Age, Ego & Let Go: Too Senior to Stay?

😎 When I was thirty, I played squash regularly. In one of the Brussels clubs I was a member of, I remember a coach from New Zealand. This coach was twice my age, played in a cricket sweater and didn't sweat a drop. He barely moved but hit every ball with precision.

What was the difference? Age and experience. With age, you learn to save your strength and operate with more precision and less loss.

🔞 Age offers the chance - potentially - to develop experience, to build networks to mobilize the right resources. It reduces the need to prove oneself. It brings “wisdom”, that virtue that enables us to distinguish the important from the trivial.

🤲 Another aspect is creativity and innovation. On this point, my feelings are mixed. There's no evidence that age makes you more creative. After childhood, we tend to lock ourselves into patterns of thought, and I see a lot of young people who end up being very conventional. Beyond the freshness of youth, there's no guarantee of open-mindedness or creativity.

So what are the reasons why a senior person might leave or stay? Does ego stand in the way of a good decision?

📽️ Let's look at the different scenarios :

- PUSHED OUT: you're sidelined, for more or less explicit reasons: too expensive, no longer in tune with management or shareholders, hard to maneuver, associated with a past that needs to be erased to create a new image.

- PULLED FORWARD: You feel the need for change and the desire to write a new chapter in your life. You want to turn over a new leaf. Your achievements and your age can serve as an alibi.

- PUSHED FORWARD: You want to pass the baton to a new generation, so you're entering a handover and mentoring phase. You can, for example, join the board of directors of a start-up.

- STEPPING OUT: You have a serious health problem, or simply feel that your abilities are diminishing and that you're becoming a liability rather than an asset. You decide to retire.

- PULLED OUT: driven by the desire to “enjoy” life. This is both a great opportunity and a trap if you haven't defined what “enjoying” life means to you.

- STUCK: the state of your finances also gives you an idea of what's possible and what's not. As an old French-Dutch singer once said, sometimes you start singing again because you're having trouble making ends meet.

- UNFINISHED WORK: you want to finish something. This can drive you to continue, judiciously, or prevent you from making the wise decision to stop in time.

⚖️ There are two philosophies when it comes to career management: “I don't make calculations, I seize the opportunities that the universe presents and que sera sera”, or conversely “I have a career plan that I diligently implement”.

In reality, neither works as such. The truth lies in a combination of the two.

😇 What about you? Where are you now?

Whatever stage you've reached, I wish you good luck with your reflection and your career plan.