Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have an entrepreneurial mindset and decades’ long marketing career helping business owners, executives, and C-suite leaders uncover market driven opportunities that lead to great outcomes.
I knew that the “silver tsunami” of retiring Baby Boomers meant that millions are asking some tough questions: What do I do after I retire? How can I prepare my business for a successful hand-off? Can I reinvent my career?
Drawing on my unique understanding of the Boomer generation and their drive to do retirement differently, I authored Recalibrate for Life 2.0, Transition Stories for Business Leaders. You’ll find conversations with fourteen executives, C-level corporate leaders, and business owners who offer straight-forward insights, ideas and strategies they used to carve out a path to a new career and a new life—a Life 2.0.
Recalibrate for Life 2.0 also offers a summary of key takeaways and questions to ask yourself as you develop your own plan for life.
I also created the Transition Navigation System, a powerful, streamlined process to help exiting leaders create a plan, both for the businesses they are leaving and the new lives they hope to create for themselves.
My 30-plus year career in marketing and management consulting brings together my hallmark curiosity about how things work and my savvy on human behavior. I leverage insights, ideas, and strategies for helping others to create an exciting future for themselves and their businesses.
By offering an innovative system for engineering a successful transition, I am helping clients all over the world recalibrate for success.
My first book is Recalibrate: A Strategic Guide to Accelerated Growth. It shows you a roadmap for the when and how of re-strategizing for greater success. You’ll learn the four tenets of effective recalibration – relevance, engagement, differentiation, and expression – and how to make them work for you.
I live and work in Kansas City where I consult on business strategies, coach C-suite executives, and write about the dynamic trends in business growth and leadership transitions.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Recalibrate for Life 2.0, Transition Stories for Business Leaders
I discovered that I was not alone in learning how to navigate a transition from a 24/7 role of Employer and Rainmaker for my business and that other very successful business leaders were stymied by the idea of Life 2.0.
The idea simply would not go away. The investigative research is something I love and excel in. Drawing out the insights and providing a roadmap is the basis of what I have been doing for years. Being able to apply this interest in a different way was intriguing.
When I returned to Kansas City from a four year time period on the east coast (I had merged my small consulting firm focused on brand performance with a large traditional organization focused on market research and market strategy), I became acutely aware of how many successful executives were preparing to exit and were unclear of the path they should take.
Moving from running my own business to becoming a partner in a larger business where the other 3 partners had worked together for than 30 years was a challenge. I was also working 80+hours a week, traveling every week to the corporate office or around the globe on the behalf of clients. While the work was satisfying from the perspective of helping move the organization to its global strategic standing and having a meaningful impact for clients, I was burning out and wanted time to pursue my own interests again.
I was not ready to leave the business world altogether and thus started Recalibrate Strategies helping organizations focus on profitable growth through insights, ideas and strategies.
Reconnecting with my former clients and industry colleagues as well as business peers in the Kansas City community, I discovered I was once again ahead of the curve of the Baby Boomers retiring each day.
Through rounds of coffee, lunch, coffee, I discovered that many very successful executives and business owners were unclear about how to exit and what to do. Many of these people were so tied to the identity of the corporations they ran, that having their own brand, value proposition and exit plan was not something clearly considered. Further, being in the position of leadership suggested that they should have a grand vision that would be immediately successful rather than having the opportunity to assess and explore possibilities whether they were business endeavors, traveling the world, or giving time and expertise back to the community.
A business colleague (and collaborator on this book) suggested I bring together a group of executives and hold a beta workshop to explore the rational and emotional underpinnings to exiting a career and to begin the discovery process of how to move forward.
What everyone who participated in the workshop enjoyed was the realization that it was a journey for each person and they were not alone. It was a great benefit to hear the frustrations and the enthusiasm for new adventures from others, gleaning ideas for themselves.
This group of executives encouraged me to gather the stories and share insights, ideas and strategies for a successful exit and develop a curriculum that others might use to build their exit plan and enjoy this incredible time period of life.
First, I looked for books on the topic and found numerous books on financial planning for retirement and on redefining your purpose – great topics but not tackling what executive leaders face as they leave the intense pressures, great perks and adulation and respect from others.
As with all my work, my exit plan process starts with assessment. In this case it is taking a moment to capture your mindset, your talents and your interests; setting aside what you want to avoid in the future; defining what uniqueness you want to leverage and share with others in whatever capacity that might be. Then it is building a plan with an overarching goal in mind, alternative strategies that you want to explore and milestones that keep you on track. It isn’t rocket science other than the revelation that a mini plan will provide you a sense of purpose and direction(s) to pursue.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I dedicate big blocks of time to do the research needed, translate the research into insights, identifying the outcome that I want and then writing. I typically set a day a week to devote to the book.
What are you working on now?
Learning to market the book and the related tools and services.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it. And, while you are doing it treat it like a business and learn what is involved in marketing the book and decide what aspects of that you want to pursue.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Start with the end in mind.
What are you reading now?
I am relaxing with fiction. Mystery and suspense.
What’s next for you as a writer?
It would be fun to take Life 2.0 and extend it to other target groups such as retiring sports professionals, retiring military or retiring farmers.
Author Websites and Profiles
Susan Spaulding Website
Susan Spaulding’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile