There's an Encore in All of Us

If I have learned anything from a little over a year of research in this area, it is that the term "senior" is derrogatory, and not to be used any longer to designate people over 50. The Older Adult Ministry at Fullerton Evangelical Free Church has taken on a new name. Parade Magazine recently asked their readers to submit creative names for the senior adult in this modern day and age. Paul Sailhamer, a long time member of the church came up with Encore and submitted it to Parade. It didn't win the contest, but it won over the leadership of the Older Adult Ministry at the church and they are going with it.

I recently read an article online entitled Retirement or Encore? The article was written by Ron Crossland, who is the Vice Chair of Bluepoint Leadership Development. Interestingly enough, he selected this same word, Encore to depict the role that the boomers will play out the later years of their lives. Here is what he has to say:

What are we (boomers) going to do? Well, frankly, I tend to agree with Dychtwald, et.al, concerning their ideas that baby boomers are not going to stop working. They are just going to start changing the nature of how they view work, just like the younger generation is entering and engaging in the workforce with an altered view. O'Hara-Devereaux likes to think of the current age as the "Badlands" (meaning we are in-between the good old days and the glory days to come - seems like a theme I've been living my entire work life). She argues from a tanker sized collection of evidence that this age of confusion will work itself out over the next decade or so. I heard her speak at the HRPS annual meeting in Tucson recently, and I was impressed by her command of data and puzzled by some of her conclusions. Must mean I'm part of that Republik of the Old. But all this confab about what to do and how it will get done stimulated my mind to consider the following question: Am I going to retire before I do an encore? I mean, are you ready to just end your contribution to work, to the world, to your offspring, to society at large by engaging in some 30-year long recess? (Everyone keeps saying boomers are going to live well into their 80s, 90s, and 100s - pick your pundit for the details.)

Encore means "an additional performance in response to audience demand." It means performing one final act or series of acts that let those who have admired your work see that your work is worth admiring. It's often thought of as a command performance. Some artists (aren't you one?) simply repeat one of their favorites - others perform something that was not in the original set. I really prefer the French saying (doesn't this language just have the best phrases for everything) "de l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace," which means "audacity, more audacity, and ever more audacity." An encore of audacity.

That's where I believe a number of us Boomers are going. We are going to boom once again in our third adulthood (right after our second midlife crisis). We are going to work more casually, work in a different industry, work for different purposes, but work we will. Yeah, some of it will be driven by the fact that we can't stop just yet because we are anxious about money. And yeah, some of it will be driven by the fact that our spouses will not be able to tolerate our company 100% of the time. And yeah, it will be driven by the fact that recess is fun, only for a while.

But I believe it will be driven mostly by the fact that we aren't finished making a contribution - that there's an encore in all of us. And boomers, today all the world is your stage, so my advice - "de l'audace, encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace."

Here is the link to the article: http://www.centerpointforleaders.org/newsletters/jun06.pdf