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Kenneth Lehman Recognized as "Purpose Prize Fellow," Joins Ranks of Social Innovators Over Age 60 Leading with Experience
Fellows Solve Social Problems, Disprove the Notion That Innovation is the Province of the Young and Demonstrate What’s Possible in an Aging Society
Evanston, IL, July 3, 2007 -- Civic Ventures, a think tank and program incubator helping society achieve the greatest return on experience, has designated Kenneth Lehman, chairman of Evanston-based non-profit Winning Workplaces, as one of 40 2007 Purpose Prize Fellows. The Purpose Prize is a three-year, $9 million program investing in Americans over age 60 who are leading a new age of innovation to solve critical social problems in the second half of life.
The Purpose Prize seeks to shine a light on the critical work of individual innovators and combine these individual efforts into a wave of social entrepreneurship that could transform America.
Winning Workplaces was founded in 2001 by Lehman and his family following the sale of auto parts manufacturer Fel-Pro, Inc., which was nationally recognized for its innovative people practices and outstanding financial performance. In creating Winning Workplaces, Lehman aimed to provide small and midsize organizations, both for profit and civic, with information, consulting services, and networking opportunities to help them build great workplaces.
"I am flattered to have been named a Purpose Prize Fellow," said Lehman. "This is wonderful validation for Winning Workplaces' efforts to illustrate the benefits to employees and to the bottom line of creating great workplaces. Civic Ventures is to be commended for identifying people who find their 'second career' in the civic sector so worthwhile and gratifying."
The Purpose Prize supports Fellows by helping develop their capacity, linking them with funders and venture philanthropists and connecting them to other social innovators over 60. The 2007 Fellows will meet for the first time at an Innovation Summit cosponsored by Civic Ventures and the Stanford Graduate School of Business's Center for Social Innovation, one of the world's leading academic centers focused on social entrepreneurship. The Summit will take place November 10-12 on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, Calif.
Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Civic Ventures — co-founder of the Purpose Prize and author of a new book, Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life (PublicAffairs Press, June 2007) — says that Kenneth Lehman and other Fellows represent big changes in how boomers and older Americans approach work.
"As baby boomers leave their midlife careers and continue working into their 60s, we are experiencing the biggest transformation of the American workforce since the women's movement," says Freedman. "One of the most interesting and significant developments from this transformation is the emergence of social innovation and entrepreneurialism from people over 60. And there are no better examples of these pioneers than the Purpose Prize Fellows."
In Encore (www.Encore.org), Freedman outlines a new stage of life between the end of midlife careers and the beginning of true old age, introducing a new stage of work — the "encore career" — that combines continued income, new meaning and greater impact. Prize Fellows, Freedman says, "show that social entrepreneurship, once thought to be mainly the province of the young, can also be a path to vibrant encore careers for those in the second half of life."
Civic Ventures (www.civicventures.org) is a think tank and program incubator working to help society achieve the greatest return on experience.
Winning Workplaces
Winning Workplaces is an Evanston, IL-based not-for-profit, whose mission is to help the leaders of small and midsize organizations create great workplaces. Founded in 2001, Winning Workplaces serves as a clearinghouse of information on workplace best practices via a website and a monthly e-newsletter; provides seminars and workshops on workplace-related topics; and, helps organizations assess their workplaces through employee surveys and other feedback tools.
