Inside Mark Lamberti’s Research: The Hidden Struggles of Retired CEOs

Mark Lamberti has uncovered the struggles of CEOs with his doctoral research and says they stem from a lack of community and relationships outside of work.

For many, retirement represents the culmination of decades of hard work and sacrifice, offering years of relaxation and the opportunity to tap into our most pressing passions. For CEOs, retirement can unfortunately represent something different, with executives often falling into regressive patterns and feelings of anxiety and self-doubt upon exiting the C-suite.

As an accomplished CEO with over 30 years of experience in the C-suite, Mark Lamberti has long seen the difficulties his peers face when they transition into retirement and has sought to understand this phenomenon as someone who wholeheartedly embraces the fulfillment of his golden years.

Channeling his curiosity into academia, Lamberti has devoted a large chunk of his retirement to post-graduate research, recently receiving a Doctorate of Business Administration from the University of Pretoria’s prestigious Gordon Institute of Business Science.

His doctoral thesis, “Exploring Postretirement Role Identity Emergence in Public Company CEOs,” is nothing short of a full-scale investigation into the root of the struggles faced by retired CEOs and how these struggles can be overcome. Lamberti has spent years observing and interviewing CEOs throughout South Africa to discern differences in approaches and emotions toward retirement, and has come up with a variety of compelling insights.

“First of all, an observation that I’m sure everybody has seen is some people seem to retire and they go and buy a place on the coast. They go fishing or play golf three times a week, and you can’t have a stimulating conversation with them for two years. There are other people that retire from high-pressure jobs and they end up living full lives, [with] multidimensional interests,” Lamberti explains.

“I wanted to understand how people make the important choices that define their post-retirement life phase and that was the objective of my research. I also felt that a good subject for my research was chief executives of public companies, because they were operating at such a level of intensity for various reasons,” he continued.

Reassessing Retiree Relationships:

Throughout his research, Lamberti saw a stark disparity between the adjustments of CEOs with strong relationships and identities outside of work- whether they be a non-executive director of another company, a family man, a sports club member, or leader of a charitable organization- versus those whose entire identity was their work role. Those who spent the last years of their positions focused on closing out the last big transaction, grooming their successors, or sustaining their legacy had not applied their minds to the challenges that might follow the transition to retirement.

“They’re operating with a support infrastructure, with a reputation, with a status, with an interface with various stakeholders all the time. And then they retire and the next day there’s no emails in the box and no one calls. So it is quite a shocking experience,” Lamberti reflects.

As we all experienced during the COVID-19 Pandemic, work is a major source of socialization. Without it, it’s easy to fall into regressive patterns which are only amplified in CEOs accustomed to being the arbiter of conversations and decisions. Without deliberately fostering relationships outside of work, CEOs are too often left out to dry, as many of who they interact with, Lamberti posits, are deal friends- those who formed relationships on a transactional basis.

“You cannot underestimate the social dimension of work,” he reiterates. “Every single day in our work environment we interface with people. A lot of it is very pleasant. Sometimes it’s a little bit challenging. But the real fact of the matter is, it is a social interaction and there’s a lot of research to say that 60% of our happiness comes from interaction with other people. Now, suddenly that stops and who are you going to interact with? And you quickly find out who are your real friends and who are your deal friends.”

Identifying Post-Retirement Identities:

To prepare for this potential struggle, Lamberti cautions on the importance of taking the time before you retire to consider things like who you want to spend your retirement with, and this often requires developing and defining your post-work identities. While many CEOs have relationships and roles beyond their primary designation they don’t allow themselves to fully embrace these roles in the way that they do with their work, often resulting in a lack of connections or purpose.

“Has your identity been defined by your role or your company? Or has your identity been defined by your family relationships? Are you still a father? Are you still a spouse? Are you still a friend or whatever? Has your identity been defined by your non-work friendships? You might still be the same woman at the golf club, or the same guy in the fishing club, or the same person in your church community,” Lamberti explains.

While this can be an arduous effort later in life, it starts by viewing yourself beyond your business card and maintaining a balance between your job and your external roles and identities. This balance is the only way to make space for fulfillment outside of work and sums up Lamberti’s research.

“My suggestion is [to] nurture your identities beyond your business role. Don’t let your business card define you. Understand who you are in your different roles beyond your work life, as a spouse, a parent, a friend, a sports person, a community member, a philanthropist,and a mentor. Those are distinct identities that can firm a foundation for the creation of a retiree identity of fulfillment and meaning,” he urges.

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