On ahalftime

high

LEE Han Kiat, 54, was a vice-presi-dent of sales in an IT-related MNCwhen he took a year’s no-pay leaveto help build up a non-profit organi-sation.

Karen Ho, in her 40s, quit herjob at Dell seven years ago, also tohelp out at a non-profit organisa-

tion before returning eventually to Dell for ahigher position.

Rachel Tan, 42, a senior editor, also took ayear off to try her hand at different things – in-cluding a pilgrimage and co-writing a book onart therapy.

“It was time to take stock,” recalls Ms Tan.“I figured that with another 20 years of work-ing life ahead, I’d like it to be as fulfilling as thefirst 20, even if it’s in a new direction.”

“Sabbatical” or “transitioning” arecatch-words in the vocabulary of white-col-lared folks these days. When Ms Ho quit herjob, in the early 2000s, she didn’t hear of manydoing the same in her company, but this timearound, she knows or more colleagues doingjust that.

In her 30s then, she wasn’t burnt out. Shewas just looking to do something that wasmeaningful to her, she says. “Sure, I was tired,and taking time out was a way to rebalance.”

The luxury of taking sabbaticals is still that –a luxury for those who can afford the time, paycut and opportunity cost. But it’s not uncom-mon these days to hear about so-and-so whotook a year or two off to backpack or bakecakes, stay in a monastery for a few months, orcomplete a pilgrimage.

There is that proverbial burnout amonghigh-achievers, but it’s also a case of havingmore choices in life these days, notes DeclanO’Sullivan, managing director of Kerry Consul-ting, a financial recruitment firm. More peopleare now willing to explore choices instead ofsticking to a singular career track, he says.

Back in 2001, Mr O’Sullivan himself had tak-en off to a Japanese monastery for five months,and took a two-year break in total before hestarted his own company in 2004.

“We are all living longer now, and we havechoices to make that our parents never had,”points out Leonard Yeow, co-founder of Half-time Asia, a non-profit organisation that helpspeople make significant choices once they feelthat they have hit a peak in their careers. Half-time Asia was formed in 2008.

“Transitioning” is how former banker Crys-tal Lim Leahy describes it. She recentlylaunched a new venture that helps high-flyerstake stock of their lives, after having gonethrough her own transition period two yearsago.

A personal experienceMs Leahy, 33, was on the brink of divorcewhen she and her banker husband decided togive their marriage another chance, get them-selves “straightened out”, and retired to thecountryside in Australia.

“He was travelling a lot, and I was fed up,”recalls Ms Leahy. The couple have three chil-dren. Between them, they have worked at anumber of top banks – with names such asUBS, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and CreditLyonnais Securities Asia dotting their CVs.

They enrolled in a counselling retreat runby the Hoffman Institute Australia, which of-fers an intensive personal development and dis-covery course. From there, the couple decidedto pack up and and move to a 10-acre farm inAustralia’s Mornington Peninsula.

“It was really rural . . . we went from twomaids and a chauffeur in Singapore to growinggrapes and vegetables, cooking and cleaningby ourselves!” Ms Leahy laughs.

It was hard work but it was a very healingtime for the family, she says. That’s when theylearnt that there was more to life than makingmoney and slogging. “Although we were mov-ing up financially over the years, our levels ofhappiness didn’t keep track. We didn’t feel rich-er, or that we ever had ‘enough’, merely as ifwe were always attaining higher levels of rela-tive poverty and anxiety.”

But after two years of rural living, theLeahys decided that at 44 and 33 years of age,they were too young to “retire”. “Personally,for me, I wanted to do something more mean-ingful than retiring in the countryside,” saysMs Leahy.

So feeling sufficiently “balanced”, they re-turned to Singapore. Mr Leahy went back tobanking, and Ms Leahy came up with the ideaof the Legacy Process, targeted at senior execu-tives. “What the Legacy Process tries to do ishelp senior executives make transitions in theirlives. It’s a holistic retreat to deal with theseissues. I have a lot of friends who want tochange jobs or quit, or discover a more sustain-able way of living, but they are afraid to quit, oraren’t quite sure how to go about it.”

Especially now, with the banking industryundergoing an upheaval, some have lost theirjobs, or are jaded and burnt out.

With the Legacy Process, participants – 10to 14 only – will spend a week at the Humming-bird Eco Resort in Australia. Two Hoffman In-stitute-trained counsellors will “navigate” themto help get clarity on their personal vision.They will also get financial resource advice, gi-ven by veteran banker Eli Lenyoun, who waspreviously head of wealth management Asia atBNP Paribas Private Bank.

The aim at Legacy is very practical: to helppeople transition. There are wellness retreatsand financial boot camps, but this is a blend ofboth. “Those don’t really prepare you for cri-ses. The Legacy Process is about helping peo-ple achieve clarity and there’s a huge emphasison work-life balance,” Ms Leahy stresses.

She’s received a lot of interest – from bank-er friends, especially – for a talk in July she’sholding. Her target clients range from their late30s all the way to their early 60s, with a majori-ty of them expatriates, and 30 to 40 per centAsian.

