Michael Clinton is all about practicing what he preaches. His recent accomplishments include hiking to Mount Everest’s base camp; running marathons; earning a master’s degree at Columbia University in nonprofit management; becoming a first-time entrepreneur; and writing the best-seller “Roar: Into the Second Half of Your Life (Before It’s Too Late).”
The book examines how the concept of retirement, which is around a century old, is changing as people embark on second (or third) acts. (See Michael Clinton, above.) The book hit an unexpected nerve with readers and was the catalyst for creating Roar Forward, in partnership with the Hearst Corporation, his former employer.
An online platform to access newsletters, content and storytelling, Roar Forward focuses on “individuals aged 50 and over who are redefining the second half of life in their careers, passions and lifestyles,” said Mr. Clinton, 70, who includes himself among the growing cohort of people he calls “re-imagineers.”
It’s quite a deviation from his hectic past life. After a 40-year career in New York media, he retired in 2020 from Hearst Magazines, where he was president of marketing and publishing.
“I wasn’t burned out, I was maxed out in the experience,” Mr. Clinton said while sitting in his Upper East Side Manhattan apartment, decorated in soothing creams, tans, beiges and other neutral colors. “Though it was a satisfying and fulfilling career, I was ready to leave. But not ready to retire within the old construct.”
Redefining an old construct is now his new career — or a second one, which is part of what he calls the new longevity space.