EBOOK
About
"I do not want to do what I have done for the last 30 years, but I am in no way done!"
Physician retirement is no longer a single event tied to a birthday-it's a process, and for many physicians, an unsettling one. In NEXT: Flourishing in the New World of Physician Retirement, Charles R. Stoner, DBA, and Thomas M. Waits, MD, MBA, draw on decades of coaching, clinical experience, and original research to help physicians navigate uncertainty, confront "the void," and build a retirement defined by purpose rather than absence. Practical tools. Real physician voices. A path forward.
For generations, physician retirement meant a fixed date, a farewell party, and an abrupt end to decades of identity built around medicine. That model no longer fits. Today, retirement is a process-often unfolding over years-and many physicians find themselves navigating it without a map.
In NEXT: Flourishing in the New World of Physician Retirement, the authors-an organizational behavior scholar and executive coach paired with a recently retired oncologist-confront three problems physicians consistently face: uncertainty about when and how to transition, the disorienting "void" that so often follows retirement, and the absence of a plan for continued relevance and purpose.
Drawing on more than a year of research, secondary studies, and candid interviews with physicians at every stage of the retirement journey, Stoner and Waits offer more than encouragement-they offer a developmental pathway. Readers will find frameworks for self-assessment, real case examples, and practical models for building a next chapter that reflects their own energy, health, and sense of purpose.
Written for physicians contemplating retirement-typically those in their mid-50s through early 70s-as well as for physician leaders supporting peers through this transition, NEXT moves beyond generic retirement advice to address what makes the physician experience distinct: an identity forged over decades of training and practice, and a transition that deserves the same intentionality physicians have brought to every other stage of their careers.
This is not a book about stepping away. It's a book about what comes next.
Inside, you will find:
• A clear-eyed look at why so many physicians are reconsidering the traditional retirement timeline.
• Tools for assessing your own readiness, satisfaction, and burnout.
• Strategies for navigating "the void" that so often follows retirement.
• A framework for discovering flow, purpose, and flourishing in your next stage.
• Real, candid stories from physicians who have lived this transition.
• A practical, personalized action model for putting it all together.
Retirement, for physicians, doesn't have to mean stepping away from meaning. It can mean stepping into it.
Physician retirement is no longer a single event tied to a birthday-it's a process, and for many physicians, an unsettling one. In NEXT: Flourishing in the New World of Physician Retirement, Charles R. Stoner, DBA, and Thomas M. Waits, MD, MBA, draw on decades of coaching, clinical experience, and original research to help physicians navigate uncertainty, confront "the void," and build a retirement defined by purpose rather than absence. Practical tools. Real physician voices. A path forward.
For generations, physician retirement meant a fixed date, a farewell party, and an abrupt end to decades of identity built around medicine. That model no longer fits. Today, retirement is a process-often unfolding over years-and many physicians find themselves navigating it without a map.
In NEXT: Flourishing in the New World of Physician Retirement, the authors-an organizational behavior scholar and executive coach paired with a recently retired oncologist-confront three problems physicians consistently face: uncertainty about when and how to transition, the disorienting "void" that so often follows retirement, and the absence of a plan for continued relevance and purpose.
Drawing on more than a year of research, secondary studies, and candid interviews with physicians at every stage of the retirement journey, Stoner and Waits offer more than encouragement-they offer a developmental pathway. Readers will find frameworks for self-assessment, real case examples, and practical models for building a next chapter that reflects their own energy, health, and sense of purpose.
Written for physicians contemplating retirement-typically those in their mid-50s through early 70s-as well as for physician leaders supporting peers through this transition, NEXT moves beyond generic retirement advice to address what makes the physician experience distinct: an identity forged over decades of training and practice, and a transition that deserves the same intentionality physicians have brought to every other stage of their careers.
This is not a book about stepping away. It's a book about what comes next.
Inside, you will find:
• A clear-eyed look at why so many physicians are reconsidering the traditional retirement timeline.
• Tools for assessing your own readiness, satisfaction, and burnout.
• Strategies for navigating "the void" that so often follows retirement.
• A framework for discovering flow, purpose, and flourishing in your next stage.
• Real, candid stories from physicians who have lived this transition.
• A practical, personalized action model for putting it all together.
Retirement, for physicians, doesn't have to mean stepping away from meaning. It can mean stepping into it.