The calendar had emptied. The phone had stopped ringing. The executive assistant no longer managed his schedule. For the first time in decades, a former chief executive faced days without meetings, decisions, or corporate crises demanding his attention.
“All of a sudden… I wasn’t connected to anything. I found that very unsettling,” he confessed to researchers. “There were some days where I actually thought I was going to sort of fall apart completely.” This jarring sense of dislocation wasn’t unique to him. Another retired CEO admitted: “I miss not having an office to go to, not having people or office colleagues to talk to.”
These candid admissions come from a study by Mark Lamberti and Charlene Lew of the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria. Their research, published in the journal Personnel Review, examines the psychological void that engulfs many chief executives when they step away from positions that have defined their identities for decades.
Lamberti brings a unique perspective to this research. After a 33-year executive career leading major South African public companies including Massmart (which he grew from a struggling chain of six stores into a retail giant later acquired by Walmart) and Imperial Holdings, he experienced this transition firsthand. But after retiring Lamberti turned to academic research. The study is derived from his doctoral thesis, and it analyzes interviews with 17 retired CEOs from South African public companies, uncovering the complex process through which these former executives rebuild their sense of self.
While retirement is a significant transition for anyone, the research reveals that CEOs experience this shift differently than most employees. Their former roles granted extraordinary autonomy, visibility, and influence. Their decisions impacted thousands of lives. Their opinions carried tremendous weight. When this environment suddenly vanishes, many struggle to recalibrate their sense of identity.
“For a high-profile C-Suite executive, retirement is arguably one of the most dramatic life events, comparable to divorce or the loss of a loved one,” Lamberti told Business Insider Africa. “The loss of the title, status, network, support structures and relationships associated with a senior executive role forces us to ask and answer the existential question ‘Who am I?.”
Surprisingly, despite their long-term planning abilities, most CEOs in the study had done little preparation for the psychological aspects of retirement. They had focused on their legacy as the outgoing CEO, regarding the company’s performance, succession planning, and concluding transactions, leaving themselves unprepared for the identity void that followed.
We associate identity with particular groups, including organizational affiliations. When these affiliations end, many individuals experience what researchers call “liminality” – a psychological “in between” state where one finds oneself caught between their old identity and an undefined new one.
The Six-Element Framework: How CEOs Rebuild Identity
Lamberti and Lew’s research identified a structured process through which former CEOs reconstruct their identities. The researchers categorized this journey into two major clusters – liminality and identity emergence – containing six interconnected elements that operate simultaneously rather than sequentially.
The first cluster, liminality, begins with what researchers term “epiphanies” – sudden realizations about the magnitude of the change they’re experiencing. These moments force retired executives to confront essential inquiries about their purpose and value. One participant described this period starkly: “There was no diary, and nobody was talking to me. And so, what next?”
These epiphanies initiate awareness of “role identity cues” – signals from family, former colleagues, and society about expected retirement behaviors. Every participant expressed intention to emphasize relationships with spouses and family members, though several discovered troubling misalignments in expectations. “You quickly find out that there aren’t many common interests,” one former CEO admitted about his relationship with his spouse.
The third element involves evaluation of resources – both tangible assets like financial security and intangible ones like health, relationships, and professional expertise. “I’m very fortunate. I have the biggest advantages. I am healthy and I know how to lead,” emphasized one participant, highlighting health as the preeminent resource.
The second cluster – identity emergence – reveals how former executives begin constructing new roles. First through “sensemaking,” the cognitive work of interpreting their new reality and imagining potential futures. “What I’m trying to work out now is some of my personal passions,” explained one participant.
Next comes “narrative construction,” crafting stories that bridge former and future identities. Numerous respondents consulted widely during this phase, seeking validation from trusted advisors.
Finally, “identity enactment” involves testing new roles and behaviors. The researchers found that several executives cycled through iterations of “provisional selves” before finding comfortable identities. Some explored long-postponed passions while others found meaning in advisory or philanthropic roles.
This six-element framework resonates with broader identity theory research. Teresa Amabile, in a study published in Work, Aging and Retirement, similarly found that successful retirees often engage in “identity bridging” – maintaining aspects of pre-retirement identity while exploring new possibilities. A 2020 University of Queensland study similarly demonstrated that adjustment to retirement depends significantly on people’s pre-retirement engagement in non-work activities and relationships
What distinguishes Lamberti and Lew’s research is their focus on CEOs specifically, whose extreme work role attachment and accumulated resources create a unique retirement environment.
Beyond the C-Suite: Implications for Organizations and Individuals
When Lamberti retired after his 33-year executive career, he observed a striking pattern among his peers. “I observed a wide disparity between the post-retirement lives of retired public company CEOs. Some seem to be fulfilled, active, alive, and well. Others were retiring to the coast, playing golf three times a week, and you couldn’t quite have a conversation with them in two or three years’ time. Their lives became very small,” he said.
This observation became the genesis of his doctoral research with Charlene Lew and the recent paper. Their findings carry significant implications for both organizations and individuals navigating the retirement transition, particularly for high-ranking executives whose identities have been deeply intertwined with their professional roles.
For organizations, the research suggests that companies might better serve retiring CEOs by providing structured support for the cognitive shift, not just the practical handover. This could take the form of comprehensive retirement planning programs that address self-concept rebuilding alongside financial preparation. Many corporations invest heavily in executive onboarding but devote little attention to the equally critical “off-boarding” process.
For individual executives approaching retirement, the research offers a crucial insight: preparation for mental and emotional adjustment should begin well before the actual transition. “Only when you have clarity on who you are beyond your executive work role and relationships, can you start to define your retiree identity,” Lamberti advised.
The study’s limitations suggest directions for future research. The sample primarily included male CEOs from South African public companies, creating opportunities for comparative studies across different contexts, industries, and demographic groups. Long-term longitudinal studies could track how personal redefinition evolves over extended periods, beyond the four-year window examined in this research.
But what makes Lamberti and Lew’s contribution particularly valuable is its reframing of retirement not as an endpoint but as a complex process of psychological reconstruction, which, when properly traversed, can lead to meaningful personal growth and continued societal contribution. In an era of increasing longevity and changing work patterns, understanding this process becomes increasingly important not just for executives but for all professionals facing major career transitions.
As one study participant summarized: “Rather than have your life revolve around ‘work really hard and then take brief moments away for exploration,’ [you] have more and more exploration, but still have something that is going to keep you occupied and thoughtful and contributing.
