Sports related blogs: implications for business executives:
- Green Bay Packers vs Miami Dolphins: Corporate fit vs. Adaptability
- Ruthless fight to win mindset and why remote works for corporate executives
- Reasons why you shouldn’t worry about competition on the internet
- Quietly quitting and top performing remote work
Examples of Sports Professionals and Retirement Decisions
Often these events happen near retirement. In sports, decisions to retire can be forced quickly. And, played out in the public limelight. Can business executives learn valuable lessons from their equally competitive professional sports athletes and coaches?
Failing to retire timely can stain forever, one’s legacy for generations to follow. Just think for a moment these major competitions:
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
- Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes
- Super Bowl XVII, Giants vs. Patriots
Retirement Decisions and Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns
These career takedowns are frequently viewed as examples of The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns. This economic theory suggests “after some level of capacity is reached, adding an additional factor of production will actually lead to smaller increases in output.” The temptation and enticement to stay on just little bit longer for the diminishing benefits is often too hard to weigh objectively.
As in professional sports and careers in general, the key is to retire while you are ahead, and leave when you’re on top. Sure, there are those who are so uniquely talented that they can extend their careers, change fields / teams (Tom Brady), leagues or divisions. Largely without tainting their lifetime achievements (Bill Belichik), maybe? But, their experiences are often the exception and not the rule.
Business executives: psychological aspects on the decision to retire
What do I know?
Maybe the Rosetta stone is to find the sweet spot on the last quartile of your professional career? To identify the point in your career between (a) you aren’t coasting to oblivion until the end to (b) you are stressing every little detail, aspect, function and form of a task, job, project or company to continue to maintain your stature (relevance) to society to the point of death.
Research from Harvard Business Review (HBR) informs us there is a lot of psychological baggage to unpack when top tier professionals determine when and whether to throw in the towel and if and how they should keep ‘pushing it’ (themselves) to the limit.
- Self identity. The identity of top ranked performers can be so wrapped up and tied to their profession, career and accomplishments that they can experience an identity crisis. Meaning, they are at risk of losing sight of the essence of who they are without a prominent career to carry them along.
- Sense of Purpose. Have you ever wondered why a person with the surname ‘Blacksmith’ excels at welding steel? It is frequent that first rate executives report gaining a deep sense of purpose from their work-related activities. “I was born for this,” you may hear them saying. Or, “I have answered my calling….. I am achieving my divine destiny.” If so, the sense of purpose derived from their work is unmatched and is believed to be unfulfilled through other pursuits.
- Being Needed, Respected and the Center of Attention. We are only human. This is true for first-in-class business executives and professional sports athletes. When we’re at the pinnacle of success, we hate to give up our status. We like being the center of attention, the ‘go to person’ and the executive known for getting things done. Belichik dating a woman who is 1/3rd his age may be one example of the need to be the center of attention; maybe not to millions anymore but to someone who truly needs him? I’m reminded of the song, “You don’t have to be a star baby, to be a star in my show.”
4 tips corporate executives may consider when retiring
There are several ways in which superior professionals can dial it down in the last quartile of their professional careers (before making an abject fool of themselves). HBR recommends using the 4A strategy.
- Alignment. In psychology we call this an alignment between your real self at the present moment to your ideal self. The aim for true mental health and not pathology is to ensure that the two selves are flush or as close if not fully meshed as possible. For instance, I was a pageant model in my teens which was my real self many years ago. While still somewhat attractive, my real self is no longer the teenager I picture as my ideal self decades later. To take this concept further, one should always conduct a self assessment and as they adapt to the changing environments and working conditions, we must modify the pictures of our ‘real’ self AND ‘ideal’ self frequently to keep up with the times.
