Like George Costanza who always tried to leave on a high note in an episode of Seinfeld, I always try to leave at the right time. Most of the time, it’s the right time. Sometimes it’s like the last episode of Breaking Bad. At least with Felina, there was more blood.
When you’re the brain trust of a retirement plan provider, it’s hard to step aside. When is it time to step aside and let someone else lead? When you start to have interests that are starting to dominate your time
When I had my first job, I was an attorney for a law firm run by the principals and later the leadership of a third-party administrator (TPA) when they got bought out. Our biggest problem is that we had too many chiefs to support the business. The biggest problem is that the leadership spent too little time in the office. There was one partner who was busy with his boat, which was an actual tugboat. We had another partner who had other interests especially the local country club. The leadership in the office was never around Friday afternoon and the inmates started to run the asylum. It was also a great opportunity to hit the golf course myself.
The retirement plan business is a tough business and an ever-changing business needing a lot of concentration. Over the past year, there were times I lost concentration because of outside activity and it negatively impacted my business and that’s a problem when I’m nowhere near retirement.
I’m not suggesting you should be put out to pasture because you have an apartment in Florida for those weekly 3 day weekends or you have a spouse in another country, it just means you need to step aside and someone else fills the leadership vacuum.
