7 Lifestyle Levers Assessment™
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Gerontologist, masterful coach, advisor, and accountability advocate.

Barbara Waxman MS, MPA, PCC

Barbara helps Adults in midlife and better,
align success, impact, and a life well-lived,
now and for the long run.

Barbara Waxman, founder of The Odyssey Group, is a highly sought-after longevity and leadership advocate, advisor, master coach, keynote speaker, and author. Barbara’s body of work, at the intersection of coaching, leadership, adult development, and longevity, translates cutting-edge science and collective wisdom into practical frameworks. Her mission is to help people, and the institutions that serve them, understand and act on the dynamics and potential of an aging world.

Barbara’s leadership as a gerontologist in the coaching field has culminated in the transformative coaching model Entrepreneurship Turned Inward™, the evidence-informed Seven Lifestyle Levers Assessment™, and the Longevity Lifeplan™—a framework that helps people and organizations align today’s decisions with the futures they want to create. She popularized Middlescence as a modern life stage and is advancing the Third Span™, longevity’s next frontier. Her TEDxBoston: Unlocking Longevity 2025 talk explores how we can make longer lives fully lived lives.

Barbara serves as an advisor to the Stanford Center on Longevity, Stanford Lifestyle Medicine and is a board member of ExtraFood.org. She is an Advisor and Master Faculty at MEA (Modern Elder Academy). Her insights have appeared on CBS This Morning and in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Thrive Global, Next Avenue, Marin Magazine, to name a few. Barbara is the author of The Middlescence Manifesto. She contributed the chapter “How to Avoid Burnout, Provide Exceptional Care, and Enhance Work-Life Integration” to Springer’s The Successful Health Care Professional’s Guide, and her article “Rethinking Aging: What Makes a Longer Life Worth Living?” appeared in the Society of Certified Senior Advisors’ CSA Journal.

Barbara holds master’s degrees in Gerontology and Public Administration from the University of Southern California, is a graduate of Colgate University, and earned coaching certifications through the International Coach Federation and The Hudson Institute.

Strategic Advisor

Barbara advises institutions like Stanford’s Center on Longevity, Stanford Lifestyle Medicine and serves as an Advisor and Master Faculty at the MEA. 

Gerontologist & Coach

Among the first U.S. coaches grounded in gerontology, Barbara’s evidence-informed practice marries aging science with compassionate, pragmatic coaching to create durable, real-world change.

Life Stage Expert

Often called the “mother of Middlescence,” Barbara helped move the idea from insight to life’s newest stage—and authored The Middlescence Manifesto that catalyzed the conversation.

Reframes Conversation

From challenging the “midlife crisis” myth in her first TEDx talk and introducing the Third Span™ in her latest, to expanding retirement into the aspirational “preferment,” Barbara understands language matters.

Experience, Not Theory

Barbara’s view of aging formed early while making rounds with her physician father and navigating her daughter’s health crisis. Years later, a gap year in Italy, sparked her focus on Middlescence and seeded her body of work today.

And Most Importantly...

At home with her partner, Scott, and surrounded by a growing extended family—including four grandchildren who light her up as Nana—Barbara delights in the messy, joyful work of both flourishing today and becoming the best ancestor for tomorrow.
Barbara Waxman PCC International Coaching Federation
Barbara Waxman American College of Lifestyle Medicine

"Barb is singular as a teacher. She is an outstanding colleague and a phenomenal teacher. Barb has a unique adaptive teaching style. Barb is deeply qualified and studied in her field. Be prepared, be professional, and be ready to go all the way with her because she is not f**king around. Best of all, be assured that she will get amazing results."

JEFF HAMAOUI

Chief Innovation and Community Design, Modern Elder Academy

"Barbara has the ability to capture the essence of a complex situation and build a productive conversation around it...so I can determine the best answers."

MAGNUS BAARMAN

CEO

"Barbara Waxman's empathetic and practical approach to inspiring people to embrace midlife is a marvel to watch."

CHIP CONLEY

CEO Modern Elder Academy & NYT Best Seller

"Barbara was a strong asset as I prepared to step into an executive role. She helped me confidently step into the expanded external requirements of my new role."

