Dear Friends of the Inspired Leadership Initiative,

Warm greetings to all from Notre Dame where we are experiencing a beautiful autumn on a campus brimming with the life brought by scholars young and old(er).

The second cohort of fellows in the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) is well into their year here experiencing all the University has to offer from the classes they selected to our core offerings and much more.  They recently returned from the first Fall Immersion Trip to Chicago where they had an opportunity to experience, together, sessions at Notre Dame's Chicago campus, some great theatre, interactions with Chicago leaders and engagement in service at an inner-city school with many ties to Notre Dame.

In this issue you will have a chance to meet a current fellow, Juliana Akinyi Otieno, as she begins her ILI journey and a fellow from last year, Dave Kostolansky, who reflects back on his year in the ILI program.  You will also get insights into how the ILI program fits into the broader and evolving "encore education" space from two scholars who visited campus this fall.  They both contributed to our program and learned from our approach to bringing the significant resources of a great University to a population that heretofore had only limited access.

Professor George Lopez has been involved with the program from the very beginning.  His passion for the ILI program, coupled with his wisdom and experience, has benefitted the program immensely.  I know you will enjoy reading his interview.

Finally, I wish to thank all of you for your interest in the Inspired Leadership Initiative.  We always welcome your thoughts and appreciate your referrals as we look to build our 2020-21 cohort.

With Best Regards,

Although it’s an emerging discipline, the study of a “second act” that comprises more than simply fading away is gathering momentum, research, and inquiry.

Two scholars actively writing about this topic, Chris Farrell and Marc Freedman, were invited by the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) to speak at the University of Notre Dame. Farrell is a contributing economics editor for Bloomberg Businessweek and senior economics contributor for public radio’s Marketplace Money. Freedman is founder and CEO of Civic Ventures and a former visiting fellow of King’s College, University of London.

During their public presentation at Notre Dame, held in the Hesburgh Library’s Carey Auditorium, the pair talked about the value of experienced workers, both in production and mentorship, along with the joy late-blooming entrepreneurs find in doing work, and doing work for good. They say folks are living longer, healthier lives, and instead of being the drain on society some expected, they are infusing their organizations, communities, and families with the kind of wisdom only time can bring.

Current ILI fellow Orlando Rodriguez attended the authors’ talk. He says, “Freedman and Farrell present an alternative to what many times happens later in life. The conventional view is that retirement-age people are to be eased out of the work force and that they are to/should live out their time on earth within ever-narrowing circles, physically, mentally, emotionally. 

“As I see it, Freedman's and Farrell's view is that it is possible for the best yet to come after retirement. Sometimes people are eased, or ease themselves, out of the standard high-intensity, grid-like, highly structured time allocation at the top of their game, so to speak. The perspective is that advances in medicine can provide a continuation of healthy living, so why not keep going? Those who accumulated sufficient resources have the opportunity for continued emotional and intellectual growth, and should seek them actively. The rewards can be substantial.” 

For further reading, consider Farrell’s Purpose and a Paycheck: Finding Meaning, Money, and Happiness in the Second Half of Life and Freedman’s How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations.

George Lopez spent nearly thirty years with Notre Dame as a professor and administrator for the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. He had become a University treasure by the time he retired in 2014. A world-renowned scholar, policy influencer, and tireless advocate and teacher for peace studies, Lopez spent much time working with national and international agencies, and even served on the United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts. It was a natural fit when, after leaving Notre Dame in 2013, he took a position as Vice-President of the Academy for Conflict Management Peacebuilding for the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. 

But his roots would come calling a few years later, especially when the University launched the Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI). Now, Lopez is in his second “second act,” working with a group of second-act seekers. And after a lifetime of accompanying both aspiring and accomplished peacebuilders, he’s accompanying retirees. He kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us, for this issue of Insights.

Q: What is your role in the ILI?

A: I do teaching and advising, but now in a new light, and the new light comes with entering this post-retirement phase. I have often said the reason I am affiliated with this program is that I am an excellent example of failed retirement, so it’s good for the group to have someone like me close by to show them to cast a wide net for their interests and get it right!

In the field of peacebuilding, we are very conscious of the fact that we accompany processes of change from violence to peace. We don’t tell people how to do things, and I take that as my model in ILI.

Q: What compelled you to be part of this program?

