About the Authors
Richard J. Leider
Richard J. Leider is a widely read and internationally recognized speaker, author, and life coach. Founder and Chairman of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis, MN, Richard is consistently rated as one of the top executive educators and coaches in the world. As a speaker and seminar leader, he has taught over 100,000 executives from more than 50 corporations worldwide. He is an Executive Fellow at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and a guest lecturer in both the Harvard Business School’s General Management Program and Duke Corporate Education’s Global Resource Network.
Richard is the author of eight books, including three best-sellers, and his work has been translated into 21 languages. Repacking Your Bags and The Power of Purpose are considered classics in the personal development field. Claiming Your Place at the Fire and Something to Live For have been touted as breakthrough books on “positive aging.” Richard is a contributing author to many leading-edge coaching books, including Coaching for Leadership, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching, Executive Coaching for Results, and The Organization of the Future.
Richard holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is a Nationally Certified Master Career Counselor. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, where he is a founder of The Purpose Project. As a commentator on “life work” issues, Richard appears in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and on PBS television, NPR, and other media sources.
A pioneer and leader in the field of coaching, Richard is widely recognized for his innovative work on helping people to discover “the power of purpose.” His work received recognition from the Bush Foundation, from which he was awarded a Bush Fellowship to study “purposeful aging.” He was named a “Distinguished Alumnus” by Gustavus Adolphus College and was inducted to the “Hall of Fame” at Central High School in St. Paul, MN.
Along with his professional pursuits, Richard has led annual Inventure Expedition walking safaris in Tanzania, East Africa for more than 27 years.
JEN DIXON
David A. Shapiro is a writer, philosopher, and educator who specializes in exploring questions about ethics and the good life. A fulltime faculty member at Cascadia Community College near Seattle, he is also the Education Director of the University of Washington’s Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, a non-profit organization that brings philosophy and philosophers into the lives of young people in schools and community forums.
David is the author of Choosing the Right Thing to Do: In Life, At Work, In Relationships, and For the Planet, Plato Was Wrong! Footnotes on Doing Philosophy with Young People, and co-author, along with Richard Leider, of Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life’s Calling, Claiming Your Place at the Fire: Living the Second Half of Your Life on Purpose, and Something to Live For: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life.