Leadership development in the second half of life

Lately, I've been thinking about how the development of senior leaders (often in their 40s and 50s) presents a unique opportunity and challenge.

Essentially, it's the question, "What does leadership development look like in the second half of life?"

My experience with much of the development work in organizations (my own included) is that it's rather "first half of life" focused - necessary, but over time insufficient.

Focused on acquiring new skills and mindsets and stepping into more agency and capability - preparing leaders to slay more dragons and climb ever-higher mountains. Important and foundational work, but it primarily speaks to the first part of our journey. Or as James Hollis describes it, embodying our first adulthood.

Development in the second half of life is different. It becomes less about taking heroic action and more about deep purpose, discernment, identity, and legacy.

A comment by Laurence Barrett in one of his excellent LinkedIn Posts captured my attention.

"This journey requires reflection and acceptance as we slowly realize that there is no clear path ahead; there are no signposts to tell us how well we have done and how far we have come. We must become our own authority figures and define our own role boundaries. We alone must decide what success looks like for us. We must replace youthful heroism with quieter and more grounded wisdom. We may even decide to simply return to where we began and just lead a good life. We may no longer want to be king or queen of anything."


I have many questions and few answers - perhaps that’s the point.