So for starters, we have to really define what a retirement speech is and what it isn't. So we can narrow our focus in preparation. It's not a speech to the Board of Directors, it's not a speech to analyst as a quarterly conference calls. You don't have to go over every single success by quarter every single jump up in the stock price. That's not the time for that sort of speech. You certainly don't need PowerPoint, although if you want to do use pictures in one, there's nothing wrong with that.

But you don't need to have a PowerPoint presentation. I also don't think you need to worry about it being a certain length. Now you don't want to go on all night. But if this is a lunchtime party or an evening dinner and Your Honor, you don't have to worry about it being just two minutes long. This is the last time people are ever going to have to hear from you in this particular organization potentially. So they've gathered in your honor.

They'll listen to you So I wouldn't worry about the length, it could be 10 minutes, it could be 29 minutes, if it's interesting and heartfelt people will listen to you, and they will like it, and they will respect it. So what do we really want to accomplish in this speech, I think what you want to do is put a highlight on your time there, focus on the things you did that really meant something to you, where you feel it helped the world, it helped you it helped the clients customers in some meaningful way. And to talk about the people you worked with, what they meant to you personally, what you liked about that what you enjoy, this is a chance for you to make the whole organization feel good about themselves and about you. It's not a time to settle scores, or to say, well, I'll never have to see these people.

I'll tell what I really think I'm not asking you to lie. sugarcoat, I'm simply suggesting that, like at a funeral, that's not the time to pick on someone's faults who just died. This isn't a funeral. It's a retirement, but it's just not the time to pick on scabs or old wounds. It's a time to put spotlight on accomplishments on your career, what you're proud of, and what you think the organization should be proud of. And the good news is, you don't have to educate people on everything.

If you've been there for 40 years. You don't have to tell them about everything you did. You just want to put a spotlight on two or three things that really meant something to you. So that's what I want you to do. Now I want you to write down everything you're really proud of, and it might be something totally inconsequential to the bottom line. It may be how you help the smallest customer one time, get a product delivered to her home because she couldn't get to your store.

Doesn't have to be about the bottom line. But there needs to be some human element to it. I want you to brainstorm right now. And let's come up with three things that have happened during your career that were meaningful to you, and where you can start to tell a story about it. So come up with those ideas right now.