A dentist's hands began to shake

Christina Wing's longtime dentist, around 75 years old, showed signs of age-related neurological problems: trembling hands, dropped instruments, shuffling.Patients noticed.

The practice collapsed within months

Frustrated by his father's refusal to retire, the son quit to join a new practice.Patients fled.The father's hygienists and assistants lost their jobs.The father and son stopped speaking.

Organizations avoid these conversations

Wing, an advisor to family-owned enterprises, says many people are reluctant to discuss aging, retirement, and succession due to employment laws and good manners. Instead, organizations pretend workers are ageless and skills never decline.

Biden's decline showed the cost

The Democratic Party's reluctance to discuss Joe Biden's decline in 2024 provides a vivid and costly illustration of how badly organizations can be hurt when they do not talk about these issues openly.

Baby Boomers founding companies stay on

Wing sees the same pattern in companies, especially as Baby Boomers who founded companies enter their eighties and see no reason to step down. The problem grows as people live and work longer.

A new way of thinking is needed

Organizations need a mindset that emphasizes candor and transparency, recognizes the risks of someone staying in a role too long, and acknowledges that many people will be happier if they plan ahead for a professional…

Separate succession from age assumptions

Some professions like airline pilots have mandatory retirement ages. In organizations without those norms, smart managers focus discussions on role requirements, performance, development, and organizational needs, not birthdays or tenure.

Make succession an ongoing dialogue

Good managers normalize regular conversations about growth, readiness, how long someone might remain happy in their current job, and what their next one might look like. This applies to employees at any age or role.

Talk about identity and purpose

When leaders struggle to step aside, the issue is often fear of losing their identity, meaning, and purpose.

Treat the next generation as a factor

Even high-performing leaders may need to move on to allow the next generation to develop.Doug McMillon stepped down as CEO of Walmart at age fifty nine partly because his successor was ready.

A European businessman in his nineties

A European IT company cofounder served as CEO until sixty five, then became chair. Company bylaws required him to step down as chair at seventy five, but he keeps asking for five year extensions from…

“I have no idea”

His staying hurts the company

Wing's MBA students conclude he should have retired years ago. His insistence on staying creates confused leadership, diminished growth opportunities for management, uncertainties around speed and risk, and family confusion about roles and responsibilities.

Gera Developments did it right

Gera Developments, a real estate firm based in India founded in nineteen forty seven by Pritamdas Gera, shows how to handle succession well.

Rohit stepped aside at fifty five

In two thousand twenty, when Rohit was just fifty five years old but had been leading the firm for twenty seven years, he initiated a change in leadership.

Everyone thrives when leaders step aside

Today everyone involved in Gera's succession is thriving, and so is the company. It is led by an experienced nonfamily professional with energy and enthusiasm. Younger family members are being groomed for eventual leadership roles.