BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Known for encouraging leaders to accept a new challenge in the second half of their lives, Bob Buford, chairman of The Leadership Network, recently launched a newsletter generated from his Web site: www.ACTIVEenergy.net.

Based on his other work encouraging and empowering those nearing retirement age to find significance in life beyond their success in work, Buford's newsletter is aimed at "converting the latent energy in American Christianity into active energy."

"I intend to find out what's out there," Buford wrote on his Web site, "and to report it to you in a variety of forms." The Web site and newsletter are both key ways Buford intends to communicate his findings.

Buford says he is interested to find what he terms "an emerging heroic population" and to find mid-life people who are ready to transition from success to significance.

"Right now we're caught between a material culture and a more meaningful culture," Buford told the Leader to Leader Institute in an interview. "Churches, nonprofit organizations and community agencies should see the opportunities of this heroic time."

He encourages leaders to sign up for the free e-mail newsletter at: ACTIVEenergy.net.

Buford is chairman of the board of The Buford Foundation/Leadership Network and, until the sale of his company in July 1999, served as chairman of the board and CEO of Buford Television, Inc., a family-owned business that grew into a network of cable systems across the country. A classic entrepreneur, Buford has authored four books including: "Half Time," "Game Plan," "Stuck in Halftime," and "Finishing Well."