 |
|
|
|||||
When Sergey Brin spoke at Stanford Universitys school of engineering centennial celebration recently, the Google co-founder was open about his career mistakes. When you have your cool new wearable device idea, really fully bake it before you have a cool stunt involving skydiving and airships, he joked, referring to the infamous Google Glass flop. But one misstep he admitted to might surprise a lot of people who dream of the day they can quit their 9-to-5. I actually retired like a month before COVID hit, and it was the worst decision, Brin said. He was such a failure at retirement that he has since returned to everyday work at Google, spearheading its efforts to catch up in the AI race. Going back to work just for fun might sound like a uniquely billionaire move. But a stack of research suggests that Brins dissatisfaction in retirement and subsequent decision to return to work isnt that uncommon. His story contains an essential but often overlooked lesson that can help anyone better plan their retirement. Why Sergey Brin unretired Like many people, Brin had a relaxing vision for his post-working life. I was gonna sit in cafés and study physics, which was my passion at the time, he told the Stanford audience. Fate intervened in the form of Covid. But Brin wasnt dissatisfied with his retirement just because he was locked in his house all day. I was just kind of stewing and felt myself spiraling, not being sharp, he recalled. After the Google offices partially reopened, he started going in occasionally. Eventually, he started spending more and more time on what later became called Gemini, which is super-exciting. To be able to have that technical creative outlet, I think thats very rewarding, as opposed to if Id stayed retired. I think that wouldve been a big mistake, he added. Retirement struggles arent just for billionaires Brins issues with retirement are his own. More people dream of days on the golf course than pouring over physics textbooks. But Brins feelings of listlessness and intellectual decline are not at all exclusive to billionaires. When researchers from European business school Insead surveyed entrepreneurs who had gone through a big exit and become financially independent, they discovered many decided to retire. And many soon regretted it. It is perfectly normal to discover that life post-financial freedom isnt as happy as one might have expected it to be, the researchers summed up. Its not just restless entrepreneurs. Another recent study of retired Japanese salarymen revealed similar patterns. Having given so much of themselves to their careers, they often felt unmoored and purposeless when they left their jobs. Their retirement was characterized by boredomhaving nowhere to go to or having nothing to do. The sense of boredom led to a sense of isolation and low confidence in old age, explained study author Shiori Shakuto. Adherents of the popular financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement scrimp and sacrifice to retire early. Only for many of them to discover their dream of post-work life does not match reality. Several have written about the experience. If youve spent decades in a career working 40 hours a week, its hard to suddenly stop working. Many early retirees feel uncomfortable feeling unproductive. As a result, they unretire to work on something meaningful. Its easy to get bored with 40 hours of extra free time a week, wrote ex-FIRE early retiree Sam Dogen in one such blog post. A good retirement isnt all about money All of this evidence, as well as Sergey Brins experience, point in the same direction. We tend to think of a successful retirement as a numbers game. If you save enough to be comfortable and indulge in whatever activities you enjoy, the end of working life should represent the start of the golden years. But all the people involved in these studies were set financially. Brin has a net worth north of $200 billion. Clearly, money is not the issue. The problem is purpose. As Brins fellow billionaire Bill Gates recently wrote: As life expectancies go up, many people are living for years and even decades after they stop working. That sounds like a luxury, and it is in a lot of waysbut it is also a lot of time to fill. Gates fills his time with philanthropy. Brin is back to building AI. The rest of us will probably not spend our post-work years doing anything as grand. But the same truth applies. If you think only about finances and not enough about how to meaningfully fill your days in retirement, youre probably not going to enjoy yourself much. You also might, in Brins words, feel less sharp. Science has shown having purpose helps stave off dementia as well as boosts happiness. Sergey Brins lesson for te rest of us This doesnt mean we should all work until we drop, of course. Instead, experts insist the essential takeaway is the need to plan for meaning as well as money. Its never too early, or too late, to start thinking about what you would want to do after achieving financial freedom. What would you do with your money and time? the Insead researchers ask. So the next time you check the balance of your retirement savings account, take a moment to think not just about how much you will save, but also how you will spend your time. As Sergey Brins unretirement reminds us, even billions of dollars cant guarantee you a good retirement if you dont plan for purpose in your post-work life, too. Inc. This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister website, Inc.com. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
Category:
E-Commerce
