Nicholas Lore

Nicholas Lore has spent more than forty years exploring one central question: How can people consciously create lives that are deeply fulfilling?

His own path was anything but conventional. Born in a small, secret Appalachian community in Tennessee where his father was working on creating the atom bomb, Lore later lived in Greenwich Village during the creative upheaval of the 1960s, where his neighbors were Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. He studied psychology, anthropology, Eastern philosophy, literature, and music, while becoming fascinated by people who found unusually expressive ways to live.

For years, however, he had no clear direction himself. He worked as a blues musician, psychology researcher, well driller, manufacturing plant manager, entrepreneur, and head of an energy-conservation company.

In his thirties, searching for a more fulfilling direction, Lore became convinced that the existing methods for helping people make major life and career choices were inadequate. Around that time, inventor and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller became an important mentor.

In 1981, Lore founded a national career design institute, created the field of Career Design, and invented what came to be called career coaching.

Over the next four decades, he spent more than 40,000 hours working directly with thousands of people making consequential choices about their futures. His clients included members of President Obama’s Cabinet, corporate leaders, physicians, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, young people making their first major life choices, and people with a limited sense of direction.

The first edition of his book The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success (white cover) became a national bestseller. He later wrote Now What?, for younger people choosing their first direction.

Over time, Lore came to see that Career Design was really part of a larger inquiry: how people can consciously design a life that fits who they are and what matters most to them.

President Bill Clinton commended him writing:

“I am heartened by your efforts to empower people to lead productive and fulfilling lives...The success of this…revolution will ultimately depend on the dedication and commitment of individuals who, like you, care deeply about helping people reach their creative and productive potential. This represents the kind of effort our country needs in order to meet the demands of a global economy.”

— PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON

“He’s an innocent.”

— THE GRATEFUL DEAD (meant in a positive way)

“You are a better father than I’ve been.”

— DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK

His newest book, The Life Designer: How to Build a Life That AI Can’t Replace, brings that larger inquiry into a world being rapidly transformed by artificial intelligence.

The ideas in The Life Designer are not theories about how people ought to live. They are principles Lore has spent much of his life testing, teaching, refining, and living.