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Being Inspired

One of my former colleagues, C decided to quit her job and go a different direction about a year ago. C was over 60 at the time. She has since tried a few different things including founding a startup and being lead vocalist in a punk rock band. And that is just scratching the surface. C has been through the whole cycle once - having a career, being a mother, getting divorced, staying single, seeing her son get married and so on. So when she quit, she had been there done that. For another person to up and leave suddenly as she did would have seemed like a bold move specially for someone for her age. But for C it seemed very natural. That is the kind of thing she must have done over and over in her life to reinvent herself and become the person she has become. 

C was easily the most creative person in the room, full of original and interesting ideas, saw the most mundane problem in a way that made everyone else wonder why they had not thought of it before. That is her special skill - to see what is hidden in plain sight and see it with new eyes. She could get along with people of all ages, experience levels and cultural backgrounds. All in all a joy to work with and someone everyone could learn from. I valued the few months we got to work side by side on a client engagement. It was super-rewarding for me and I can only hope she got some value out of it too. C is inspirational for women who are getting to that point in their lives where most of their mandatory jobs are done and there is time to think about what is next. 

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