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.