The General Counsel’s Last Great Brief: Preparing for Life After the Title

Abstract

Research increasingly shows that senior professionals struggle not with the financial mechanics of retirement but with the psychological vacuum that follows it. A recent study published in Harvard Business School’s Work, Aging and Retirement found that retirement transitions among senior knowledge workers involve a profound restructuring of identity, relationships and purpose, rather than merely a change in employment status. Another study on executive retirement described the period after leaving leadership roles as one of “liminality” — an uncomfortable space between relevance and reinvention.