The Art of Early Retirement: A BBC Executive's Perspective

At my daughter's wedding last weekend, I found myself chatting to one of the groom's Uncles, a retired BBC senior executive who had moved from Manchester down to Cornwall.

I was surprised by this, not the move, but by his apparently young retirement from a very high-powered job.

When I asked him why, he shared with me the following:

"I was a hard-working member of the senior team at the BBC and thought I was loving the job.

Along came Covid and, like everyone, I was forced to work from home.

After Covid, the BBC decided it would be economical to ask people to stay at home and severely restrict the amount of time we spent in the office.

What that made me realise was that, for all those years, I had loved the people, not the work.

When they took the people away from me, I lost my enthusiasm for the work."

Fascinating.

By way of comparison, I seem to hear a lot of dental managers asking for time to work at home, so that they can be away from the interruption of the people.

I "get" why that request is coming in - it's the interruptions that can disrupt a manager's workflow - but maybe the answer is to have firmer boundaries, and not to seek refuge.

My conversation has me reflecting - a question I asked myself and I ask you now.

Which do you love best, the work you do, or the people you do it with?

It reminded me of a favourite quote, which I paraphrase from the book "True Success" by philosophy professor Tom Morris:

"You are truly successful when you love your work, you love the people you work with and you love the amount of time it takes."