January 29, 2026

Welcome to Level Up Weekly, where I help emerging leaders think strategically, organize their work, and execute with clarity—so they can be seen, heard, and valued.

Today At A Glance

✔ Reinvention isn’t about age — it’s about timing and judgment

✔ Readiness often follows action, not the other way around

✔ Experience doesn’t close doors; it sharpens which ones matter

When Experience Changes the Question

Last month, I turned 60.

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Not with a sense of completion.

With a clearer sense of timing.

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Most people assume reinvention belongs to the young.

What they underestimate is how much accuracy comes later.

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At 59, I walked onto a TED stage.

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Not because I’d been preparing for decades.

But because I stopped treating readiness as something that arrives before action.

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At 59 — not earlier — I learned how to shape ideas into stories.

And somewhere in that process, a small coaching practice took form.

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Not planned.

Not forced.

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What changed wasn’t confidence.

It was the question.

Instead of asking, “Is it too late?”

I started asking, “What am I no longer willing to defer?”

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Turning 60 didn’t feel like a finish line.

It felt like a mirror.

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A reminder that new chapters don’t disappear with age —

they appear when judgment finally catches up to experience.

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History makes this pattern obvious.

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Enzo Ferrari didn’t build Ferrari early.

Vera Wang didn’t begin in fashion.

Julia Child didn’t rush her authority.

Reese Witherspoon didn’t wait for the industry to evolve.

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None of them were late.

They started when experience sharpened choice.

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That’s what timing actually changes.

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What this looks like in practice:

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↳ Treating past roles as leverage, not baggage

↳ Building from what you know instead of chasing novelty

↳ Letting pattern recognition replace urgency

↳ Expanding your work without abandoning your foundation

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You’re not starting over.

You’re starting from depth.

And that distinction changes how age works.

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