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A man in his late fifties at a wood-paneled home study desk in golden morning light, hand resting on an open notebook with a hand-drafted four-quadrant diagram labeled Identity, Purpose, Income, Network. Coffee, reading glasses, a stack of hardcover books, a leather club chair with a wool throw nearby.
Morning light, an open notebook, the four pillars beginning to take shape.

The 8-Week Program

The structure that makes the next chapter actually arrive.

Most next-chapter advice ends at "find your passion" and "stay active." Useful affirmations, useless as a plan. The Encore Career Lab program is the plan: eight weeks, four pillars, a small cohort of peers at the same inflection point, and the kind of frameworks that hold up under your actual life.

The Arc

The four pillars, sequenced.

Each pillar gets two weeks. By the end of the program you've built an actual structure — not a vague vision but a design — that holds up against the questions you didn't yet have answers to when you walked in.

  1. A man in his late fifties at the bathroom mirror in his own home, soft morning light, in a quiet moment of self-recognition.

    One. · Weeks 1–2

    Identity

    The hardest question first: who are you now, separately from the title you used to wear? We surface the parts of you that pre-dated the title — and the parts you developed in spite of it — and rebuild from a foundation that survives the transition.

  2. A woman in her early sixties tending a vegetable garden at golden hour — straw hat, faded linen shirt, hands in dark earth.

    Two. · Weeks 3–4

    Purpose

    What gets you out of bed when "work" isn't the answer? We map the contribution patterns underneath your career — what you've quietly cared about for thirty years — and translate them into a purpose architecture that fits the rest of your life, not just the next year.

  3. Two people in their late fifties at a small oak table in a sun-lit kitchen, mid-conversation about next-chapter economics.

    Three. · Weeks 5–6

    Income

    Most next-chapter conversations skip income or treat it as optional. We treat it as a load-bearing pillar. Consulting, board work, fractional roles, equity, advisory income, course-and-cohort revenue, licensing — every shape your next-chapter economics could take, evaluated against the lifestyle you actually want.

  4. Four adults in their late fifties to mid-sixties around a small home dining table at golden-hour evening, animated mid-conversation under a brass pendant.

    Four. · Weeks 7–8

    Network

    Your career built a network worth more than most people realize. We design the strategy to convert it into the next chapter's lead source — for clients, board seats, advisory engagements, or whatever your encore actually generates. The relationships are already there. The architecture isn't, until we build it together.

A retired senior military leader in his mid-sixties, in a cream cardigan and oxford shirt, seated in a leather chair beside a wood-paneled home study desk, gaze toward the window in a contemplative pose. A folded American flag in a triangular display case and a framed unit photograph rest on the shelf behind him in soft focus.

A Sub-Track

A note for senior military leaders.

The transition from a mission-driven career has its own shape. The Next Mission is Encore Career Lab's dedicated program for retired flag officers and senior military leaders, led by Major General (Ret.) Bob Sofge.

Same four pillars. A cohort that understands the particular identity shift that comes from decades of structured command. Tailored to the question of what gets to be next when the mission is no longer issued from above.

Begin

Eight weeks. Four pillars. One next chapter you designed on purpose.

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