Bill Gates Deserves an Encore

At age 52, computer pioneer Bill Gates will leave his day job June 27 as head of Microsoft to work full-time on global health and education issues at his foundation. It won't be retirement, he's said, "It's a reordering of my priorities."

Once again the world's richest man is on the cutting edge of a big change in American life. The vast majority of the nation's 78 million baby boomers plan to work beyond traditional retirement age, and a new survey released today finds that half of all Americans 44 to 70 want to reorder their priorities as Gates has: they are looking for work that combines income with personal meaning and social impact.

With decades of healthy life expectancy that their parents didn't have, boomers have made it clear that they want to use their hard-won skills and experience to stay active, productive and challenged in the second half of life. A 2005 MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures survey found that half of all Americans 50 to 70 wanted work that helps others.

Three years later, we have proof for the first time that it wasn't just talk. This latest survey finds that an unexpectedly large number of people between 44 and 70 have already moved from midlife jobs into "encore careers," working for the greater good.

With few incentives from business or government, between 6.5 and 9 percent of them are doing work society needs done. That's 5.3 to 8.4 million new workers in education, health care, government, other nonprofit groups and businesses that serve a public good.
The best news: Beyond the millions already in encore careers, tens of millions want them, and the youngest boomers show the strongest desire. The implications are enormous. These boomers represent a huge potential resource pool for just the fields that now face major labor shortages.

So what's stopping boomers from making the leap? Six in 10 worry they won't find the right kind of work. Most, particularly younger boomers, cite concerns about income, benefits and flexibility. Some worry they'll have trouble getting used to less status and seniority or about retraining for new skills and technology.

But the survey reports that the majority of those in encore careers haven't encountered these difficulties. Instead, most report that they find their jobs satisfying and know they are making a difference. Most say they have the income and benefits they need. And, while most in encore careers work full-time, they say they have the flexibility they need.

It's clear that the meaning of retirement is changing -- from destination to prelude, from a halt to a pause for rest and rejuvenation. The pull to leisure once encouraged people to leave the workforce as early as possible, but now the pull to meaningful work, with reasonable salary and benefits, may be encouraging people to stay as long as possible.

To help speed this trend, policies must change to make health care affordable, end financial penalties for continuing to work, provider easier access to retraining and education, along with online resources to help people find the right niche. Many, just like Bill Gates, seem to be looking not to slow down but to accelerate, to pour it on for something they believe in. Society can only benefit by doing everything possible to clear their path.

Comments

[Sundialsvc4]

I've always had one thing to say about both Lawyers and Accountants: "Yes, you gotta have 'em, but do NOT let 'em run your business... even though they claim that they can, and that they need to."

We can definitely have a strong economy that enables people of all ages to be gainfully involved in it, and we can even exploit telecommunications to reduce the cost of doing business ... thereby achieving the worthy social aims set-forth in this article ... but to do that, we'll need to stop being quite so fixated at the "financial bottom-line" and quite so fixated at the specter of "possible liability."

The questions need to be: what business are we in, how do our CUSTOMERS see us, what kind of EXPERIENCE do we need to make the right moves at the right time, and how can we make ourselves attractive to the holders of that kind of experience?

They say that you go through three stages in life. First, you're young-n-stupid: you don't know what you don't know. Then a little time goes by, a little bambino comes, and you do know what you don't know. You run the treadmill, gaining experience until... you don't know what you do know. But other people do, and they call you wise.

We do, indeed, need to bring "wisdom" back into the marketplace.

[cylindar]

He is just doing what he wants to do with his own money. Personally if I had his money I would not spend it on other people too readily as things are so expensive nowadays. I mean I like people and all of that but hell, they could make their own sixty three Billion dollar pile just like he has. All they have to do is apply themselves and have access to a garage like he did. I was going to do what he did till I walked out to my garage and realized that I would have to clean it before I could easily make my sixty three Bil. Now I am not much on cleaning up so for the mean time I have forgone the endeavor but would like to say that anyone with a desire to clean can achieve great things. America is great. Illegal immigrants rejoice!!

[cylindar]

I think a lot of baby boomers are liking to do such things but what is presently occurring in our economy and what will continue to occur will not allow them to do as they dream. They all will be working two jobs to make ends meet and they themselves will become the very people they need to help. It is going to be ironic to say the least. America sucks!!

[jsarets]

Bill Gates is a dark horse VP option for Obama, but I prefer Eric Schmidt. If only our government could run as efficiently and benevolently as Google.

[RobinSeattle]

AFAIK, Gates is a Republican and is an outsourcing to India fiend to boot, which is contrary to the message that Obama is sending to the American public. So a Gates VP bid would be DOA.

As for this article, it is one thing to talk about the number of older people remaining employed solely for the purpose of some kind of self-fulfillment, but you didn't need the example of a billionaire to do that. This was little more than product placement for Microsoft in particular and a public relations puff piece for Gates.

[lvdragonlady]

I always liked Bill but he outsourcing really turned me against him. There are so many people here in America who could do just as good if not a better job then those over seas people.
STOP OUTSOURCING NOW AND BRING JOBS BACK TO AMERICA

[nakmario]

I think of it this way - If MS didnt outsource, that would mean less profits and less money to Bill Gates, which would then mean less money for his foundation. I respect Bill Gates for following Warren Buffet's example and giving away good amounts of his money.

At the same time the Indian economy is helped and Indian peoples are lifted from poverty into a better life.