Best way to announce retirement

[Nemo2]

I did it! I pulled the trigger, and the announcement went out to the company an hour ago.

No, no, no....don't do it...we were all just kidding! Get back to work!!

 

[Dash man]

I did it! I pulled the trigger, and the announcement went out to the company an hour ago. I have just put my phone on DND, so I can have a small break!

Congratulations! The final countdown begins!

 

[Kelor]

No, no, no....don't do it...we were all just kidding! Get back to work!!

 

[Rambler]

I was a named executive at a publicly traded company. Per SEC rules, my retirement could not be announced to my direct reports until after the press release went out. So, I was only able to tell my secretary, my HR director, and my CFO (I was CEO for Japan and regional head of the Asian Division, so in addition to these people, the global CEO, CFO, HR head, and holding company board of directors was aware). So I scheduled a meeting for my direct reports in Japan coincident with the press release time, and a conference call with my 13 country heads and their CFOs 15 minutes later, and promised each of them one on one time if they felt they needed it. I had 6 weeks to wrap everything up after the announcement, which meant flying to most of those countries, a global executive meeting in Boston, plus a whirlwind last minute tour of a Japan, in addition to trying to get the move home (US) coordinated. In my case, it was pretty much matter of fact for the announcement, with more personal interaction later on.