi rst or second full-time careers. Th ey are usually very generous
about explaining the process they went through. Ask them for
practical tips on how they found a meaningful assignment and how
they made it through the psychological transition to creating their
new life.

Peter Sherer is an Executive Coach, Founder and CEO of Experience Matters.
He can be reached at 202-210-5587, peter@expmatters.com

www.expmatters.com