Confidence, Curiosity, and the Midlife Pivot: Lessons from a Rhodes Scholar

For many of us, approaching midlife and beyond raises huge questions, including,

‘Now what? If I don’t want to continue my current job, what do I do?’

‘Where do I get joy from in my life, going forward?’

‘How do I deal with aging parents?’

These are normal but often quite profound questions. For some of us, the idea of embracing reinvention in the second half of life is scary and a foreign concept. Yet, the invitation to do so is firmly extended to us.

Today I am joined by Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS), best-selling author, serial entrepreneur, podcaster, speaker, TED talker, and burgeoning voice of rarified curiosity amidst the chaos! Michael is a renowned thought leader in coaching and leadership development. He was named the #1 thought leader in coaching in 2019, and in 2023, he won the coaching award from Thinkers50. He was the first-ever Canadian Coach of the Year, despite the fact that he is Australian.

Hailing from Canberra, he became a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford . He does tell the story that he almost missed his chance but luckily, he changed his mind to not ‘borrowing’ a teaspoon from the very formal dinner at the Australian Parliament, the night before leaving for the United Kingdom. He gave a sigh of relief as the Security Guards checked everyone leaving Parliament House that night for any ‘borrowed goods’.

He has a history of testing and pushing boundaries including as a three-year-old randomly walking up to strangers in supermarkets and saying to them, “My name is Michael. I can hop. Do you want to see me hop?”, being banned from his high school graduation for “the balloon incident” and being sued by a law school lecturer whilst studying at University.

At the heart of what Michael does is helping people trade “fine” for something more real, more courageous, and more meaningful. Whether you are finding your direction, figuring out how to make a difference, or fuelling your journey, he brings ideas and insights that make moving forward less painful and almost certainly more fun.