Breaking Barriers

You built a career that made sense for twenty years. Now it doesn’t – and nobody hands you a script for what comes after.

Join host Derek Gehl and former ad agency CEO (and MEA faculty member) Jill Nykoliation for a live, unfiltered conversation about midlife career change. Whether you walked away on your own terms, got pushed out, or you’re watching AI rewrite your industry in real time – that disorientation is real. So is the pressure to have your next move figured out yesterday.

Jill and Derek will dig into why rushing toward an answer usually backfires, and how to start making concrete, low-risk moves even when your internal compass is spinning. You’ll also get a preview of Jill’s three-day MEA workshop happening in July, Career Transitions: Your Clear Path Forward.

MEA CEO Derek Gehl sits down with transitions coach Bob Cavnar for an honest conversation about what happens when the playbook stops working.

At 65, Bob was a high-flying oil and gas executive in Texas — at the top of his career. Then the phone stopped ringing. Deals dried up. The identity he’d spent four decades building started to crack.

What he did next is what every successful man heading into the second half of life needs to hear.

In this live session, Bob walks through the four shifts most men eventually face: from performance to presence, accumulation to integration, achievement to significance, and isolation to real connection. You’ll hear what worked, what didn’t, and how to start asking the questions that matter — before life forces you to.

This session is for men in midlife and beyond, and for the people who love them.

MEA CEO Derek Gehl sits down with gerontologist and longevity advocate Barbara Waxman for a real-world conversation about what actually matters when it comes to living longer – and better.

We’re living in a moment flooded with longevity advice: supplements, protocols, biohacks, and bold claims. But beneath the noise, a more important question often gets lost: how can we age well in a way that’s personal and sustainable?

In this session, Derek and Barbara explore what it means to become “a study of one” – how to tune into your own signals, make smarter choices, and move forward with clarity instead of overwhelm.

For anyone navigating midlife who wants a more grounded, personalized approach to longevity.

MEA founder Chip Conley sits down with sociologist, master coach, and bestselling author Martha Beck to explore what it really means to live in integrity in midlife and beyond.

Drawing from Martha’s book The Way of Integrity and her upcoming MEA workshop, they’ll unpack how we drift out of alignment through people-pleasing, cultural “shoulds,” and stale identities – and how to begin the gentle work of coming back to what’s true.

You’ll hear practical insights on reading your inner signals, questioning inherited beliefs, and making small shifts that bring your outer life closer to your inner knowing. This live virtual session is for anyone who’s curious about a more honest, joyful next chapter.