They say job hunting is just like dating. Some are taking that advice literally. Job market so bad Im using Hinge to find work, one job seeker posted on TikTok in December. Sharing a look at her dating app profile, in place of a photo of her best angle, she instead uploaded a snapshot of her résumé. Answering the prompt a life goal of mine, she wrote to find work in the creative industries. Since it was posted in December, the video has gained almost a quarter of a million views. In a recent update, the TikTok user shared that Hinge has since taken down her profile for breaking their policies. But she is not the only one. Others are also using this unconventional method to get their profiles in front of hiring managers. One claimed to land a six-figure job from a match on Bumble. Sometimes I use hinge to match with people in my career field and ask if theyre hiring, another posted. Its called being resourceful, innovative and bold, they wrote in the caption. As sites like LinkedIn are overwhelmed with applications and employers rely on AI résumé screeners, applicants are finding creative ways to get their foot in the door. In a recent Glassdoor community pool, 29% of respondents said that they were using or considered using dating apps for career purposes. While networking on dating apps isnt new, it appears to be a growing trend. A ResumeBuilder.com survey of about 2,200 U.S. dating site customers in October also found a third of dating app users had used the platforms for job or career-related purposes in the past year. Nearly one in 10 say it was the primary reason they used dating apps, with the most common platforms being Tinder, Bumble, and Facebook Dating. Its not just those hoping to break into entry-level positions. Almost half of those using dating apps for job-related purposes reported incomes of more than $200,000. For many, the strategy has paid off43% say they gained mentorship or career advice from networking on the apps, while 39% landed an interview, 37% received a referral or lead, and 37% received a job offer. One survey participant called the new job-hunting practice weird but effective, while another said, It worked, but you need the audacity to ask. Of course, the lines quickly become blurred when seeking employment in an environment designed for hookups and romantic pursuits. Especially if theres a power balance at play. But desperate times call for desperate measures. It now takes more than 23 weeks on average for an unemployed person in the U.S. to find a new job. For one in four unemployed people, or 1.8 million Americans, they are still job hunting six months later. Long-term unemployment is now at its highest level in three years. Under these circumstances, its no surprise job seekers are turning to any means necessary to find new connections. And hey, its better than the inverse: anyone using LinkedIn as a personal dating pool.
Category:
E-Commerce
The annual NFL tradition of firing the head coach as the season ends continues. This year, 10 top coaches got the axe, a staggering 31% of all NFL coaches. And they include football legends like John Harbaugh, after 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, and Sean McDermott, who took the Buffalo Bills to the playoffs in eight out of nine seasons. Firing the head coachjust like firing the CEO in the business worldis the easy answer, and it looks good in the media: decisive, forward-looking, taking action. But, most times, this act alone falls short of fixing the problems that contributed to an organizations failures. PART OF A SYSTEM In reality, the CEO is part of a system, and its the system that matters. You can have a B player CEO with a great team and board and deliver significant performance and culture gains. Alternatively, you can have an A player CEO with a weak board and team and fail spectacularly. If you only focus on fixing the CEO, youre not focused on the right problem and cant get to the right solution. Yet CEO turnover is at its highest level in more than a decade, according to a 2026 Spencer Stuart study reported in The Wall Street Journal. In fact, approximately one in nine CEOs were replaced in 1,500 large companies in 2025, including the CEOs of Disney, HP, Lululemon, PayPal and Procter & Gamble. Disney illustrates the downside of this. Just ask Bob Chapek. Sure, he had a rough three years as CEO of Walt Disney Co. before the board summarily fired him and brought back his predecessor, Bob Iger. Disney stock, at $125 a share when Chapek took over in February 2020, had fallen almost 40% to $90 by the time he got the axe on November 20, 2022. Iger arguably is one of the best CEOs in decades, and he rebuilt the company with incredibly successful acquisitions (Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Star Wars, the Muppets). But his two years back at the top were less than stellar: Disney shares are up 17% since he took over, while the S&P media and entertainment index rose 99% in the same period. Obviously, Chapek alone wasnt the problem, just as Iger alone wasnt the solution. Rarely is the executive at the very top solely responsible for what went wrong. It owes to a multitude of weaknesses: illogical organization models, conflicting agendas, turf battles, reporting structures that dont align with the company strategy, and communication lapses. There is rarely an objective assessment done ensuring the board is aligned with a new CEO or a new market entry for what success looks like, and the structures and talent required to achieve that success. This is especially true in the unforgiving and bottom-line-obsessed world of private equity (PE). The biggest myth in PE (and pro football) is that if you get the CEO right, and you get the strategy right, you will get the numbers you want on the scoreboard. Every CEO is encumbered by their surroundings. A PE board is possibly 50% of the CEOs success or failure, and in my experience, a lack of alignment between how each part defines success is a root issue. Leaders of PE-funded businesses must also operate under very compressed timeframes that leave little room for exiling and replacing a CEO. By the time the CEO has been exiled, it can be even harderor too lateto drive a successful outcome. A TEAM APPROACH This is why, again, even B player CEOs with strong teams and supportive boards find success, while A-rated commanders often falter with the wrong organization structure and fractured boards. The CEO is but one part of a whole system that must play well together, including the board, key team members, business partners, core customers, and suppliers. Yet highly intelligent and competitive people often miss their biggest and most controllable opportunity to ensure their CEO is positioned for success. That is to better manage their own decision-making, accountability, and communication as board members and teammates and ensure the organization is designed for success. Alice Mann is founder and CEO of Mann Partners.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||