- Awareness. Psychologists too, identify self awareness as a critical piece of mental health. The ability to recognize our own thoughts, behaviors, and feelings and aligning them with our values and current environment is one key to life. Often hard chargers are very self aware of our distinct abilities and are keen to develop the weakness we perceive we can influence through self improvement. At the same time, we may apply temporary bandages to fix superficial signs of aging and not think twice about the underlying speed with which aging can negatively impact the last quarter of our professional lives. Reflectively, we may turn a blind eye to our internal thoughts of advancing age hoping no one else notices if we don’t notice it either. Isn’t that the strategy we’ve used all of our lives to get ahead? Going full speed ahead, like we are still built like a Ferrari Formula One race car (fast, sleek, smooth, stylish, unbeatable), when our internal engine handles like a Ford Pinto, AMC Gremlin, or Uno? How can we force ourselves to accept our new selves with complete awareness?
- Regularly updating your professional career profile; not only so that your professional contacts can readily identify you in a crowded room but for keeping it real for yourself too!
- Before coloring gray strands, take a full account of yourself to admit you are aging physically. Does this mean you take on the persona of a 20 year old or do you act your age? While age is just a number, it is true that as one ages, society intuitively expects a heightened level of maturity; signs of which can’t be covered by mere hair coloring or facial procedures.
- Before adding Botox, taking weight loss medications, or investing in surgical procedures, take a full inventory of the associated physical strength, cognitive focus, and mental stamina that may be weakening or declining; and do something about it.
- Establish and maintain a friend group and social network of supporters who will always tell you like it is.
- Adaptability. Routinely take a mental scan of your work environment and demonstrate adaptability skills. Robert Kraft said one of the reasons Coach Belichik was fired is he failed to adapt. So, while we fixate on the superficial cosmetic aspects of youth and virality; we need to dig down deep beyond topical skin layers. Take care to maintain our youthful thinking. Safeguard our deep capacity to evolve, express creativity and embrace novel concepts with vigor. Often as we age, particularly superior, exceptionally ranked executives, our ‘tried and true’ methods of engagement that have brought us many promotions, accolades and awards, just don’t cut it now. So how is it possible to demonstrate adaptability skills?
- Upskilling and partaking in lifelong learning of latest technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and even improving soft skills.
- Trying new hobbies and developing new interests.
- Joining new work committees, task forces and similarly aligned professional associations to get a different perspective on your work.
- Becoming more adept with differing opinions from people who look like you but represent a different region of the country (east vs west; rural vs suburban; elite vs flyover) or differing cultures.
- Agency. This is the last HBR suggestion. Basically, the researchers advocate for “proactively making necessary changes.” Like, maybe self selecting to end your career. Before “having a debilitating accident or getting laid off before they can voluntarily retire.” I often wonder why Queen Elizabeth II did not retire before her death to make way for her son, Prince Charles to take the throne. Or why President Joe Biden accepted the mantle to run in 2020? When professionals of advanced age refuse to make the giant leap into retirement, it is oddly similar to young adults in their 20s who remain living with their parents for fear of failure. Or, for fear of the unknown. This is the last thought a top-notch, fearless, courageous, and outstanding professional with a solid history of accomplishments wishes to add to his / her legacy. “he or she feared the unknown.”
Utilizing the Force Multiplier Effect to Aid in Decision-making
Failure to voluntarily enter the next stage of life is a sign of weakness. A refusal to meet life on its terms. And a failure to go all in to fearlessly and voraciously fight a battle in which you are not assured you will win. As we age, let’s not become wimps marshalling in our own unfortunate demise. Let’s instead use our last quartile of strength, energy, knowledge and wisdom to advance the prospects of the next generation following admirably behind. In this way, we will not fall victims of the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns but become a Force Multiplier.
In military terms, the Force Multiplier Effect, is defined ” [as] a factor or a combination of factors that gives personnel or weapons (or other hardware) the ability to accomplish greater feats than without it.” In business finance and labor economics, Force Multiplier Effect, “broadly refers to an economic factor that, when increased or changed, causes increases or changes in many other related economic variables.”
One can only imagine how the unemployment rate of male young adults between the ages of 22-34 could be reduced if only workers of advanced age would mentor and/or make way / open doors for their young counterparts. Or how the American birth rate could be increased and the mortality rate declined when men between the ages of 34-54 have a brighter hope for their professional futures.
Older men are needed now and ever before in this society to help guide young men along their professional careers and life paths. Which may be much more of a positive value add to a legacy when a memoriam is crafted to chronicle the end of one’s life.