The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage between Midlife and Old Age

Marc Freedman, hailed by the New York Times as “the voice of aging baby boomers [seeking] meaningful and sustaining work later in life,” offers a recipe for how we can transform America’s coming midlife crisis into an opportunity for individuals and society.

Shifting to a much longer lifespan isn’t as easy as it may seem. Once, people moved from work to retirement to the afterlife. Today millions of boomers are navigating their way to an entirely new stage of life and work, one that could last as long as midlife. They need to work, but they want work that matters and don’t know how to find it. What’s more, they are thinking as much about “who they’ll be” in the coming stage, as “what they’ll do.”

Unlike the transition from adolescence to adulthood, managing this process for many is a do-it-yourself project. It doesn’t have to be this way. Drawing on powerful personal stories, Shift provides not only direction but a vision of the perspectives, pathways, and policies required to help millions find their way in a new map of life.