How to navigate a career reset after 50

May 13
4 min read

Listen:

The Oprah Podcast: How to Navigate Life's Big Transitions with Bestselling Author Jim Collins

If you’ve been thinking:

“I was good at my old career and enjoyed it, but I'm starting to wonder if I was ever really wired for it. Now that it's over (or that I'm ready to close this chapter and make space for something more aligned), is it ok to contemplate something else? I wouldn't know how to start... I have no idea what I'm actually meant to do next."

Why this episode is worth your time:

It gives you language for what you're moving through. Collins names the two phases almost every woman in a career reset experiences: the cliff (the moment one chapter closes) and the fog (the in-between space before the next one begins).
It reframes the question. Instead of asking "what am I good at," Collins asks what are you encoded for, meaning the natural capacities you were born wired for, which are distinct from the skills you built to succeed at work.
It names a pattern many of us recognize from inside a long corporate career: the competence doom loop, where you stay in well-paid work you're excellent at, even when something quieter underneath is asking for a different kind of fit.
It pushes back firmly on the idea that your best work is behind you. Collins's research suggests many people don't discover their true code until their 40s, 50s, or 60s.

By the end of this episode:

You will have a clearer vocabulary for the chapter you're in, and a more grounded, less rushed way of thinking about what comes after a career transition. You'll also have permission to slow down inside the fog instead of sprinting out of it.

So you can move forward:

Stop assuming the next move has to look like the last one, and start asking the more interesting question. What am I actually wired to do in this next chapter, and what would it look like to be in frame with it? If you're ready to start exploring that question with real tools, Becoming You by Suzy Welch is an excellent next step.

Anchor quote:

"Nobody gets through life without a cliff. Nobody. The question is what you do when you're there."

Jim Collins

Swan Chapter note: Cliffs, Fog and The Competence Doom Loop

This is one of the most important conversations I've come across for women 50+ in a reset, and I'll tell you why. Collins gives names to things most of us feel but can't quite articulate.

A cliff, in his words, is a fundamental, irreversible change. It's the moment you wake up to the fact that one phase of your life has come to an end. A layoff. A restructure. A marriage ending. An empty nest. A health diagnosis. The loss of a parent. A career you can no longer do, or no longer want to. Cliffs aren't only the hard ones either. Sometimes a cliff arrives because something inside you has quietly outgrown the version of life you were living. That recognition, whether it shows up as loss or as longing, is the seed of every meaningful next chapter.

The fog is what comes next. The not-knowing. The pause between who you were and who you're becoming. Oprah described her own fog after ending The Oprah Show and admitted she made it harder by rushing into new ventures before she'd given herself time to process the ending. Many of us do the same thing after a career transition. We sprint to send out resumes, take the first offer, recreate the old life as fast as possible. Collins argues for the opposite. The fog is not a flaw, it's a phase, and you move through it with small, deliberate steps rather than big leaps.

He also talks about the fog of retirement, which I think applies just as much to anyone leaving a long career, whether by choice or by circumstance. When the structure, identity, and rhythm of decades of work shift overnight, the fog can last a while. That is not a personal failing. That is simply the terrain of a real transition.

Encoding is his word for the innate capacities you were born wired for, your natural code. In frame is what it feels like when you're aligned with that code. Skills are built through effort. Encodings feel like a fit. Many of us spent two or three decades building serious skill in work the market rewarded, and that work was real, valuable, and often deeply enjoyable. The reset is simply the first real opportunity to ask a different question: now that I have the experience, the perspective, and a clearer view of myself, what am I actually encoded for next?

And then there's the competence doom loop, and this one is very Swan Chapter. It's the pattern of being well-paid to do something you're excellent at but not necessarily called to do. The money is real. The responsibilities are real. So you stay, and the better you get at the work, the harder it becomes to step away and explore something else. There's nothing wrong with the work itself. It's a loop most high-performing women recognize the moment they hear it named. A reset, even an unexpected one, is one of the few moments life hands you the chance to step outside the loop and look at it from the outside.

Finally, and this is the part to underline, Collins is clear that many people don't discover their encoding until later in life. Toni Morrison started writing in her 40s. Collins's own research consistently shows people finding their truest, most aligned work in their 60s and beyond. If you've been told the runway is short, this conversation will quietly reset that assumption.

One more thing: a blog series is coming

After listening to this interview, I bought the book. There's so much in What to Make of a Life that speaks directly to the woman I'm building The Swan Chapter for, and I want to do it justice. Starting next month, I'll be launching a blog series in my Training Series section dedicated to this book, breaking down each of the big ideas (cliffs, fog, encoding, in frame, the competence doom loop, and finding your code later in life) and translating them into something practical for women 50+ in a reset. If this episode lands for you, I'd love for you to follow along.