Approaching retirement as the flexibility phase

Abstract

Executive Overview Managers and executives approaching retirement are often reluctant to quit. Frequently, they do not know what to do next. Retiring executives can be more innovative if they consider their retirement as entering the flexibility phase of their lives, a time of continued contribution and potential gratification. The flexibility phase is the retirement stage in which managers experience more freedoms of time, location, activities, and opportunities. For a successful transition into retirement, managers need to examine and talk over their feelings and options. Their successors need to understand both the predecessors' conflicts and their own. Together they can make a mutually satisfying transition.