By JC Abusaid, CEO/President as Featured in Forbes
National Retirement Security Month is on the menu for October, and it’s a good time to reflect on your retirement goals and check in with how well you’re implementing them. As a business leader, your retirement impacts not only you and your family, but your company’s future as well. Orchestrating how you and your firm will continue to thrive when you exit requires scrupulous planning.
The whole notion of retirement needs to be reinvented, and for individuals, I think we should probably rethink that word.
It stubbornly carries those connotations of life suddenly thrown to a standstill. When you relinquish your leadership role, you’ll be moving forward, transitioning to other desired pursuits: new challenges, adventures and opportunities you didn’t have the time to seize while working.
CEO tenure and retirement age has been increasing over the past several years. While it may seem distant for you, the time will eventually come. Think about the people you work with and those you’ve trained; you want to ensure that a healthy business is there for them—and that they can steer it ably when you’re happily engaged elsewhere.
The Right Time To Start Planning To Step Away Is Now
As a business leader, you should already be engaged in succession planning, singling out the next people to train and involve in leadership roles. Whoever takes your place needs the mentoring, exposure and experience to succeed.