Reinventing at 50+

There’s a stage in your career where things look settled, you’ve built credibility, you understand your space, and you know how to operate at a high level.

And yet, internally, the questions become less straightforward.

This conversation with Farzana and Sachin explores this moment through their own lived experience.

Sachin Shah, CEO of Pentara Capital, described reaching a point that many senior professionals will recognise. After decades in financial services, including leading at the CEO level, he was unsure about his direction.

At some stage, progression narrows. The number of roles above you becomes fewer, and the criteria for those roles become less predictable. It’s at this point that a lot of people find themselves asking, “Do I actually want to keep doing this?”

He eventually made a decision to go into entrepreneurship, but only after two years of thinking it through, weighing risk against comfort, and running scenarios.

I recognise parts of this in my own journey. The decision to step away from something established is often more about working through your own self-imposed resistance than logic.

Once that decision was made, Sachin spoke about feeling more energised and more purposeful, despite working just as hard. The difference was the alignment. Every meeting and conversation had a clear connection to something he was building himself.

Dr. Farzana Aslam, Senior Partner at Stanford Resourcing, talked about how priorities change.

There’s a point where the emphasis moves away from momentum and towards meaning. We think more about purpose than power at this stage of our lives.

It doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not always driven by choice, but it tends to influence how people think about their careers.

Both Farzana and Sachin also spoke about fear. Many people hesitate to let go of an identity they’ve built over decades, and rightly so. Walking away from that is a personal move as much as a professional one.

In many cases, people stay longer than they should, not because they’re fulfilled, but because it feels safer.

This episode also touched on ageism. Questions about relevance, concerns about being overlooked, assumptions about adaptability…

Farzana reframed this to look at how, in a world where AI is taking on more technical, repeatable work, the value of experience becomes more concentrated. Judgement and the ability to navigate complexity aren’t easily replaced.

In that sense, professionals later in their careers may be better positioned than they think, provided they’re willing to evolve.

Why this conversation is worth your time

This episode is about recognising when your priorities have changed, and being honest enough to act on that. If you’re thinking about your next chapter, give it a listen.

There’s no single path here, but there is a common thread: at some point, you’ll likely start wondering what’s actually worth doing.