CAROLYN GRAHAM

Board Member

"Once I started working with Barbara, I identified ways in which I was working against myself work-wise, health-wise and even psychologically. The level of true support and concern for my well-being made it possible for me to be more creative in problem-solving across my entire life."

ALEXANDRA MORGAN

Former CEO, The Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House

"Barbara facilitated one of the most impactful exercises I've ever been through. I left the workshop with the confidence I needed to leave my unfulfilling corporate job. Barbara is a highly skilled coach and facilitator with a deep understanding of what it takes to help people move through and towards what they want."

LESLIE BARTLETT

Director Alumni Programs and Community Development Modern Elder Academy

"Barbara has a terrific tool box and is very results driven, thoughtful and organized. She helps me see different ways of viewing a situation which are transformational."

JULIE ABRAMS

Managing Partner-How Women Invest, CEO-How Women Lead

"Barbara blends together wisdom, leadership, coaching and business acumen to help you achieve your own goals. Whether it's a career transition, a challenge in your current role, a desire to create a long-term plan, or to have a Team Leadership Coach to help your team, Barbara does it all with grace, humor and incredible support."

LAURA TALMUS

Founder, Beyond Differences

"So many breakthroughs, impossible to count. Many of the things that I thought I cared about were utterly insignificant compared to what really mattered to me. She helped me attain clarity of purpose, both for "now" and for the longer-term; I was able to re-center myself on what I truly valued in all facets of my life and rechannel the courage that I deployed on behalf of everyone around me to courage in myself. "

JAYE CHEN

Board Member

"Barbara’s energy is positive and comes from practicing what she preached. Before working together my leadership felt scattered with lack of appropriate focus at time. With Barbara’s insights I have been more self-aware of my strengths and challenges and have been about to strengthen my overall leadership as a result."

MARSHA NELSON

Former Head of Independent School

"Barbara is compassionate, empathetic and challenges you to create the change you want to see so as to grow in all facets of life."

RUBEN AQUILAVECH

"Being 90, I walked into Barbara Waxman’s Longevity Lifeplan expecting to nod politely and teach her a thing or two. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead of lecturing us on the usual ‘eat this, don’t do that,’ she pushed us into real Me-Search—why we are the way we are, and how we want to be tomorrow. It was intensely thought-provoking, unexpectedly wonderful, and delivered with the kind of warmth and presence that stays with you. She’ll probably be the reason I make it to 100, and in the right frame of mind. Thanks, Ms. Waxman—check on me in ten years and I’ll tell you how well it worked."

JAMES FLAHERTY

"I discovered Barbara through Modern Elder Academy and after I did her "Five to Thrive" Quiz, I was led to her five-week "Five to Thrive" mini-course. Using her micro-steps, I now have a bedtime ritual that helps me sleep optimally; I reframed my mindset with regards to my personal energy and wiser use of time; I optimise my good stress as an engine for personal growth; my values, purpose, and behaviour are aligned to bring me joy; and I will soon be living in an environment that uplifts me. In a nutshell, Barbara's micro-steps have helped me to make significant changes in my lifestyle. As a mindset mentor to retiring boomers, I can assure you that if you are about to make, or are already in any transition in your life, you should sign up to Barbara's course before you do anything else."

GEORGE JERIJIAN

The Seven Lifestyle Levers Assessment™

Optimize for what matters most. Your energy, vitality, and well-being.

Surrounded by rigid protocols and endless data, we’re burning out in the name of wellness. The Seven Lifestyle Levers Assessment™ cuts through the noise with a science-informed approach that reconnects you with your own wisdom and lived experience. It offers a personalized snapshot that empowers you to take a decisive step toward meaningful action.

Surrounded by rigid protocols and endless data, we’re burning out in the name of wellness. The Seven Lifestyle Levers Assessment™ cuts through the noise with a science-informed approach that reconnects you with your own wisdom and lived experience. 

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Modern Elder Academy — The Consciously Curated LIfe with Barbara Waxman & Chip Conley

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