Life After an Executive Role: How a Mentor Prepares You For What’s Next
Stepping away from a CEO or C-suite role is one of the most profound transitions in a leader’s life. For years, your identity, rhythm and relationships have been shaped by the demands of the role: the board agenda, the earnings calendar, the crises that land on your desk first.
Then, suddenly, the question is no longer “What’s our next strategic move?” but “What’s next for me?”
At Macbeth International, we regularly meet leaders at exactly this inflection point – often successful, highly visible, and yet surprisingly alone with their questions. A thoughtful mentoring relationship can make the difference between drifting into a post-executive phase and deliberately designing a next chapter that fits who you are today.
THE QUIET SHOCK OF LEAVING THE TOP ROLE
Most leadership development focuses on how to ascend: how to become a CEO, a regional president, a group CFO. Far less attention is given to how to leave those roles well.
On paper, the transition is clear. A successor is appointed. The board approves a handover plan. The announcement goes out. Behind the scenes, however, three subtle shifts usually happen at once:
- Your identity changes. You stop being “the CEO” or “the founder” in the eyes of others – and sometimes in your own eyes too.
- Your power and control change. Decisions move elsewhere, access to information narrows and people stop copying you in “by default”.
- Your social architecture changes. Relationships that were intensified by the role begin to rebalance, soften – or in some cases, disappear.
You may have chosen this transition, or you may be responding to health, family or board dynamics. Either way, the experience can feel emotionally noisy and strategically unclear, even for the most seasoned leader. That is exactly where a mentor adds value.
THE THREE HIDDEN CHALLENGES OUTGOING EXECUTIVES FACE
Every outgoing executive’s story is unique, but we repeatedly see three underlying challenges.
- Identity and purpose beyond the title
If you have been “the face” of an organisation for years, your role and identity are tightly woven together. Stepping down can trigger questions that go far beyond career:
- Who am I when I am no longer the CEO / partner / global head?
- Where do I create impact if I’m not leading thousands of people?
- What does “success” look like in the next 10–15 years of my life?
Many leaders are surprised by how strong these questions feel. Intellectually, they know they are more than a job title. Emotionally, the loss of that role can feel like a loss of self.
- Letting go of control without disappearing
During the transition period, your insight is still crucial. Your board and top team may continue to seek your advice. At the same time, your successor needs space to take decisions and establish their own authority.
Typical tensions include:
- When to step in with your experience – and when to step back.
- When to share an opinion – and when to redirect questions to your successor.
- How to handle long-term decisions that will outlast your tenure.
Handled poorly, this phase can create confusion and undermine the very succession you helped design. Handled well, it can protect your legacy and set your successor up for success.
- Navigating an emotional mix you didn’t fully expect
Outgoing executives often describe their emotions as “all over the place”:
- Relief at leaving behind constant scrutiny and pressure.
- Sadness or grief at changing relationships with their team.
- Guilt about timing or impact on colleagues.
- Excitement and anxiety in equal measure about the future.
These feelings are normal – but they are rarely discussed openly in boardrooms. Many leaders try to deal with them alone, which can turn a temporary phase of turbulence into lingering regret or frustration.
HOW A MENTOR CAN TRANSFORM THE TRANSITION
A mentor who has stood in your shoes – another former executive who has already crossed this bridge – brings something unique: practical empathy. They know not only the mechanics of succession, but the inner experience of letting go.
Here are three ways mentoring can reshape life after an executive role.
- Creating a safe space to be fully honest
In your organisation, you are expected to be composed, optimistic and in control. With a mentor, you do not need to perform. You can be candid about:
- The ambivalence you feel about the timing of your exit.
- The moments where you feel sidelined or overlooked.
- The fears you might have around relevance, health, ageing, or finances.
By naming these feelings, you take away their power. A mentor helps you normalise them, distinguish between passing emotions and deeper themes, and respond in a way that is dignified and constructive.
- Supporting you in handing over authority gracefully
A skilled mentor will:
- Help you anticipate “hot spots” where you are likely to be pulled back into decisions.
- Work with you to define clear boundaries for your role during and after the transition.
- Prepare you for how your involvement will be perceived by your successor, your board and your team.
- Reframe your contribution: from “the person in charge” to “the person ensuring continuity and clarity”.
The goal is not to vanish overnight, but to move from executive decision-maker to trusted elder statesperson – present, helpful, but no longer at the centre of every decision.
- Designing a next chapter that is intentional, not accidental
Many CEOs and senior leaders are outstanding strategic thinkers for their business, but have given very little structured thought to their own post-executive life. Days fill quickly with invitations, advisory opportunities and board approaches. Without a clear compass, it is easy to end up busy but not fulfilled.
With a mentor, you can explore questions such as:
- What kind of impact do I want to have in this next chapter – and with whom?
- How much operational involvement do I still want, and how much freedom?
- Am I drawn to a portfolio of board roles, selective advisory work, investing, philanthropy, academia – or a combination?
- What balance do I want between professional commitments, family, health, and personal interests?
From there, you can build a concrete plan: clarifying your narrative to the market, deciding what you will say “yes” and “no” to, and sequencing opportunities so that you are leading the transition, not reacting to it.
WHAT EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE MENTORING LOOKS LIKE
Not every coach or adviser is right for this delicate phase. For life after an executive role, the most effective mentors tend to be those who:
- Have led at a comparable level (CEO, regional or global C-suite) and completed their own transition.
- Understand both governance dynamics and the emotional psychology of succession.
- Are independent from your board and successor, avoiding conflicts of interest.
- Can both empathise and challenge – supporting you, but not always agreeing with you.
- Respect confidentiality absolutely.
The chemistry matters. You are choosing someone who will walk alongside you at a moment when your world is subtly – but fundamentally – rearranging itself.
RECASTING “RETIREMENT” AS YOUR PORTFOLIO CHAPTER
For many leaders in Europe and globally, the word “retirement” does not fit. They are not looking to stop; they are looking to shift: from running one organisation full-time to contributing across multiple contexts with more freedom and selectivity.
That might mean:
- One or two carefully chosen non-executive board positions.
- A small number of strategic advisory mandates, often with founders or investors.
- Involvement in impact projects, philanthropy or education.
- Time reclaimed for health, family, travel, learning and passions outside work.
A good mentor will help you protect two things that are easy to lose in transition: your energy and your discernment. Rather than accepting every invitation, you curate a portfolio that reflects your values, your experience and the stage of life you are in now.
HOW MACBETH INTERNATIONAL CAN SUPPORT
At Macbeth International, we sit at the intersection of executive search, board advisory and leadership mentoring across Geneva, Zurich, Paris, Milan, London and beyond. That gives us a privileged vantage point on both sides of the transition:
- The needs of boards and organisations designing CEO and C-suite succession.
- The aspirations and concerns of leaders preparing for life after an executive role.
For some clients, our support is highly practical: clarifying a portfolio strategy, preparing a board-ready narrative, or mapping the right opportunities. For others, it is more reflective: using mentoring to process the emotional and identity aspects of stepping back.
In both cases, the aim is the same: to ensure that this transition is not simply the end of a chapter, but the start of a new one that is coherent, impactful and deeply personal to you.
Your leadership story does not stop when you leave the corner office. With the right mentoring, it evolves. And that evolution – if handled with intention – can be one of the most rewarding phases of your career and your life.
