Join 60,000+ seasoned professionals who are done with the corporate world. Epic Encore is an almost daily newsletter with inspirational stories from leading experts. Your Epic Encore is about turning your lifetime experiences into the cornerstone of the rest of your life. It represents your audacious leap into entrepreneurship, fueled by the wisdom and tenacity you've garnered in your successful career. This isn't about playing catch-up in business and building a 7-figure business. It's about forging a unique path, using your distinct perspective, seasoned judgment, and invaluable insights that can only come from years of life experience.
When the world no longer needs your expertise
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Master a skill. Become the expert. Then watch the world move on. In the 1980s, I was an award-winning field engineer in Silicon Valley. Back then, fixing computers meant using voltmeters and oscilloscopes. Real diagnostic work. You had to know what you were doing. But by the end of the decade? It was all board swapping. Technical mastery wasn’t needed anymore. So I pivoted. In the ’90s, I became a network manager. Early on, building and maintaining a corporate network took serious expertise. Firewalls, IP addressing, routers. It was complex. By the end of the decade? Plug-and-play gear took over. By 2002, routers configured themselves. So I pivoted again. In the 2000s, I built a new career in online marketing. At the time, you had to hand-code websites, manually run SEO, and figure out email systems from scratch. It was hard and valuable. Now? AI writes your copy. Drag-and-drop builders create your site. Campaigns launch in a few clicks. Once again… The skill becomes irrelevant. Now I’m in my fourth arc, my Epic Encore. I coach men over 55 who are still pursuing their goals. They still want to contribute. They still have more to give. But they’re wondering what it looks like now after the titles fade and the tech leaves us behind. That’s why this month’s Mastermind Book Club pick hit me so hard. Modern Wisdom, Ancient RootsBy Dr. Srikumar Rao Chapter 6: The Identity Trap Dr. Rao’s insight is simple but powerful: Most of our stress, fear, and uncertainty comes from clinging to an identity that no longer fits. We spend decades building a professional identity. “I’m the tech guy.” “I’m the fixer.” “I’m the expert.” And when that role disappears? We don’t know who we are anymore. This chapter helped me see the pattern: I wasn’t grieving lost skills. I was grieving the loss of identity. Dr. Rao shows us how to let go of those old “I am” stories and reconnect with something deeper. Something more essential. He teaches that you are not your job title. You are not your résumé. And that’s the conversation we’re having live, with him, this month. 📅 Thursday, July 24🕦 11:30 AM PT / 2:30 PM ET 🎙️ Live with Dr. Srikumar Rao If you’re entering your next chapter and wondering who you are without the old title… If you still want to lead, contribute, and grow, but on your own terms… This call is for you. Hope to see you there, Ted |
Ted Prodromou
Join 60,000+ seasoned professionals who are done with the corporate world. Epic Encore is an almost daily newsletter with inspirational stories from leading experts. Your Epic Encore is about turning your lifetime experiences into the cornerstone of the rest of your life. It represents your audacious leap into entrepreneurship, fueled by the wisdom and tenacity you've garnered in your successful career. This isn't about playing catch-up in business and building a 7-figure business. It's about forging a unique path, using your distinct perspective, seasoned judgment, and invaluable insights that can only come from years of life experience.
Last week, I caught myself snapping at my wife over something trivial, a misplaced glass. I felt embarrassed and said to myself, “This isn’t me!” But Chapter 24 of Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots explained exactly what was going on and offered a path out of it. Dr. Rao reveals that anger and fear aren’t triggered by what’s happening around us. They come from resistance to our present moment. When life doesn’t match our expectations, we tense up, tighten our identity, and react, rather than...
What if everything you believe about yourself… isn’t actually you? That’s the bold premise Dr. Srikumar Rao opens with in Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots, our July Mastermind Book Club pick. This book is different. It’s not just another mindset or productivity manual. Rao challenges us to zoom out from the daily noise in our heads, the self-talk, the labels, the roles we play and see through to something deeper. If you’ve ever felt a quiet sense of “something’s off” If you’ve hit success...
I spent this weekend watching The Bear season four, and it reminded me of something my grandfather would never have imagined when he arrived from Greece in the 1920s. Picture this: A young Greek immigrant with nothing but determination, deciding to open a restaurant in America. Did he know anything about running one? Not a clue. But what else would a Greek do? What made our family restaurant different wasn't just the food. It was the philosophy. Every morning we baked fresh bread, made pies...