What happens when you're old at 20?

The Globe and Mail recently ran an article on the perils of professional athletes and the dilemma of whether to retire on not in their prime. While Gordie Howe retired at 52, most professional athletes look on their late 20s as the good old days.  The recent retirement of Quarterback Brett Favre shows that proper planning is necessary, even with a complete game plan for life on the field. When asked at the career ending announcement media conference what he would do to bridge the transition, Favre replied flatly, "Nothing."

Rather than taking ownership of the process he simply waited to see if his body would let him continue or not.

For pro athletes, the person retires but the career dies. Finished. "Athletes are over-identified in their roles, and when those roles are gone there is a loss of self" states Scott Tinley a two time Ironman winner who lectures on sports at San Diego State University.  

If we move to a different field of competition we see a similar effect on top corporate executives. The late 40's to early to late 50 year brackets are now for many executives akin to the final season on the gridiron. They are confronted with the knowledge that they will not see the CEO's office in their future and that travel and stress are not as easy to brush off. This can often account for a rethinking of the future and what the possibilities might hold. Do they stay where they are and hope to hang on? Tune out and dis-engage? Start consulting - which for some will work out but for others will be a huge mistake, or look at a late career move to hopefully recharge the batteries.

Daphne Woolf, a Toronto based HR Consultant warns HR departments to pay "special attention" to 40 somethings with 15 years tenure. "They are probably not the same person they were when they started with the company" states Ms. Woolf. "They may have a family, new hobbies or interests, additional responsibilities and a nagging feeling that they are missing something."

In our experience in dealing with this demographic the first thing that strikes me is, they don't know they are a "group." Employees, especially men are often reluctant to discuss their feelings of dissatisfaction with other employees let alone their employer and prefer to complain in private.

Woolf states that the first thing to do with this group of 40/15s is to "bring them together. Have them share their stories, ideas and individual situations with each other and their employer and collectively brainstorm on solutions that will challenge and excite them over the next 20 years."

As part of the Possibility Predictor section of The Best-Half we help our clients and workshop participants to zero-in on what some of the specific possibilities could be. By providing a list of approximately 50 possibilities for ways to increase engagement at work (the list keeps growing every time we do this exercise) non-brainstormers can choose their possibilities and then spend their energy implementing their possible future.