Every year, thousands of executives retire after long and successful corporate careers. But few people are ready for the journey they are about to embark on. Based on conversations with dozens of high-profile former CEOs, the authors believe that they can rely on their existing professional networks without doing enough advance preparation; We’ve identified seven common mistakes you can make as a business owner, ranging from not realizing that the actions that worked well for you could be: It will work against you after you retire.
It was midsummer 2020, and IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty had six months left in her almost 40-year career at the company. Her longtime mentor, her respected former CEO of IBM, Lou Gerstner, reached out to request a meeting. “He wanted to know how my retirement plans were going. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t even started thinking about it. I was still running the company full-time and I couldn’t find the time,” Rometty said.