In this article, I will discuss the key takeaways from my 10-week program with 20 mid- and senior-level professionals from three global companies, based in France, Sweden and the UK. The program combined diagnoses, in-depth weekly individual reflection exercises and conversations in groups of colleagues within companies, in which participants described their decisions, pressures and concessions.
Next, I will recommend actions that executives can take to ensure that people in their leadership succession line have the time and energy to build sustainable careers for themselves and their organizations.
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Consistent dynamics
In our conversations, participants consistently described a convergence of pressures: peak responsibilities at work and home, ongoing scarcity of time, growing awareness of the need to adapt and reskill, and — critically — very limited ability to stop and reflect.
In the diagnoses I carried out, professionals in their 40s consistently obtain the lowest scores in “calmness”, that is, in the ability to reflect and compose themselves.
During the program, however, many participants began to question long-held assumptions about work.
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They spoke of a growing tension they feel in their 40s between short-term demands and the need to think more deliberately about the next phase of their lives.
Three consistent dynamics emerged from these conversations:
- Reflection is rare — and it changes everything when it happens.
2. There is a shift from resistance to sustainability.
3. The main tension is not performance, but identity.
Perhaps the most important conclusion from our study was this: midlife is the time when change is most needed but least likely to happen.
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This needs to change if organizations want to develop and retain the leaders of the future. The goal today is to reframe this period for workers as a phase of active redesign, rather than mere passive resistance.
The crucial point is that it’s not about asking people to do more. It’s about creating the conditions that allow them to make choices about their work early enough for them to really make a difference.
What leaders should do differently
If the age of 40 is the point of greatest pressure in a long career, then the question for leaders is: how to create the conditions for people to recalibrate their trajectories precisely at this moment, when they have less space to do so?
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Our research suggests four lines of action:
Create structured moments for reflection and conversation. The most important intervention is also the simplest. Mid-career professionals consistently report not having space to stop, reflect and talk to colleagues, despite recognizing the importance of doing so.
Leaders can facilitate this process through mid-career reviews that address long-term direction in addition to performance; short sabbaticals or defined breaks for reflection; or explicit conversations about career sustainability rather than just career progression.
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Redesign roles to challenge people, not just use them. Mid-career roles are often structured for execution, not development, and to expand vertical reach, not horizontal expansion of skills.
However, it is precisely at this stage that people need to expand their capabilities. Leaders can support this effort by creating opportunities for growth within existing roles.
Make experimentation legitimate, not a side activity. One of the clearest conclusions from our work is that mid-career professionals do not have the time or permission to explore new possibilities, something fundamental to sustaining a long career.
Leaders can address this problem by legitimizing low-risk forms of experimentation.
Normalize transitions before they become urgent. In many organizations, career changes are reactive, triggered by dissatisfaction, burnout, or external opportunities.
This is impractical and unsustainable in careers that can last 50 or 60 years. Instead, leaders should normalize mid-career transitions as a natural part of a long professional life.
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