Office and administrative support: Typically, successful professionals have a nice office arrangement, as well as a capable staff of administrative employees who know them well and may have given them personal help in addition to work support.
Decision-making authority: When you have long been a key decision-maker, it’s hard to swallow the idea that others will now make decisions without your input or guidance. You may understand rationally that someone else is stepping into your role, but grasping it emotionally can be very different.
Loss of status: Retired CEOs still enjoy a great deal more status than the average person, but nevertheless they feel subtle shifts in their community standing and access to decision-makers when they leave work. Hard-to-get dinner reservations are now hard to get.
I asked retired CEOs about their non-work-related commitments, and found they still have strong passions and outside interests. Many talked about their lifelong engagement with faith-based organizations, among other commitments outside work. These things gave them platforms for activity and purpose.
The bottom line is—you need to create a vision for your future life that has meaning for you, start to invest your time in activities and projects that draw on your talents beyond your “day job,” and then plan for the practical realities as well.
A Few Tips
There are a number of things you and successful clients should do to prepare for a life after work.
1. Ask yourself: Are you too committed to your current professional identity? Is your identity so wrapped up in your professional role that you fail to develop other meaningful roles and pursuits? Even if you recognize your overcommitment to one role, addressing it immediately may not always be practical. At the very least, you should find ways to enrich and broaden your professional roles when you can. For instance, you should make opportunities for yourself in your current position to engage in both analytical work and mentorship (at the team or individual level).
2. You must develop other interests. To do this, extend the roles you play in work or family. For example, get involved in leadership positions with your industry trade association or serve on the board of your kids’ school or at a small, local nonprofit. Ideally, over time you can broaden your outreach to invest yourself in athletic interests, hobbies or civic organizations that are fulfilling to you.
3. Take planning seriously. You should give real time and thought to how you will fill your days when you are no longer leading the business. Saying you’ll just play golf is not sufficient, unless you are a passionate golfer with friends who share interest in the sport and can push you to keep growing your skills.