Many executives get so wrapped up in their careers that they lose themselves. Leslie Braksick, ’86, helps leaders redefine their future.
“Revealing Your Next Season,” a new book co-written by Dr. Leslie Wilk Braksick, ’86, serves as a guide for business executives and others in “intense” careers to identify what they want to do next, then develop and execute a plan to make that happen.
Braksick remembers once attending a retirement celebration for an executive of a multinational energy company, someone she’d coached earlier in his career.
“It was a joyful event, a happy celebration,” Braksick said. “But when I went through the receiving line, the executive clutched me with both arms and said, ‘Leslie, this is the worst day of my life. Can you help me? What am I going to do next?’”
Less than two years later, she learned he had suffered a fatal heart attack.
“He was in perfect health and had no pre-existing health issues, but he had not found purpose after leaving his big corporate job,” Braksick said. “He never found his place. His death rocked me.”
So in 2014, she sold her shares in the executive coaching and consulting firm she’d co-founded 21 years earlier and formed a new company, MyNextSeason. She and her business partner, Mark Linsz, the book’s co-author, work with corporations and organizations to develop new leaders, help rising executives accelerate their advancement, and guide executives on that important last step: retirement.
“Executives are so heads-down serving their employers that they lose themselves,” Braksick said. “These jobs demand unrelenting dedication and sacrifice. They can tax your marriage, strain your relationship with your kids because you’re missing events. You’re traveling, taking conference calls on vacation, working late, eating out a lot, giving up hobbies. And many of those things you would count on being in place and strong when you retire.”
When executives make the transition, they lose their friendships and the community they had while working. “Without the job title, they wonder, who am I?” Braksick said.
She stresses the importance of “finishing well,” ensuring that when change comes, whether it’s a career shift or retirement, you’re prepared.
“We believe it’s critical to be very discerning, to go through a process where you really reflect on what brings you joy,” she said. “Many people don’t necessarily know what they want to do until they take that pause and reflect.”
Braksick tells another story, about a business executive who had his next move “more or less” figured out. It included taking seats on a couple of corporate boards. Braksick asked him to list some things he’d like not to have to do anymore.
“He was quite clear. He said, ‘I’m tired of going to meetings. I want control of my calendar,’” Braksick said. “But in speaking those words, the executive realized that being on a board wasn’t what he wanted to do. He ended up getting certified as an arbitrator and advising first-time executives. He did some occasional speaking, some mentoring, and wound up being so happy.”
Each chapter of “Revealing Your Next Season” ends with a similar story, “a case example of a person who has redefined themselves in their next season, a ‘here’s who I was, here’s what I went through, and here’s what I’m doing now’ kind of thing,” Braksick said. “We believe we can help you do almost anything you want to do, and we map out a very pragmatic process for getting there.”
A workbook used by their clients has been condensed for inclusion as an appendix in the book.
Braksick received a bachelor’s degree from SBU in 1986, with majors in Psychology and English. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis and Industrial Psychology from Western Michigan University, and a master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Prior to founding MyNextSeason, she was the chairman and CEO of CLG (now ALULA), a behavioral science consulting firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that she co-founded and ran from 1993 through 2014.
Braksick is a member of the board at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and of the Chief Global Officer Council at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business. She is a co-founder and board member of Eradicate Hate, an organization devoted to delivering actionable programs to prevent all forms of hate-fueled violence, which was launched in response to the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in 2018. She is also a trustee emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Braksick is the author of “Living Into Your Next Season: Moving Forward After the Crisis of 2020” (2020); “Your Next Season: Advice for Executives on Transitioning from Intense Careers to Fulfilling Next Seasons (2017);” “Preparing CEOs for Success: What I Wish I Knew” (2010);” and “Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits,” first and second editions (2000 and 2007).
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