When Anna Quindlen retired from writing her regular column at Newsweek, she suggested that at age 56 she needed to do so to make room for a younger generation to take her place.

At VibrantNation.com, we were confused. We felt that Quindlen might be giving into the same stereotypes that have made regularly silenced women over 50 because only younger women matter. Why else should a women who is only 56 (to quote Quindlen) "step aside?" We even offered her a job.

When Ellen Goodman recently at age 67, she did so in a very different way – and one that suggests a better way to talk about lifestage transitions for Boomer women.

Acknowledging that she and women like her find themselves on "on the cutting edge of another huge social change" (the longevity revolution), Goodman writes that "We don't have a label yet to describe early, active aging. But many of us are pausing to recalculate the purpose of a longer life. We are reinventing ourselves and society's expectations, just as we have throughout our lives."

I suspect that Quindlen and Goodman (both of whom won Pulitzer Prizes for their work) will actually approach the next stage of their lives with a similar sense of adventure and possibility – at least that's what we see women like them doing every day at VibrantNation.com. And each of them addresses the "longevity revolution" as the reason women at their lifestage can find new choices – but Quindlen describes it as an obligation while Goodman describes it as an opportunity.

But there remains a big difference between the two – and an important one for marketers to consider as well.

Quindlen sounds almost like an old-fashioned martyr, quoting the child who told her, "You guys just won't go," and then following the younger generation's instructions.

In contrast, Goodman celebrates the changes ahead, quoting her younger self who once wrote that "the Graceful Exit...involves a sense that we are moving on rather than out."

Women will be moving on as they enter an exciting and very different lifestage than their mother's or grandmother's knew, and those who employ or do business with them will do better by celebrating that passage and the adventure ahead than by congratulating them for moving out of the way. more flash forward»