A: There are a number of cross-cutting draws or inclinations to participate. One was the curiosity about Notre Dame joining a very small group of institutions that wanted to take seriously the second phase of life. But then absolutely tied to that was that I was hearing—and it’s completely accurate—that this was going to be done with the distinct style and character of Notre Dame. I think it significant that neither the criteria for entrance nor the goal of the program is “How are you going to design your next money-making project?” Rather, it’s looking at your life and its goals holistically, with a Notre Dame angle, about your inner driving spiritual self that you might want to reconnect with or unleash in this new life phase, and letting that be prominent in the drive toward defining what you want to do. 

And the third big draw for me was the excitement of putting the vast resources of this University in touch with a group of very accomplished people who would survey them and interact with them from their particular life stage and curiosities. And we have seen it—these fellows are having an impact on students, faculty, and programs, and in some ways help the University grow into the moment where a significant portion of the population is entering their second act.

The last dimension that was interesting to me, was that part of my responsibilities at the U.S. Institute of Peace was working with a group of IT and ed-tech professionals to develop mid-career and late-career training materials in peacebuilding for people who would find themselves in zones of violence. One audience was people leaving international service work or related distinguished careers like the military. I got a sense for people in those very accomplished professions looking for new ways to identify and connect the relevance of their past to their future.

ILI is much the same: “What’s next?” and “How much of my prior self do I bring as a springboard. Or, do I just jump into the pool, and see where it goes when I am treading and swimming?” 

And what I like about the ILI program, specifically, is that the pool has lots of floating devices—from the academic coursework to the service connections in South Bend, to the stimulus for critical reflection in the context of a community of 15 to 20 others. And wow does that connection work! Because we are a resources-rich university in opportunities, in talented faculty, the leadership of the ILI, and various other things that people with a new vision and life experience decide to connect with, this program works. 

Q: So you believe ILI has the right components for a meaningful experience?

A: Yes. It’s far beyond a “feel good” program. It’s even far beyond a “do good” program. It’s a significant redefinition in the life of an individual, of what it means to be part of creating a new good actor that matches who you are becoming and the impact you want to have in the wider world, in ways that clearly would not have happened without this experience.

However smart or whatever the access of a participant to their life accomplishments, it’s the focus on the individual and the resources of the University that are open to them that creates this outcome for the fellows. You can read the recipe and mix it in the bowl, but if the last element isn’t there, if you don’t have the right temperature or the right time in the oven, it doesn’t come out as a cake. ILI has it all in the making.

Q: In what other ways are you connecting your peacebuilding experience to the ILI?

A: In peace training, if you are going to accompany people in a social change dominated by violence, to a society in which social change comes without violence, what has to change? The answer is the attitudes, transactions (how people deal with each other), and structures that drive the violence. And I think one of the insights I have been hearing from the participants—no matter their interests—is that most of their lives they have been thinking, “We have to change attitudes, and we have to interact better in society.” But now they see how much of these that’s embedded in our structures that they didn’t see before. They say boldly, “George where have I been?!” or “How did I not make bridges?” I say don’t worry about the past. It’s now, at this point, trying to restructure how we want to move forward and build new ones that count.

Q: What role do colleges and universities play in a role in peacebuilding?

A: In the Kroc Institute, one of our strategic goals is to accompany colleges and universities who want to be structures of change in their communities as they build new bridges and structures. In Colombia we are working with various universities in creating professional peacebuilding programs so that citizens can contribute to the complex peace process there. The goal in various conflict zones is to train the new trainers and narrow the gap between community agencies at the forefront of new social relations and the curriculum and practical work of the university. What makes peace studies thrive is our academic model, in which we think and teach our way into new forms of peace action and act our way into new forms of thinking. We have research on “how to demobilize former combatants in a rebel group.” But every time we accompany that process, we examine what works more or less in that particular context, and what are its rules and exceptions to rules. Then all of these lessons feedback into our circle of knowledge and teaching. The university is the hub of that for individuals and the society. Certainly we learn by doing, but we make sure the doing influences the adequacy of the learning. Microbiologists are doing the same thing in their labs trying to eliminate disease. Our lab is dynamically interactive with humans, but the framework still applies.

The Kostolanskys are the kind of couple that, when brought up in conversation, elicit the remark, “Oh don’t you just love them?”

