Ending a Peak Work Experience: The Impacts of Sudden Termination

This is a descriptive study of nine middle-aged male executives who were suddenly and involuntarily displaced from roles that they looked back upon as peak work experiences. Positive and negative factors in the transitions of these subjects are discussed. The most forceful findings reported in this study relate to emotional growth, newfound vulnerability, and the importance of maintaining balance between personal and professional concerns. Six of the subjects in this study indicated that recovery from the negative impact of sudden termination from a peak work experience took more than three years. Personal traits such as self-confidence and a positive attitude were considered to be the most important factors in recovery. None of these subjects indicated unqualified willingness to accept another peak work experience. These findings suggest that, if a peak work experience ends badly, the affected executive will seek out a distinctly different type of work situation to assist himself in moving on, and will manage the subsequent peak experience differently, based on the learnings from his prior, very painful experience.