About Second Act Shift
You’ve done everything right. Built the career. Hit the milestones. And yet something feels off. The work that used to energize you doesn’t anymore. The economy has shifted under your feet. And the question you keep coming back to isn’t “what should I do next?” It’s something harder: “what actually fits who I am now?”
The new economy is accelerating that feeling. Layoffs, AI displacement, and shifting workforce demands are creating a generation of professionals who need to reinvent themselves. Most of the tools available to help them do that were built for a world that no longer exists. Second Act Shift is built for this moment.
A Second Act is a chapter of life designed intentionally, guided by your values, and built from your own blueprint, not one you inherited. Some people call it a third act or a fourth act. The label doesn’t matter. What matters is the shift.
Each issue covers the emotional and practical work of getting there: clarifying what you actually want, rebuilding your professional identity, and designing a next chapter that fits who you are now.
Hi, I’m Dan Rollman. I’m an ICF-certified executive and career coach working with executives, founders, and creatives navigating mid-career transitions.
My path hasn’t followed a straight line. I’ve written two Top 10 Super Bowl ads and driven for Lyft. I turned a Burning Man experiment into a venture-funded media company, appeared on Shark Tank and nine times on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and co-created the Global Day of Unplugging. I’ve won Cannes Lions, spoken at TEDx, Google, and SXSW, and returned to school in my 50s.
I’ve also taken hits along the way. I’ve sold art off my walls to pay bills. I live with Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune disease that nearly took my life. It taught me to slow down, trust my instincts, and let go of what doesn’t matter.
Burning Man, 2005 (I think)
Shark Tank, 2017
That lived experience is what I bring into my coaching. And into this newsletter.
I’m not sharing all of this to impress you. I’m sharing it because reinvention has never been a straight line for me, and I suspect it isn’t for you either.
We are navigating uncharted territory. The pace of change is disorienting, and anyone who tells you they have all the answers is selling something. What I can offer is a clearer sense of who you are, what you want, and how to build toward what’s next, both for you and for all of us.
If any of this resonates, I invite you to subscribe below. And if you know someone navigating their own reinvention, feel free to send this their way. Thanks for reading, and welcome to the Second Act community.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
