55? RETIRE?

In the formal sector of the business world, 55 years old is the  mandatory retirement age for almost all companies. Some companies even have programs for helping their aging employees in preparing their personal life after they retired.

But for those of you who are now approaching 55 or maybe for those who have just turned 50, what do you think about retirement?

Many people in the 55 to 60 age bracket are actually still in their peak productive period. Some of them treated this commonly called ‘golden period’ as the timing to be the best they could. Especially for those leaders in their family own businesses, there is no such retirement and they can continue as long as they wish. Most of them indeed continue striving for excellence in their fields of interests. They think that they must finish the ‘journey of the thousand miles that they have started with the single step. Sure that they still have the energy and also the passion for achieving the best possible  thanks to their desire and determination.

However, is it wise to pursue such a route to excellence?

Was this attitude also contribute to the failure in many family own businesses to have proper succession?

Experience, lessons learnt, and more importantly the wisdom gained over the years is actually what so valuable from people that have excelled in what they do.

Step down? Not really but many successful people that are still productive in their 70s have eventually slowed down and stepped aside when they were in their 50s. They adjusted their life and generate plan of action using those experiences and wisdom they have. They did not retire but they were not doing the same thing that they have been doing for years. They were instead sharing their experiences and wisdom. They were preparing their successors and they went through the REFIRE!! by learning new things.

I was having a face to face meeting with the Executive Director of one of the conglomerates in Indonesia earlier this week. In fact, they have succession planning as one of their top priorities when I asked him about the challenges faced by the business.

For all the employees and professionals, retirement will be something that will come eventually but remember to REFIRE before retire.