An Accidental New Radical

Scott Johnson had no grand plan for switching careers. He was sitting in an airport lounge, on a day like any other, when his eyes fell on the smallest news item. "It was something really tiny, I mean, two paragraphs, that talked about MS and myelin repair." But that brief article was enough to launch him on a life-changing journey.

While it began as a personal quest -- diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his twenties, he was interested in finding out more about this particular research -- it soon became a mission. What really got him hooked was when he started talking to people in medical research and realized that the current system wasn't working (if your eyebrows shoot up at this, read on).

In response, he founded the Myelin Repair Foundation, which is both making huge strides in MS research and revolutionizing the way disease research is done. The model MRF has developed has been so successful that, "we're cutting the time to drug discovery in half" and other medical charities -- including the American Cancer Society -- have inquired about their brilliant new approach. (Don't take my word for it -- visit their website to find out more.)

Scott Johnson, 51, is a New Radical. That is, someone who has leveraged his career expertise to take on some of the world's toughest problems. He's part of a movement that is taking place all around us -- you've undoubtedly seen examples of this trend yourself. I've simply connected the dots and given it a name.

The movement was started by the baby boom generation. What is triggering their desire to do good? Unlike Scott, most New Radicals get some kind of wake-up call -- such as a growing sense of their own mortality, job loss, illness, or divorce. Call it a midlife crisis; new research shows that a decline in satisfaction really does happen in our 40s. As Shannon Proudfoot (CanWest News Service) writes, "Researchers examined the life satisfaction of two million people in 72 countries through several decades and found that happiness universally dips when people hit midlife." (Just imagine the world-changing impact of millions of boomers responding to this unhappiness not by buying red sports cars but by becoming New Radicals!)

Yet all of this doesn't explain what inspired the rest of the movement. I know hundreds of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s who have become New Radicals. And then there are the Next New Radicals -- men and women in their 20s and 30s who are very clear that they want a career that is about doing good from the get go.

In the coming months, I'll write about the themes I explore in my book -- the paths New Radicals follow as they transform what they do for a living -- and will tell new stories with each post to help show that people of all ages, in each field, every sector, and around the world are becoming New Radicals. I hope to inspire you to find your own path of positive service.

Comments

[Izabella]

Julia,
I love this new series. I really believe that we are living in extraordinary times in this regard, as more and more people are seeking to bring meaning to their work and generally to integrate who they are with what they do in a meaningful and authentic way.
In some ways, I actually think that the 20-something generation is leading the way. The boomers wake up as a result of the realization of their mortality, a traumatic event, etc. But the 20-somethings - many of them don't even want to bother getting involved with the traditional way of earning a living or building a career.
My favorite story that's been hitting the news lately is of Sean Aiken, who, I believe, is 26 and is spending a year trying to land 52 jobs in 52 weeks. His slogan is "seeking a passion, not just a career." My sense is that a lot of people sympathize with his mission. His website is www.oneweekjob.com if you'd like to check it out. (I'm not affiliated with him in any way, though I did write about him on my own blog.)
Anyway, again, thanks for taking up this topic, and I look forward to further posts in this series.
Best,
Izabella

[sheila]

i am one of these although was not dissatisfied with my life. i bought a tiny wilderness retreat and within a week, learned that the stampede towards "renewable energy" had been hijacked by utility profiteers, and is on track to totally, completely, and permanently kill virtually all the wilderness in the southwest US to build very remote, enormous Utility-Scale "renewable" electrical power generation and enormous power towers to transmit.

one might shrug and count on Sierra Club, NRDC, the Green Governor or others to stop this obviously INSANE process, but nope, they are all cheerleading the killing fields, and downplaying energy independence for US, the people who own and cherish that wilderness (mostly BLM land), who have fantastic power-plants-in-waiting on our rooftops, who are sick of price manipulations and blackouts, and who desperately need the enormous subsidies currently being handed to utilities (thanks lobbyists!) to be handed, instead, to us, so we can install the panels and we can all win.

exposing, then stopping this stampede to kill all our wilderness and then greenwash it (socializing the costs, while privatizing the profits), has become a consuming passion for me, beginning with defeating the disingenuous "clean and solar energy initiative" currently gathering signatures in CA, which would be the absolute death rattle for beloved open spaces and those species rightfully inhabiting them in the Joshua Tree area.

anyone who has ever appreciated Joshua Tree or any other wilderness in CA should act swiftly to object to killing even ONE SQUARE INCH of nature until every rooftop in this state is COVERED in PV panels. PV, as it exists now and will exist in the coming years, as well as aggressive conservation which does not sacrifice quality of life is a total solution to CA's energy needs. we are up against the energy lobby, one of the strongest in the nation (world), and every politician is in their pocket, so we need to make sure their dirty deeds will be exposed as being just as deadly to the planet as a bunch of new coal plants. please help!