Fellow Gen Xers: That retirement crisis you’re losing sleep over is a ‘rewirement’ opportunity

And is anyone else skeptical about the whole concept of, you know, putting yourself out to pasture?

But Gen X is nothing if not adaptable. We’re the famously feral latchkey kids who were left to our own devices after school; we made the shift from analog to digital with competence; and we are known for our pragmatism, creativity, and hard work with minimal complaint. So perhaps we can apply that self-driven spirit to forging a new mindset for our next era of work. It’s time to pull our heads out of our laptops and for a moment consider rewiring our future instead of retiring from work entirely.

Rewirement vs. retirement

Rewirement can be whatever you want it to be. It’s rethinking how your skills and values fit together to create a life for your style that’s based on what (and whom) you truly care about. Imagine working with those who share a common purpose, or making progress in an arena that matters deeply to you. Or perhaps it’s applying your skills in a way that changes how much, when, or where you work.

It’s been two years since I retired as an operating unit CEO after a wonderful 32 years at AT&T. Once a shy, introverted engineer, my trajectory led me to become the first woman of color to earn a chief executive title at the company that was once known as Ma Bell. During those years, I started a family, had two great kids, and embarked on a fulfilling career path that took me from the East Coast to Texas with responsibilities spanning the globe.

Since leaving corporate life, I’ve had to evolve my identity and reinvent my purpose. I knew I was too young to retire, so instead I decided to rewire—a process that involved completely reimagining my life’s next chapter.

As an engineer, I know that the word retired is used to describe a device or service that’s no longer supported and is headed for the one-way exit. Rewiring, on the other hand, is something I can get excited about. Mechanical or technical solutions to a problem don’t always involve building something new. They are found by taking apart what already exists, fortifying the foundation, and reframing it for a new, stronger, often better purpose.

It became a simple choice for me: Rewiring my brain—my incentive/reward reflexes, my go-big-or-go-home ethos, my instincts about where my expertise could be impactful—would help me imagine a bold new stage of my life.

Prior to this career change, I made most decisions on the basis of critical needs, such as providing for my family. Now, in what may be the capstone of my work life, I have the opportunity to focus on what I can offer based on what I want to do. What bubbled to the surface for me was engaging in business transformation, but, even more strategically, developing global next-generation leaders across industries, and having a broader reach in areas that matter to me, like inclusion.

So how is my rewirement going? My book, Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion, is being published in September. I write columns for national publications, and I’m a board director at three impactful publicly-traded firms. I get to speak at various companies and organizations while also teaching at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Retired and bored I am definitely not!

In fact, I think I’m likely on the front edge of a trend.

Let’s put my experience in context. Pew research finds that 19% of adults 65-plus are employed today vs. 11% in 1987. That’s because Americans are healthier, and pensions with a set retirement age have largely been phased out (ahead of Gen X’s entry into the workforce) and replaced by 401(k)s that allow people to save (or not!) in their own time.

For many of us, retirement will necessarily be delayed if we haven’t saved enough, so making work sustainable into these extra innings is an important consideration—less a choice of whether rewirement will be needed then of when and how.

The need for social connection

The truth is, traditional retirement doesn’t always look that appealing. American Gen Xers grew up watching older relatives and neighbors move through the prototypical career stages: Work full speed, scrimp and save, retire at 65, and then never work again. We’ve seen some retired folks head into happy golden years, and others transition into cranky irrelevance, divorce, and decline. And this after losing the best years of life to the grind.

The world has changed since we were kids in the ’70s and ’80s. Working later in life is more available, and our life and health spans are expanding. Working in a grind-job until we drop? No, thank you. But we often do want to continue to have an impact. And, let’s face it, if we haven’t saved enough, we will need to stay in the game, like it or not.

As one of the early Gen Xers to pull off a rewirement, I can tell you the payoff can be immense. Moving into work that matters can create tremendous benefits, especially for our health and fulfillment.

I believe a lot of it comes down to connection.

Blue Zones author Dan Buettner studied why people in certain locations—Japan’s Okinawa, Sardinia in Italy, Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula, Ikaria in Greece, and Loma Linda in California—live longer, more fulfilled lives. He discovered that improved social connection and sense of community may be the closest thing to a fountain of youth.

Maintaining connections is perhaps more critical to longevity than endless rounds of golf or around-the-world cruises. Perhaps we shouldn’t ask when we will retire, but how we can evolve our professional identities to have an impact, enhance our connections, and maintain a purpose.

There are any number of reasons that might prompt someone to consider rewirement. You might no longer agree with the direction and values of your employer. Maybe you work in a field that differs greatly from your passion. Maybe you want to expand your influence in a particular sub-area that’s important to you; or maybe you want a complete change. You might want work that’s less driven by quarterly earnings. You might need an antidote for career burnout, or just take back control over your schedule.

Whatever the reason, before rewirement, you likely have built a skills platform that can act as the springboard for your next chapter. Ask yourself questions like: How/where can I use my power for good? How/where can my unique skills and perspectives make a difference? Who are my people, and how can I embed myself with them?

Coping with identity issues

Rewirement has its challenges. It requires a fundamental shift in your identity because for many of us, our sense of self is deeply intertwined with position and title. I like to joke that leaders accustomed to being treated as a VIP need to become comfortable being a PIP (previously important person) in transition to their rewirement, where they become a purposefully impactful person.

There are remarkable improvements that can be generated from living in rewirement.

Consider this: Women live almost six years longer than men, with “deaths of despair” being a large reason for the variance. As Bronnie Ware wrote in The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, no one wishes on their deathbed that they worked more. They do regret not having the courage to live authentically, working too hard, not having expressed feelings, not maintaining contact with friends, and not making room for more joy.

Finally, experience has taught me that rewirement demands self-examination and opening yourself to serendipity. When I left corporate America, I adopted a policy of taking every first call. It costs you nothing but a couple minutes of your time to open the door to the unexpected.

Remember, you have earned the right through years of hard work to choose your next path so your life becomes less transactional, more meaningful, and ultimately happier. What’s your next chapter going to be called? Mine? Rewirement: A Personal Renaissance.

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