We live in a time of great shift and transformation.  I have written here about disintermediation and other trends that are reshaping the economic and cultural landscapes.  It is increasingly important to consider these forces when making major life decisions, especially as it pertains to work, business and the economy.

As a member of the baby boom generation, I have seen many people my age change careers at least once during middle age.  We are all living longer, move more often and of course are all living in a much faster paced world than the one our parents lived in.  This leads to a lot of us choosing to do more than one thing in our work lives.   These career changes are usually fed by a passion, by disillusionment or some unforeseeable event that changes our lives.  My fiancé left a successful business career as a comptroller to serve humanity as a compassionate therapist, going back to school in mid-life and committing years to this effort.  A good friend of mine was a successful media executive and decided to reinvent the world of wine retailing.  Another good friend who has successfully built and run media companies  decided that he could be happier, and more financially successful working solo from home, taking time to smell the roses.  In all of these cases they followed their passion, listened to their heart and applied developed talents or learned new skills or complete new areas of knowledge and expertise.

The key driver in a mid-life …