Michael Clinton Interview: Modern-Day Renaissance Man
Diana Landau | September 14, 2021
Get ready to be inspired by Carl’s interview with the former President of Hearst Magazines, Michael Clinton. Besides having a huge Publishing career overseeing Esquire, House Beautiful, Food Network Magazine, Oprah, (the list goes on), he’s traveled to 124 countries so far and run marathons on seven continents. Now 68, he’s a special advisor to the CEO of Hearst Corporation, a writer, photographer, global marathon runner and private pilot who has just released his latest book, ROAR: into the second half of your life (Before It’s Too Late.)
Michael has an innate, passionate curiosity about the world and is full of surprises. We sort of assumed Michael had this huge publishing career in NYC because he came from some upper-crust, Ivy League background. It’s been his incredible dedication and focus that led Michael to where he is now. He comes from a poor, working-class family of eight from Pittsburgh, PA. His father was a laborer and his mother was home with the six kids. “There was lots of love,” Michael says. His parents may have been poor but they exposed their children to art, culture and libraries. Discovering the world through books and literature became fundamental to Michael’s life, igniting his love of words.
One of only 20 or so from his high school class to go on to college, he studied economics and political science and then became editor of the college newspaper, stoking his passion for publishing. After graduation, he went to NYC with “$60 in my pocket, no contacts and two months on a couch.” His first big break was to become Publisher of Conde Nast's GQ Magazine, at only 34 years old. He spent his last 23 years with Hearst. But he doesn’t want anyone to say ‘retire’ because it is such a toxic word! It implies passivity.
After Hearst, Michael kept seeing books about slowing down, aging, making your life smaller. “I wanted to do exactly the opposite. I wanted to find other people who felt the same way.” Michael interviewed 40 people about what they’re doing now for his new book. Now he is looking forward to more heights in traveling, photography, outdoor sports and philanthropy, plus a deep dive into becoming an entrepreneur. He plans to continue inspiring people 50+ to “rewire” their lives.
Life Wisdom from Michael Clinton:
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“The importance of having a professional mentor should not be dismissed. I will always advise and encourage people to seek out the mentor that can help them evolve and grow in their career.”
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“Editing is an important skill in publishing, of course. What it teaches you is to edit out the extraneous things that don’t matter.” (Think wasting social media, unproductive friendships, unsupportive family.) “Find people who will lift you up!”
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Michael loathes the term “mid-life crisis.” “It should be mid-life awakening,” he says. Think about whether you need to shift course. If you’re healthy and 60, there’s a good chance you’ll live longer—a three-decade arc of opportunity.
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” weekly blog.
Dan Blank Interview
Diana Landau | April 20, 2021
The Best Kind of Road Map
Carl had a fun chat with Dan Blank, CEO of WeGrowMedia this week. Although Dan isn’t retiring any time soon, the focus of his work is helping people in their (un)retirement to achieve their goals. Before founding WeGrowMedia, Dan worked in publishing and digital content development, and was in the perfect spot when those worlds collided. Just as he became even more successful, Dan took the bold step into launching his own business—during 2010! “I felt the recession was a great time to start a company, there were no expectations. I sort of wanted to see who wanted to hire me.” Over a decade later, Dan's company has helped thousands of writers and other creatives to launch their own successful projects.
“I was the art kid growing up,” Dan tells us. Always the entrepreneurial family, Dan, his older brother and parents started a baseball card collector business on weekends, traveling the tri-state area, meeting people, sharing stories about their favorite players and cards. “I think my family's values of working hard, pursuing the creative and encouraging entrepreneurship had a big influence on me.”
In college, Dan had many ideas but wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He always had side gigs however. He was a DJ and a cartoonist for the college newspaper, then went on to publish a music "zine" in the 1990’s. “I did it for the love of doing it,” Dan says. He profiled new CD’s in the zine and eventually had the opportunity to interview the members of Oasis and other bands he idolized.
After college, Dan began his career in publishing and eventually ran digital content for over 40 magazines. He started an internal newsletter for co-workers—the beginning of a weekly practice he has done for over 15 years now. “I have so many ideas, I can’t imagine not sending it (the newsletter) out!” In 2009-2010, his company diversified and his division was sold off. Dan was one of the last employees. He figured he had a network of his own because of his blog and newsletter and decided to leave the corporate life and launch his company, WeGrowMedia, using his knowledge and experience to help others achieve their goals.
If you are in (un)retirement and working on your memoir, Dan can help you create a website, develop your marketing strategy and even plan the book launch. "For writers, I encourage people to listen intently to two things: 1) Your inner voice and taking action on those things you feel compelled to create, and 2) Learning about your readership, the folks you hope will be moved by your words. Both of these actions require a lot of empathy, and listening more than talking---like any good marriage!"
Dan Blank’s advice for starting a new Second Act in (Un)Retirement:
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Communication: “What do you want your day to look like? What’s your purpose? Be really aligned with what you want it to be. If you have a partner, make sure that’s aligned too."
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Collaboration: “As we get older, we get more and more fearful of failure. If you have a new idea for a venture/novel/project, talk to other people about it. Talk with your friends and colleagues and spitball ideas.
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Clarity: “Keep doing what you love. Everything I do is because of who inspires me.”
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” weekly blog.
