E139: Facing a Layoff, Career Exit, or Feeling Like It’s Time for Change? Reinventing Identity, Purpose & Work After 50 - The Inner Edge

Topics in this episode

Executive coaching self-trust Reinvention inner voice eadership

Episode notes

Many accomplished leaders reach a moment where the career that once defined them suddenly falls away - through a layoff, an exit, or a quiet inner knowing that it’s time for something more. What follows can feel disorienting, humbling, and deeply personal. In this episode, Janet Ioli and Jack Calhoun explore what happens when a professional identity dissolves and how to rebuild a meaningful next chapter rooted in wisdom, not ego. Jack Calhoun is a former wealth management partner turned founder of Encore Career Lab. Drawing from lived experience and years of working with career-invested professionals, Jack shares why traditional retirement thinking no longer works and how our later years can become a powerful season of contribution, fulfillment, and reinvention. In this episode: Why leaving a long career can trigger an unexpected identity crisis The difference between fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence How achievement culture shapes our sense of worth from childhood What an encore career really is How to find purpose, structure, and income in your next chapter Why community and connection are essential during reinvention