I found you by following the insightful post you made on blog article “How the Recession and Social Media Parallet Each Other.” http://microgeist.com/2009/03/how-the-recession-and-social-media-parallel-each-other/

I left a Corporate job after almost 30 years in 2007 at the age of 48. I too thought I would retire, relax and spend time with my family. I have done many of those things, but have found myself bored way too often. I’ve been doing a lot of volunteer work and had wonderful time with my family.

The time off gave me the opportunity to take a 5 week road trip with my family (a wife and 3 kids, then ages 15, 13 and 10). I also had the privilege of being my mom’s full time care giver during the last 4 months of her life. A real gift I was given by not working full time.

I plan to follow your blog/website. Social media is still a bit new to me so not sure if I’m visiting your blog or a website.
[rq=116791,0,blog][/rq]Branson, MO Trip

Your observations of Boomer Executives scream “Mid-life transition” when looking through the lens of Carl Jung’s theory of individuation. Jung’s theory is that there is a pattern to the way we age and that mid-life is the time when we separate from the collective to move more toward Self. Most Boomers, given our age, are in this stage of life.

Jung’s theory of psychological type would suggest that based on our personality type, there are 4 general patterns with regard to how we face our mid-life transition. It colors the questions we ask and the direction we take. Boomer Executives would benefit from some coaching on MBTI type and type development.!

Your observation about the fear of irrelevance is astute. So many business owners define themselves by their business and contemplating their exit is to contemplate their own mortality — so doing nothing becomes the plan. In the most unhealthy example of succession planning gone awry, business owners do no planning knowing full well that on their death their business will fail. Only a narcissistic business owner will attempt to manage their reputation and legacy from the grave ensuring that even in failure they are celebrated for their own magnificence. The truly great business leaders know that timing an exit from a business is as important as know when to start or invest in one. In western culture we fete longevity of a firm as the goal. In reality a business, like everything in the natural world has a beginning middle and end. The smart money always knows how to find the end before the end finds them. Congratulations on a great blog…I follow succession planning through Google Alerts and you have taken business owners beyond the usual bla bla bla……succession planning is always positioned as a tax strategy and misses the key points that you raise. Well done.