And you do. They are genuine, warm, and wise. They give good advice and try to make the world a better place. They greet with hugs. They’re also spirited and fun…so much so that it’s easy to forget it’s been five decades since Dave was a student at Notre Dame. 

Well, the first time.

When Dave heard about the University’s plans to launch an Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI), his interest was piqued. As he learned more about the program, and he decided to apply, his interest deepened. He found himself feeling like a kid again, that same kid who very much wanted to be a student at Notre Dame years earlier. 

“You never want to not be accepted for something that you really want to put your heart and soul into. Back in 1960 when I was accepted at Notre Dame, for me that was confirmation that everything that I did in high school was going to be recognized, and that was big time,” he recalls. “But this was different. After being away from school for 50 plus years, this was a challenge. Could I really fit into an academic arena again?”

 It turns out, he could. 

“It was beyond expectations,” Kostolansky says of his year in the inaugural cohort of the ILI. “Where else could you go, other than a university setting, where you could run into two Nobel Prize winners in the same day?”  

The opportunities were so rich. Dave, a retired manufacturing executive, and Marge, a retired registered nurse, found themselves to be more active than they ever could have anticipated. Between attending lectures, performances at DeBartolo, an occasional class, and volunteering at campus events, Marge volunteered weekly at a local hospital and joined the Saint Mary’s Mary’s/Notre Dame women’s group. Dave enjoyed his classes and interacting with the students. And the biggest surprise of all, was the cohesiveness of the cohort itself. 

“When we began having our weekly Wednesday evening dinners, and we started discerning, we began feeling more comfortable with one another. Soon there was an openness among us,” says Kostolansky. 

It didn’t take long before the group was getting together outside of their scheduled activities. 

“Someone would send a text about the possibility of getting a burger and a beer, and before you knew it your cell phone was coming alive with everybody jumping in. We adopted the restaurants Brothers and Traditions at the Embassy Suites, and they became our go-to places after a late class or late day. We enjoyed libations, conversation, and just being together. We’d go there because we could watch the ladies’ basketball games or hockey matches on TV, and we would hoot and holler just like a bunch of freshmen all over again.” 

The Kostolanskys enjoyed the time with their new ILI family, and they were blessed to have more family around as well…two of their granddaughters Megan ’19 and Katy ’21, were Notre Dame undergraduates. 

“When I told them that I was thinking of doing this, they were just super excited for Marge and me to be here while they were here. And as a grandfather, to be able to spend a whole year with your granddaughters at Our Lady’s University…to run into them on campus and grab a coffee or a bite to eat… it was just extra special.” 

Dave and Katy even took the same biology class.

He says, “The first few days of class before being moved to different modules, I’d walk in and have her say, ‘Hey, I saved a seat for you,’ and she would introduce me to her friends. It was a surreal feeling of am I really here?” Kostolansky says the acceptance he and the others felt from all the students was genuine and humbling.

“It made you step more lively. You really felt like you fit in with the group.”

He felt it, and others noticed it. Dave remembers being at the bookstore last fall and meeting up with one of his friends from the Class of 1964. He says, “I came strolling up to him with my backpack on, and he said, ‘You look 20 years younger.’ I said I feel 20 years younger, just being on campus with all the students and the activity does that to you.”

It seems to Kostolansky that special moments like that kept piling on top of each other, creating an experience he can’t really put into words. As a student during the 60s, he would go to the Grotto every evening after dinner, before going back to his room to study. To be able to make daily visits again, to a place that has such profound meaning and spirituality for him, it’s part of the reason he says the ILI at Notre Dame is distinct. The University does not pressure you to practice your religion, but the opportunity is here if you wish to.

“It’s a moment in time that you can never recapture. You have to be here to experience it.”

Dave feels blessed to have been part of the inaugural cohort, a group that took seriously its role in shaping the future of the program, which looks to be bright and prosperous.

“People are living longer and retiring healthier,” he says. “Quite frankly retirees need to do something beyond getting ready to move into a retirement home. They have too much knowledge and experience for that. They need to continue learning and growing.”

For the Kostolanskys, that means returning to some of their hometown activities and charitable work, but with fresh ideas and a new lens. It also means international travel, perhaps taking additional classes, and trying some new things. Dave says he doesn’t want another career, he has “had all the careers he needs,” but he does feel that he has had success in education and business and would love to mentor others in these areas. 

Surely, whomever is on the receiving end of that mentorship, is going to “just love it.”