The CEO’s Guide to Retirement – Tips and methods for preparing before and after retirement are very important for working people in this era. This does not only apply to the position of CEO, but also to everyone and every position in the organization.
In Thailand, retirement is something we don’t have to decide for ourselves or think about much. Just seeing the word retirement, we can easily interpret that the person must be over 60 years old. The retirement we are talking about is not all that it should be. In fact, you can retire at the age of 40 or you can retire at the age of 30. So if you think you are satisfied with your work and have come to the end of your desired life goals, or you think that you will spend the rest of your life, no matter how many years, relaxing, this is what is called true retirement.
“After retirement, I don’t really know what to do next.”
Simon was a CEO for 15 years and CFO before the age of 30. He has turned down countless private and public companies. The companies he owned and worked for quadrupled their profits and grew their revenues fivefold. Then he sold his company to someone else and is now considering retirement. Although he is an all-around great at planning and managing his company, there are many CEOs who have no retirement plan or may not even consider it.
“Most executives, what they focus on is running the company.”
More than a hundred CEOs retire from S&P companies each year. And while there is a succession process after that to find the best CEO to succeed him or her, preparing him or her for the position is not just a matter of telling him or her to do it. The job of the former CEO is to hand it over to the next person, to the point where some people feel like, “I’m so focused on being CEO that I’m not taking the time to figure out what I’m going to do next,” says Scott Derrickson, former CEO of UPS. They’re telling us that retirement is like a black hole in the road as they’re driving fast.
“After retirement, CEOs will have to contend with the loss of power, dignity and great responsibility.”
More than a quarter of Fortune 500 CEOs are involved in private business. More than half hold leadership positions in nonprofits and nearly all are charitable organizations. Two-thirds serve in public service. Many teach and some are writers. For example, former Northrop Grumman CEO Ron Sugar writes, “The first few days after retirement feel like you’re falling down an elevator shaft.” But as Ron says, those days are only the first few days. Almost all CEOs agree that they are very satisfied with their post-CEO lives. They enjoy the pride of their retirement positions and the relief of being off the corporate calendar.
But getting through the period of ending a role that has been working for more than 10 years is not easy because each person’s two or three days or short period of time is not the same. From research, there are methods that can be recommended to CEOs who still lack a retirement plan to use as a guideline to survive falling into the black hole of retirement as follows:
1. Plan to deviate from your usual path:
Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express, suggests that CEOs start planning their careers while they are still CEOs. Think about the things that matter to you that you haven’t done, seen or experienced yet. Plan around those things instead. Don’t ignore them because of your current job role. Ken also suggests starting with business, philanthropy and family. Once you have the answers, even if you don’t know what you should do, you should know what really matters to you.
2. Give yourself time:
A common mistake CEOs and senior executives make when they are starting out in retirement is that they rush to fill the void and say yes too quickly to everything. Ron recommends saying “no” to everything offered to you for the first six months. Usually, the first offer you get is not the one you want. Businesses need negotiation, so it’s smart to say “no” often and then “yes” slowly.
3. Prepare yourself:
Retirement is not like planning or playing the business game you used to, so even the most confident CEOs are not used to it and have to ask themselves, what should I do with it? If you want to make retirement easier, you need to know who you are when your role as CEO is over. Take some time to reflect and consider the human side of you, your personality, or your temperament. This is a deeply personal question that you have to ask yourself in your role, not in your role as a CEO. So ask yourself, “What will I enjoy after I retire?”
4. Partner with your partner:
One of the most important things about being a CEO is balancing business and family expectations. Sure, your spouse will be waiting patiently for you to come home every day, and in this role, you can’t say no to a family outing. All of the CEOs who participated in the study reported that after retirement, they wanted to plan to spend more time with their families and end the long wait for unlimited time together.
5. Assume the role of a mentor:
Another loss that CEOs find hard to overcome isn’t their business competitors, but their people. Scott says that the people she spent time working with and who she helped develop have disappeared over the years. She doesn’t see them anymore. To fill this void and use her experience to help others, she’s turned to mentoring startups and anyone who wants to be interested. She’s also mentored women, and that’s where she fills the void, and she finds herself reaching out to people more than she ever did in her role as CEO.
6. Plan your time allocation:
You might want to try writing down how many days in a year you want to work and how many hours per day you want to work. For all the interesting activities you want to do, it will take you to a limited capacity, or in simple terms, time. Sometimes the activities you want and the time you have may not match up. So determine how much work you want to do, how much time you want to spend with your family, and how much time you want to spend on your hobbies. This will only be successful if you are able to try things you have never done before during your time as a CEO.
7. Give back to society:
Now is the time to build a foundation and diversify your wealth. Almost every CEO interviewed for the study, such as Ken, a museum board chairman and member of the Harvard Corporation, and Ron, a University of Southern California trustee, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and member of the UCLA Anderson School of Management Board of Visitors, said Bill Weldon. “On the philanthropic side, retirement offers a greater mental and emotional reward than the money we earn from our for-profit work.”
With these seven tips in mind, any CEO or senior executive can navigate the most difficult stage of their career: resigning. You can help by supporting the transition, offering planning guidance and practical support. High-performing CEOs who are fully committed to the success of their company deserve to receive significant services. But above all else, to truly resign, you need to have the courage to resign!
Conclusion
Each year, many CEOs retire from their jobs. More than half of them end up falling into a black hole of emptiness. The busy road you used to drive on every day has now reached its destination. The next way you can go is to stop here in emptiness or change your path. You may turn left or right to move forward again, but it is time to say goodbye to the path.
Although it is difficult, retirement does not have to wait until you are 60 years old. It does not have to wait until the day you hand in your resignation letter. You can do it today, step by step. Think of it as another game that challenges you. How well can you plan for your retirement? Will the new path be as challenging and enjoyable as when you were a CEO? It all depends on your plan now.
“The opportunities are many. If I have the opportunity to understand the retirement world before I retire, I will be able to put my plan together in a few months instead of years.”Jeff Kindler
Reference:
The CEO’s Guide to Retirement by Marc A. Feigen and Ron Williamsn Williams
