From Boardroom to Backpacking: Redefining ‘Busy’ After Corporate Life

Hello, lovely readers!

“So, are they taking it easy now?”

If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard this about brilliant executives who’ve transitioned from their C-suite roles, I could fund a jaunt to South America! The assumption that shifting gears means slowing down is perhaps the greatest misconception about life beyond the corporate ladder.

The truth is rather marvellous – these accomplished professionals aren’t slowing down at all. They’re applying their hard-earned skills in wonderfully diverse new contexts, creating a delicious kind of busy. The sort that has them bouncing out of bed at silly o’clock rather than hitting snooze and groaning at the thought of another strategy meeting. It’s the intoxicating freedom of deploying expertise on projects they’ve thoughtfully chosen.

The Great Evolution: Redeploying Skills With Purpose

There’s this peculiar notion floating about that after a certain age, professionals should gracefully retreat from meaningful work. As if all those decades of hard-earned expertise should be shelved alongside the family photo albums and that questionable pottery one made on holiday in Cornwall.

Rubbish, I say! Absolute tosh!

Take James, for example. The day after his farewell office party (where he managed to deliver a speech without getting emotional – a miracle given that he tears up at Bake Off finales), he woke up with a bizarre feeling. For the first time in decades, he had complete autonomy over how his professional skills would be deployed. No corporate constraints. No rigid objectives set by others. No performance reviews measuring things he didn’t particularly value.

“I felt like I’d been handed the keys to a kingdom I’d been preparing to rule my entire career,” he told me over a particularly good cup of Earl Grey. “Terrifying and brilliant in equal measure.”

From Corporate Calendar to Skills-Based Ventures

Consider how your future calendar might look compared to your current schedule. While now it might be a battlefield of competing priorities – client meetings, internal reviews, those endless “quick catch-ups” that are never quick and usually involve someone’s interminably dull holiday photos – your future calendar can be both full and fulfilling in dramatically different ways.

Margaret, a former CFO with a wickedly dry sense of humour, now has a beautifully balanced week:

Mondays: Consulting with a sustainable start-up, applying her financial expertise to help them scale (while keeping their souls intact). Tuesdays: Mandarin lessons (she’s determined to order dim sum without pointing at pictures within five years). Those skills are already proving valuable for the international education charity she advises. Wednesdays: Hiking with friends – because physical and mental fitness go hand in hand, and she’s determined to conquer the Three Peaks without requiring helicopter rescue.

The difference is striking. Everything in her calendar now aligns with her values and leverages her skills in ways that feel meaningful. “And not a single meeting,” she says with a grin, “that could have been an email.”

When Professional Skills Find New Purpose

It’s rather wonderful watching how executive toolkits find magnificent new applications in these next chapters.

Richard, a former Strategy Director with an obsession for colour-coded spreadsheets, now deploys his planning abilities helping a community land trust develop affordable housing in his village. “Same skills, better sleep,” he quips.

Charlotte, whose Chief Marketing Officer role had her jet-setting across continents, has found her presentation and persuasion techniques remarkably effective when securing resources for the education charity she advises. These skills proved equally useful when haggling in Mediterranean markets during her newfound travel freedom, though her limited Spanish meant she accidentally bought seventeen pomegranates when she only wanted one. They made excellent gifts for bemused neighbours.

A former COO’s ability to chair difficult meetings has found new life in running a social enterprise incubator. It turns out getting consensus on corporate strategy is remarkably similar to helping social entrepreneurs align their mission with market realities – just with fewer PowerPoint slides and more genuine passion.

“I’m using the same skills,” says William, a retired Finance Director who now runs financial literacy programmes in schools, “but the rewards are immeasurably greater. When a 16-year-old tells you they’ve started their first savings account because of your workshop – that beats any quarterly results presentation I ever gave. Though I do still use laser pointers unnecessarily, old habits and all that.”

Finding Your “Skills and Purpose” Match

The beautiful thing about this next chapter is designing it entirely around where your hard-earned expertise can create the most value and personal satisfaction.

Some executives thrive using their strategic skills for social impact ventures. Others find their analytical abilities perfect for research roles at universities. Still others discover that their leadership capabilities translate beautifully to mentoring young entrepreneurs – without having to sit through their performance reviews.

David has transformed his engineering expertise into designing sustainable housing solutions while tending his magnificent vegetable garden in between client projects. He’s never been happier or more impactful. His courgettes, however, remain stubbornly underwhelming despite his precise calculations for optimal growing conditions.

Jeanette has leveraged her legal career into political activism with an energy that would exhaust people half her age. “I’ve spent decades being diplomatic in the courtroom,” she says with a glint in her eye. “Now I can channel that persuasive power directly into causes I care about.” Local councillors now approach her with a mixture of respect and mild terror, particularly after she arrived at a town hall meeting with a binder indexed to fourteen different planning regulations.

The point is finding that perfect match between your professional superpowers and personal passions – creating a rhythm that leaves you feeling as intellectually engaged as ever but with greater autonomy and purpose.

Envisioning Your Skills Evolution

For those of you reading this while still climbing your career ladder – perhaps in your 40s and wondering what comes next – here’s a gentle nudge: start envisioning your skills evolution now.

What might your “Future Skills Deployment” list include? What expertise are you developing now that could be applied in exciting new contexts a decade from now? Which parts of your current work would you happily continue doing, just on your own terms?

These lists typically include:

• Strategic planning (later used for non-profits and start-ups)
• Mentoring professionals (becoming a cornerstone of your week)
• International partnership development (perhaps paired with that language you’ve always meant to learn)
• Public speaking (redirected toward causes you’re passionate about)

What expertise might you redeploy in your next chapter? It’s never too early to start daydreaming during particularly tedious budget meetings.

Remember, you haven’t invested decades developing valuable skills just to abandon them once you’ve earned the corner office. You’ve earned the right to deploy your expertise more purposefully, more joyfully, and more impactfully – designing your contributions on your own magnificent terms.

Until next time

P.S. Next week I’ll share the story of an executive who tried paddleboarding at 60 as part of his commitment to physical adventures alongside his consulting work. Spoiler alert: He spent more time in the water than on the board, but claimed it was “strategic immersion research” and hasn’t laughed so hard in years!