Richard J. Leider - Life Reimagined: Discovering Your New Life Possibilities

Life Reimagined

Richard J. LEIDER
Alan M. WEBBER

Discovering Your New Life Possibilities

Life Reimagined

Copyright 2013 by Richard J. Leider and Alan M. Webber

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Ordering information for print editions

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the Berrett-Koehler address above.

Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com

Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626.

Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ingram Publisher Services, Tel: (800) 509-4887; Fax: (800) 838-1149; E-mail: customer.service@ingrampublisherservices.com; or visit www.ingrampublisherservices.com/ Ordering for details about electronic ordering.

Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, Inc.

First Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-60994-932-7

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60994-953-2

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-60994-954-9

2013-1

Cover designer: Scott A. Davis

Book producer, text designer: Detta Penna

Copyeditor: John Bergez

Proofreader: Katherine Lee

Indexer: Kirsten Kite

The authors of this book have given us a great gift. It is a gift of self-reliance, a gift of confidence, a gift of hope.

First and foremost, this book is personal. This book is about you. It is not a lectureits a conversation. Through the power of storytelling, Richard Leider and Alan Webber take you on a personal journey of fear and aspiration, risk and security, meaning and purpose. Their words and insights are inspiring and energizing. Their tools and techniques are realistic and practical. Their genius is not to help you reinvent your life, but to help you adapt and thrive in a new life phase.

This book is a road map for the new normal of reimagination and new choices that confronts so many people today in midlife and beyond. And you will discover that its message applies to younger adults who find themselves navigating major life transitions in a time of rapid change. Whatever your own phase in life, the road map shows you how to find the inspiration and courage to reimagine your direction, reassess your gifts, and unlock your personal potential. It will help you find whats next and discover your real possibilities as you move toward your best life regardless of age.

I am the Chief Brand Officer of AARP. I am also about to turn 50. I not only relate to the conversation in this book. I live it.

I am also first-generation Americana by-product of the Cuban revolution. By age 16, I was a caregiver to my father, who had cancer. I spent endless nights wondering how I was going to get through the experience and what the meaning of it all was. Shortly after his death, my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers. My caregiving for her did not end until her death. By then, I was 28 years old. My parents never saw me graduate from college or get married; they never saw me become a U.S. Senate press secretary, CEO of a tech company, or senior partner of a global communications company. More important, they never met my son.

Through all those years, I lived a life of constant reimagination, and I instinctively went through all the steps youll discover in this book. I formed my Sounding Board of friends and family to help me navigate, learn, grow, and achieve. In each transition I repacked my bags and started overeach time leaving something behind that was not useful for my next chapter. Learning to live in the present and taking one small step at a time was not a process in a book; it was my existence.

The life transitions kept coming. The economic collapse dealt me great financial stress at a time of profound personal challengea divorce, the death of my brother, and the role of single parenthood. I found myself a focus group of one, living and dealing with many of the same issues as the people I was hired to serve in my role as the chief steward of the AARP brand. The teacher became the studentand the student went to work.

Enter a Life Reimagined moment. One sleepless night, four years ago, I realized that my calling was to help millions of people navigate their personal whats next by developing smart solutions to lifes challenges, a meaningful route to achievement, and the simplest way to understand the new normal. And I had to do all of this while honoring the AARP promise of helping multiple generations live with dignity and purpose.

Thats when I turned to Richard and Alan. They, along with others, went to work to activate a global network of thought leaders and to harvest the rich insights you will find in this book. Im humbled by the commitment and intensity that Richard and Alan have brought to this enormous challenge. They have poured their lives work into the pages that follow. As a result, we now have this modern road map and interactive guidance system for navigating a new life phase.

But as proud as I am of them, Im even more moved by the commitment of A. Barry Rand, the CEO and chief servant of AARP. His leadership has prompted AARP to take an active role in this new conversation of living versus aging and to flex its mighty reach to bring the best thinkers, the latest resources, and the collective power of community to create the Life Reimagined platform. Our hope is that this platform will spark a movement that goes beyond a generation encountering aging to engage people of all ages in asking that fundamental set of questions, Whats next? Whats next for me? Whats next for all of us?

So read this book as a gift to yourself. Play with the diagnostic tools. Chart your course toward your next possible life. Then pass it on to your spouse, your partner, your children, your friendsanyone you think will benefit from a new road map for the new normal. I wish I had had the insights in this book many years ago, when I was a 16-year-old caregiver trying to make sense of the chaos, the pain, or simply the aspiration of achieving my goals.

Its time for new personal solutions and new personal tools. Its time to reimagine your lifes possibilities. Enjoy the journey!

Emilio Pardo
Executive Vice President
and Chief Brand Officer, AARP