Fear of Retirement

For people whose career has been central in their lives, there can be a genuine fear of retirement.  We all know stories of executives who retired and dropped dead suddenly a month or two months later.

Perhaps their raison d'etre evaporated, but perhaps they did not plan for the transition in their lives.

Officially I have been retired for several years.   I continue to teach in a graduate program, do research, and am engaged in multiple activities.    I "retired" later than the normal age, but, whether we retire at 62, 66, 70 or any other age, the fact remains that one has to prepare.

The people who think that golf (or any other single activity) will fill the void are usually disappointed.  I do know people who golf three or five days a week, but for most of us that would not provide fulfillment.

Volunteer work, much needed in many areas, is a partial solution.  So many organizations need volunteers, both secular and religious.   Two churches in my city have given up their big annual garage sale or craft sale because they can no longer get enough volunteers to organize and staff these projects.   The call for volunteers is unceasing.

If you need more income, there may be part-time jobs you can pursue that will bring in some supplementary income.  Not a lot of money but perhaps enough to pay for a vacation or pay for your Christmas gifts.

Crafting can be both fulfilling and profitable.   I know someone who designs and creates original Christmas displays like wreaths and centerpieces that she sells at craft sales each year.  I have several of her works and I treasure them.

If you are a good reader, retirement is a good time to get started on that pile (or piles) of books you have bought over the years and never had time to read.

Some people (including me) turn to writing.   A novel...a memoir...a family history...and so on...

Exercise programs designed for seniors are another example.  You have been behind on your exercise for years.   Now is the time to catch up....

Travel of course is very fulfilling, and cruises and tours are filled with newly retired (and long retired) people.   But, one cannot travel every day of the year.  Nonetheless, planning trips, going on trips, and recovering from trips take a good deal of time...
All of these are possibilities...   Exercise your imagination...  Be creative... Use your talents.

Overcoming Fear of Being a Leader

Everyone is capable of leadership, but some fear to step forward.   I don't know why.  My guess is that these individuals were not encouraged to speak up or speak out from childhood.   I suspect that the childhood tendency to hold back has extended into adulthood.  

Everyone has the opportunity to lead at sometime or someplace.  Whether at work, in the playground, at church, or any other place you can imagine.   Taking up the challenge when it presents itself is the challenge.

In the few years since I have been semi-retired, I have had more opportunity to engage in community activities.  I have seen numerous people step forward to take on leadership roles.  Awkward at first, they soon rise to the occasion and do a great job.

I once heard that fear of public speaking can be about as great as fear of dying.   I sometimes think that fear of being a leader is not far behind.

Seeking Perfection in Leaders

We all dream of the perfect leader, whether at work or in politics.   Let us face facts.  No one is perfect.   Everyone has a blemish of some sort.   With some it is more obvious.  

In politics, in particular, we look for the leader who can solve all the problems.   The glib promise much and deliver little.   The realists are more guarded in their promises and are often bypassed.

Over the years as I have participated in search committees to hire managers and executives, I have seen more than I would like of seemingly "perfect" candidates who soon turned into disappointments.  The same in politics... where disappointments are more obvious and public.

What we should look for in a leader is integrity, honesty, realism, vision, and courage.   Not perfection.   More to follow...

Detours

I began a series of essays on leadership a few years ago with an intention of writing the essays as the thoughts occurred to me and then selecting the best of them to publish as essays on leadership.    Along the way a detour occurred.   A publisher was attracted by a panel I put together for the International Studies Association asked me to put together a book on 21st century challenges in international politics, based on ideas raised at that panel in Toronto in 2014.
  
It wound up being a major project with diverse authors, some American, some from other countries, and a major effort.  Adding more authors and topics, plus a total re-write of the original essays, ensued.  Even with an incomparable co-editor, my friend Vidya Nadkarni, with whom I had put together another book a few years ago,  the amount of work was incredible.   It took over my life.
The deadline was this month.    I had to drop out of two activities (seminars) to work on this since they were morning activities and morning is my best time for writing and editing.   Some complications with my eye surgery (done last year) reinforced the fact that I could edit only in the earlier part of the day..

At last the project is completed, and I am ready to send off the manuscript.    The project is not finished, of course, since we have proofing later and the creation of the index, assuming that nothing else goes wrong.    But, there will be a respite and hopefully I can go back to my leadership essays.

Essays on leadership require insight and inspiration.  That does not happen when one is thorough engaged in other projects.  

All of this is a metaphor for the detours that confront us in life.  Whether a good detour (like mine) or a bad detour (some catastrophe in our lives or family), we are often sidetracked from our goals.  We have to work around those detours.  
Putting a project on the backburner is a process we have to accept.   Retrieving it when circumstances permit is a normal part of our development as leaders and actors in daily life.

Is It Necessary to Change Time?

I am one of millions of Americans who has trouble adjusting to the twice yearly time change.  Although I travel to other time zones, where I similarly have adjustment problems, I feel I am most affected by the semi-annual change.  It usually takes me a week in fall and a week in spring to adjust.  Meanwhile, this week I am waking up at 4, sleepy in the afternoon (often taking a nap) and not sleepy at night.    In the spring, I am a wreck early in the morning for at least a week.

For the small amount of day light gained in the morning, we disrupt our normal body rhythms.  

I always admired those states that had one time all year around.   Why can't more states or all states make the same decision?

People are tired of politicians

The interest in the non-career politicians running for president confirms what we already knew: people are tired of politics as usual.  They are tired of the Washington quagmire and of the non- performance of our career politicians.  They want something new and different.

Donald Trump with his ability to cut through political jargon with blunt, frank language is especially appealing to the disenchanted.  Dr. Ben Carson with his simple, unaffected way of speaking appeals to people in an unassuming way.
The seasoned politicos sound stale, if you are tired of the Washington gridlock.  Congress has largely abdicated its responsibilities.  The president is taking initiatives wherever he can without Congress.   Five lawyers appointed to the Supreme Court are deciding many American policy issues.

This is not the American system envisioned by the founders or their successors.   This is the American system in gridlock.

There is a power vacuum, and the 2016 presidential election is where the game is being played.  Those who depart from the traditional playbook like Trump and Sanders are getting a lot of attention.

The most likely candidates Clinton and Bush seem helpless to change their traditional playbook.
This may prove to be the most exciting and unpredictable political cycle in recent history.  I am fully engaged in the unfolding drama, although I am profoundly worried about where it is going.

Where is Leadership?

I have been away from the blog for some months.  On this Independence Day holiday, the thought comes to me:  Where is Leadership today?

We see an incredible lack of leadership in Congress.  What a contrast to our early Congressional leaders who forged a Constitution and led the Republic!

What we see now is bickering, stalling, antagonism, rather than a push to find solutions.  

The abdication of Congress has led to a more powerful Supreme Court in which 9 unelected officials, appointed for life without recall, are making decisions that in different times would have been made by Congress.   In many instances, five officials are determining basic policies.  

Justice Roberts himself raised the question:  Who do we think we are?    A basic question.   They have become leaders of policy by default.