You retired fairly recently as CEO of the Corcoran Group. Why did you decide to leave while at the top of your game?
I certainly could have stayed on there forever, but I wanted to see what the next chapter held. To be honest, it was much more exciting being on the inside looking out than on the outside because I found it to be a tremendous challenge to reinvent yourself. But, nonetheless, it was a real test of confidence to choose to lose the power of a position -- I didn't realize how quiet it would be.

Did your own retirement inspire you to write on these subjects of retiring and real estate?
No, not at all. Every person I had been speaking to in the last five years, regardless of age, was thinking about [retirement], if not acting on it. So I thought, here's a great question to attack and try to come up with some meaningful answers.

Did you find that people are looking forward to retirement? You write about how people today don't want to slow down like their parents' generation.
I found that in many conversations, no one wanted to be associated with the word retirement. It has become a dirty word along the way because with it comes so many old images of inactivity, lack of purpose and lack of usefulness. Frankly, in trying to figure out a title for the book, which, for me, is always the biggest challenge, I looked up the word retirement to see what alternate words there were. If you read the words that describe retirement, there isn't a single positive word in the dictionary. So I really set out to try to redefine that word, and I tried not to use the word in the first draft, but it's almost impossible to avoid using it.

If you had to synthesize a really important piece of advice from your book and give it to someone on the brink of retiring and pursuing a new lifestyle, what would you say?
It's more people advice than real estate advice, but one of the most important things is that you really have to have a place that parallels your personality. You shouldn't look to be fitting into a place; you should look for a place that wraps you well, inspires you and answers some of your concerns and satisfies some of your fears. I think a lot of people pick out a place based on little information, little research and very often because another friend moved there. I just think the place has to inspire you so you're looking forward to the next chapter as being better than the last vs. settling down, which is a lot of people's approach.

In "Nextville," you cover a lot of different post-working lifestyle trends, such as moving to another country or settling down in a college town to live "young." From the experience of writing this book, is there a particular trend that you felt has the most potential for growth?
One of the more recent trends is finding and pursuing your passion, finding what really floats your boat. I think more intelligent people are really stopping, pausing and questioning that. I blend that in with finding your purpose in life because a lot of people have had tremendous financial success and have the money and wherewithal to do something else, but they feel empty. Many people that we interviewed fell into that category. In fact, I would say more people fell into that category than anything else -- people who felt they had succeeded by anyone's standards in life but felt empty because they didn't feel like they had served any real purpose.

Did anything surprise you as result of researching and interviewing people on the topic of retirement?
I think just how many people didn't want to go somewhere [new surprised me]. So we were left with that question and thought that was a hole in our book until we thought about revamping where you are so it suits you going forward. I was shocked that so many people fell into that category because why wouldn't you want to go somewhere else?

It's probably an understatement to say you've been hitting your stride for a while now and encountering all kinds of success. At this stage of it all, who or what inspires you to accept new challenges and not rest on your laurels?
The honest answer to that is insecurity inspires me. I became so accustomed in my career to not only being in the limelight, but also creating my own limelight to bring the business ahead. I became accustomed to a lot of attention, and I didn't realize I had become addicted to it. I also found that I loved being looked up to. I think if you're not in the public eye, you could be forgotten, and that thought terrifies me. That's what gets me going and pushing and knocking. Also, the sheer joy of accomplishing something and then getting the feedback from people motivates me. Today I walked in from being away for four days skiing with my husband, Bill, and I was so behind in my work: I have four "Today" show segments that are half-written that are on air this week. And what do I do first? I look for e-mails from people who tell me how much of a difference I've made in their lives. I mean, that wasn't an "A" priority, but I hadn't gotten my fix for four days. Then, from that I thought, "Wow, what a difference I'm making," and from that I banged out some of my best work ever because I was high on that adrenaline rush from thinking I made a difference in people's lives. So that's what gets me going; it's not about emulating somebody.

It's obviously working for you. Now, what do you consider to be one of you biggest challenges?
For me, the biggest challenge is my dyslexia. I am eternally fearful of people thinking I'm stupid, and I think my whole career was nothing but a long, tedious attempt to prove I'm not stupid. I know, of course, I'm not stupid or else I couldn't have led an organization and built it. For me, the most fearful thing was being asked to read out loud, you know, at the age when kids read out loud. When you have that kind of fear so well ingrained, you learn to be a preparer. So it's ironic because the biggest thing I was afraid of is really my greatest forte because I'm the most organized, well-prepared person, short of maybe my mom. Maybe some people get over [having dyslexia], but for me, it's been a real challenge. I'd like to slay that dragon, but I don't think it's ever really gone.

Despite the difficulty, you must have become an example and inspiration along the way to other people with dyslexia.
Without a doubt, and that's the most satisfying part of the work that I do, when I can talk to a dyslexic school graduating class, which I'm asked to do all the time. I've come up with a gimmick, which is so effective. I've come up with a running list of all the successful people in the world, from business to the arts to any field. So I tell my little [life] story, and because no one really wants to hear advice at a graduation, I just say, "Now let me read you a few names of dyslexics you may have heard of." Then, I just slam them with one name after another, and they think it never ends because I go on for 15 minutes. There's rarely a dry eye in the crowd, and I'm doing it intentionally to slam the message home. I don't think it's just dyslexia -- it's anything that gets in your way. But it's a powerful lesson to hear about the people who overcame [challenges].

Besides books, TV shows and real estate, what else do you do with your time?
First and foremost are my kids. My son, who just turned 14, and my daughter, who just turned 2, keep me busy, and then I have my third kid -- my husband, Bill -- who is high maintenance. I don't have a lot of friends, but I have the greatest friends in the world. I probably have five, maybe six, really good friends, and most of them have been friends for years. I spend time with my friends, playing with them, eating with them, cooking with them, whatever I can do with them because, honestly, it's sharing the good times that for me are my best memories. I do whatever I do with my family and friends because I'm not a good loner, being the second-oldest of 10.

By Jon Tollestrup

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