The reality is that in this generation, peopleare now living longer so they actually have toplan for the second half of their lives, points outHalftime Asia’s Mr Yeow. Singaporeans are al-so fortunate that economically, the country isdoing well.

With making second career choices, it’s nat-ural that Halftime Asia’s immediate clienteleare those who have some level of success.“These people have a margin to work with,”Mr Yeow elaborates, not that the organisationis elitist. About 80 per cent are male, and mostare in their late 40s.

In a nutshell, Halftime Asia helps people dis-cern what they’re going through, to assurethem that it’s normal, and to give them a lan-guage to describe their experiences.

“It’s about helping people ‘unpack’, and to

create a margin of time, emotion, talent,wealth and purpose,” he says. Halftime wasfounded by Christian businessman Bob Bu-ford, who wrote a best-selling book Halftime:Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Sig-nificance (1997), about how to find fulfilmentin the second half of life.

Beyond high net worthThere are no fixed answers, Mr Yeow pointsout. Some may want to get out of their full-timejobs to do voluntary work, but conversely,there are others, such as homemakers, whomay want to go back to the workplace. Opera-tionally, Halftime tries to help people throughone-on-one to big group coaching. The threeco-founders are still holding their own jobs andare doing this pro bono.

So far, most people have responded positive-ly, says Mr Yeow, as the participants see this asa chance to get their houses in order, such asreducing gearing and increasing liquidity for ex-ample. And then for some, it’s mending theirmarriages.

He flags what one top management guru,Peter Drucker, once said, that the greatest im-pact on this generation is not technology, butlong life. “The baby boomers were the firstones to realise they’re living longer and havemore choices. So we have choices to make thatour parents never had, and we don’t knowhow to make them.”

Singapore is at this stage now – as a countrywith a big middle class, he says. “It is totallynormal for people to take stock once they’vegained experience and some net worth . . . andwhen they start attending funerals of friends’parents. That’s when people realise they don’tlive forever, and start asking ‘second-half’ ques-tions.”

For Mr Lee, the pull factor for takingno-pay leave for a year, was 75 on a scale of1 to 100. “The push factor, about 25,” hesays.

The pull factor was that he thought hecould make a useful contribution to HalftimeAsia, where he’s volunteering now, and mak-ing use of his management skills to set up theorganisation’s governance structure.

The push was really about the fact that hehad spent 30 years on his career, and it wasa good time to step away from the intensity ofhis work.

“I do think that it’s more common now forthose in their 40s and 50s to ask whatthey’ve accomplished, who they’ve becomeand what will matter in the end,” he shares.A father of three school-going children, hedefinitely has to go back to his company afterthis hiatus, he adds.

What were his friends’ reactions? Somethought that he was brave to put his careeron hold, as it could have a negative impact;while another group of people said he waslucky to be able to do this. “But it’s not just amatter of luck. It’s also choice,” he points out.

He has no regrets though, now that he’sspent six months in his sabbatical. “The high-est return is that you gain a better under-standing of yourself, and letting go of some-thing you’ve held on to so hard. You gain adifferent perspective about what matters inthe end,” he says, adding that his blood pres-sure has improved tremendously and he’s al-so lost weight.

Ms Ho, too, wouldn’t trade her four yearsfor anything. “People wondered if what I didwas risky, but I’ve come back to the samecompany with a wider perspective of life andit’s helped me. I don’t think it has impededmy career at all.”

She was heading Dell’s Online PremierPages when she left, and is now responsiblefor Dell’s Sales Planning & Sales Develop-ment in the Asia-Pacific and Japan.

As a headhunter, Mr O’Sullivan advisespeople on their careers. He does see peoplewho are concerned about change and feelsthat this can be a limiting factor. “Anychange can be for the better or worse . . . it’sa gamble. On the other hand, life in general isa gamble, and often the biggest mistake is tothink one should do the safe thing and donothing. A very good strategy to have lifepass one by!”

For more information on The LegacyProcess and Halftime Asia, please look up

www.legacyprocess.com andwww.halftime-asia.org

‘We wentfrom twomaids and achauffeur inSingapore togrowinggrapes andvegetables’

– Former bankerCrystal Lim Leahywhose own retreathelped her launch

The Legacy Process,helping mid-lifers in

transitioning.(Above, right) The

conference room andvegetable gardens at

the Hummingbirdretreat in Australiawhich is the setting

for the LegacyProcess courses

‘I do thinkthat it’s morecommon nowfor those intheir 40s and50s to askwhat they’veaccomplished,who they’vebecome andwhat willmatter in theend’

– Lee Han Kiat(above), who was a

vice president ofsales in an IT-relatedMNC when he took a

year’s no-pay leavevolunteer at Halftime

Asia. (Above, left)Course participants

at a HalftimeSummit led by US

trainer Bob Durfey(far left)

More corporate high flyers are seeing the wisdom of a sabbatical or “transitioning” – taking time off to take stock at the halfway

point of their career lives – to backpack, grow grapes or even opt for a monastic sojourn, reports CHEAH UI-HOON

PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION: HYRIE RAHMAT

ARTSGallery owner MarjorieChu fetes local worksPAGE 38THE BUSINESS TIMES FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2012