“In case you’re worried that you’re too old
to pursue your dreams,
Frank Lloyd Wright completed 1/3 of his life’s work
between the ages of 80 and 92.”

— Unknown

On Memorial Day this year, the organization that I founded celebrated its 37th birthday. It is always a funny day for me. Thirty-seven years ago I was raring to start my new business and career while everyone else was taking a holiday. I always seem to take the road less traveled and approach things from a different angle. It has continued in that fashion for thirty-six years.

This year is no different except that I am going to celebrate being ‘alive and still kicking.’ I didn’t plan to be self-employed for all this time. I hoped to survive the first year and then the next five. I loved arriving at the end of the first ten years. Each year brought new lessons, fresh challenges, new people, clients, theorists, travel, and a life rich in meaning. Bundled into the very demanding and busy lifestyle of an entrepreneur were many sacrifices and choices. I don’t know if I would do it all over again in the same way, but I don’t regret the road I have traveled and where I have arrived.

For some, I have achieved an age and years employed that would earn me the chance to sit down and watch from the sidelines. I am not yet ready for retirement. And I may never fully stop finding ways to contribute.

During a zoom call (who thought that that would be a way to begin a sentence five years ago) with a colleague and prospective client this morning, we were getting to know the client and their needs, and she wanted to get to know us. From our separate laptops and locations my colleague and I introduced ourselves and without prompting described the value of the other person’s talents.

I have worked with this extraordinary graphic recorder, Johnine Byrne of See Your Words, LLC, for more than ten years and benefit from every engagement. We combine our efforts to support the discovery of groups through process and have loads of fun together. She is a sister in life and self-employment. Everything is better when Johnine is involved. As I praised her skillfulness, she responded likewise. She used these monikers to describe my role in facilitation: Leslie is a “velvet hammer.” Leslie is a “kind disrupter.” Huh. I think I like the new job titles. I will embrace her experience of me and consider the new business titles for my ‘unretired’ era.

It was in the first years of my business career that my clients used the word catalyst so frequently to describe my role in their change processes that I changed the mundane name of my consulting firm to Catalyst Consulting Group. Now there are more than 3,000 companies that have Catalyst in their names. My title on my business card morphed very quickly from President — the I.R.S. wants to know who to contact — to Sherpa Guide — something that better communicated what and how I approached consulting relationships. I may amass a long list of hallmark titles and reflect on which new title to adopt.

• What title might you give me?

• Which title(s) would you assign yourself?

There is much to discover in this land of the ‘unretired.’

What’s your story?

Leslie