I have somewhere packed away a frosted glass with The University of Louisville logo on it and their schedule from the 1985-86 season. On that glass it shows that Iona College played at the #15 Cardinals on December 10 (Louisville won the game 88-75). That’s it. Nothing of significance for anyone else but me, but that significance that night resonates to this day.
At age 23 I was thrust into a job I probably shouldn”t have had at that point, Sports Information Director at Iona College. The Gaels had lost their guy, Tom Didato, only a few weeks before Pat Kennedy’s team was to start the season, and my mentor Mike Cohen, convinced athletic director Rick Mazzuto to take a chance on a young person. He did, and while it was baptism by fire for me, it helped launch me on a career I had no idea about.
The reason that Louisville game was so important to me was not because it was under the bright lights and big media exposure that the Cardinals and coach Denny Crum had, it was because it was the first of several lessons I got to learn in the business from the person who was on the other side. His name was Kenny Klein, and that day were in Louisville, he took a wiseguy from Brooklyn with a great new job and talked to me like a colleague, with grace and poise and a smile as if we were on the same level…which we were not. Kenny was well into his career, I was just some kid getting started, but I never forgot that interraction.
We stayed in distant touch over the years and reconnected when he arrived at St. John’s with Rick Pitino, maybe one of the best moves the coach has made since he joined the Johnnies. Having a seasoned pro, a trusted advisor, and someone who has been in the fire and come out on the other side on his staff to help manage the media onslaught of New York. We sat together at the Big East Tournament two years ago, and I told him the story of the Iona game and how it helped shape my career and thanked him for his humanity and his calmness that December night. He told me about how this new act was fun and challenging as he adjusted to a temporary life in Queens, and how grateful he was to have a second act.
That was Kenny Klein, someone who loved his work and the people around him, who treated everyone with respect and dignity and was a valued insider to the biggest names in a volatile business. As many know we also lost Kenny in a tragic accident this week, and his vacancy will leave quite a void, but his examples of how to conduct oneself are timeless.
I raise all this, and that frosted glass, as an example of how Second Acts are so important these days. The last few weeks we have continued to see the axe fall as teams and leagues and media properties retrench as the end of six months of 2026 arrives. Add in all those new to the job market, a still uncertain economy for many, the advent of new technologies, and no matter where you work today, especially if you hit a certain pay grade and an age, job security becomes an issue.
If you work for a publicly traded company, heads roll as the stock price fluctuates; it’s less a statement of you, and more of a statement on the way business is done today. It happens to most at some point.
It may not be what you did yesterday or will do tomorrow, but there is a role for everyone, and that role is defined by who you are, not where you work.
Transitioning to The Second Act.
This week I was at the World Cup and got to check in with my friend and colleague Mark Fratto. Another Kenny Klein disciple, Mark has transitioned from the communications side to the media side to a great public facing career doing Public Address among other things, and there he was at the mic at the former MetLife Stadium doing what he loves, the PA for the World Cup! What a way to land at what’s next. I remember the late David Stern talking about his second act, as an investor/mentor/entrepreneur when he would speak to groups, and he mentioned how much he was enjoying the new opportunities that were abounding in his time after he retired from being Commissioner of the NBA.
I have a friend who became a baker after she left a career deep inside communications businesses, another who found a passion running a B and B after years in the financial world, another who has run a successful summer camp after decades on Wall Street.
All have their challenges but all, as well as many others, found a way to have financial means, manage their time, and put joy and purpose back into their lives after years of status quo, no matter how financially success they were.
For me, 18 years into a second, a third, a fourth act, it actually happened much closer to the age of a retiring athlete (45) than most people who have been hit by downsizing, large salary cuts, business failures or just austerity in recent years. However my second act, working for myself, didn’t come without angst, fear of the unknown, and a removal from a comfort zone at its core.
So for those who are now looking for a second act, or who are being forced into a second act of a new chapter, some thoughts.
Sometimes the path chooses you. You have to be open minded enough to see opportunity, or see opportunity presenting itself and be willing to be curious and try something a little different. We may want to always stay to the safe route, when in reality there might be an opportunity that will be a little off center using the skills you have that can open a whole new world for you.
Take stock of the skills you have. I hear this so often…I’m a good salesperson, or I know how to work in finance…all important, but what other skills do you have that can help jumpstart the second act? Can you write well? If you are parent how do you help manage time? Are you a finance whiz? Often times we are so caught up with the day to day we fail to see the skills we have amassed that translate into needed opportunities. We are all pretty good at multitasking and being utility players from time to time…where do those positions now fit on a new field?
Passions are nice, but they also have to pay the bills. Often times we hear people say “follow you passions” but those passions may not meet a career goal that gets you through the next stage. More than passion, you have to find balance and practicality. Understand what you want to do, use, create or enhance skills, and see if the dollars work. Often times the passion tied to the finance can work out…not perfectly, but melding the interest with creative balance can bring an interesting solution.
Don’t Get Caught Watching The Paint Dry. I often realize people who I have not heard from for years are getting pushed out or getting ready to move out when I get emails from a Gmail account not a work account and they say they want to talk or catch up. Many may see the handwriting coming or have been warned, but many still are too caught up in the day to day and get caught without the next chapter starting to form. In today’s fluid workplace, especially when you reach a certain age or pay grade, you are susceptible, and unless you own the business, you can always be replaced for cheaper, younger, different. Now it’s not good to be going through life being defensive or paranoid, but you have to be realistic, hence listening, being a curious adaptive learner and sharpening the tools for the job toolbox are must haves on the to do list, no matter how secure you feel.
Lastly. Joy. The second act should have a quality element of joy vs drudgery. It is a great chance to rethink, retool, reimagine, reinvent and refine. Take stock in what brings you pleasure at work, what makes it NOT work, what is important in the culture of where you work and maybe most importantly, who you work with and what you do. I see too many people jump into a second act that is boring, costly, or lifeless because they just needed to get something. Instead, the second act should be the culmination of all the experience and wisdom and skills you have gathered, with a bit of a reframe. And a piece of that reframe is pleasure in place. You have to enjoy what you do after all the time you put in, and joy and return on your time don’t have to be mutually exclusive. They should meld together.
For those who have been forced to move I feel for you, it’s unfortunately part of life, but that part of life is in the past now. The new job is finding a job and redefining your life, and while doing that thinking about the balance and what is important in getting you from point A to point B. You can’t be defined by where you work; you are defined by who you are.
Trust me, been there. It’s not easy ever. But if you have positive human capital, it will pay off because of who you are, not what you do. and when you move on…
Kenny Klein found such a joyful, unplanned, probably disruptive second act with Ed Kull, Rick Pitino and all the folks at St. John’s. He told me that day at MSG, it wasn’t planned, but he went with it and boy was he enjoying the ride again. I too feel very lucky to have redefined things a few times, and I continue to, and those “Louisville Lessons” stay with me to this day.
RIP Kenny, your humanity will live on through so many much more than your work. Your ‘second act” as well as how you lived your opening one, is an example for all.
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