"If in The Second Career Alfonso Jiménez showed us that a rich and possibility-filled professional life exists after the executive stage, in Prepare for Your Second Career he teaches us how to arrive prepared for it. A practical guide for making better decisions today, in service of a professional stage that will only grow longer and more important over time." — Xavier Brossa, president of AED (Asociación Española de Directivos, the Spanish Association of Directors)

★ Tailor-made for corporate executives and key managers, this book teaches you how to take off the halo of your company's platform and convert your former "ownership of a position" into sustainable, monetizable "personal core assets" — crossing the threshold from "corporate employee" to "independent purveyor of business value."

★ The author, Alfonso Jiménez, sits in deep conversation with the godfather-tier figures of Spanish business, revealing how these leaders standing at the tip of the pyramid laid out their next moves as they bid farewell to their first careers.

★ Crisis never waits until you are ready. The best career defense is a proactive offense. Drawing on rigorous human-resources science and business logic, the book lays out a hands-on roadmap for "playing your hand starting today."

It is never too early to prepare for the future.
Every executive knows how to build a successful career. Very few know how to prepare for the one that comes afterward. And yet that stage can stretch on for many years and become the freest, most enriching, and most influential of an entire professional life.
Following the success of La segunda carrera (The Second Career), Alfonso Jiménez sits down with some of the most influential figures of Spanish business — Antonio Garrigues, Miguel Canalejo, Juan Arena, Amparo Moraleda, Javier Vega de Seoane, Isabel Tocino, Laura González-Molero, and Ángeles García-Poveda, among others — to extract the lessons that only experience can provide. For the second career does not begin when one leaves the office, but long before: in the decisions made every day, in the reputation that is built, in the relationships that are cultivated, and in the capacity to keep on learning precisely when others believe it is no longer necessary.
Drawing on the experience of some of Spain's most prestigious executives, the author gathers practical advice, reflections, and hard-won lessons born of those who have known how to reinvent themselves successfully. All of them share the keys to facing the transition with serenity, maintaining professional relevance, and continuing to add value once the position disappears, even as the talent remains.
This is not a book about retirement. It is a book about the future — about how to turn experience into opportunity, trajectory into legacy, and accumulated knowledge into a new form of leadership.
Because the true wealth of a professional has never been the seat they occupy, but the value they are capable of contributing once they no longer occupy it.

Alfonso Jiménez
Alfonso Jiménez is a partner at the international firm Exec Avenue, where he heads the Board Services practice and the Spain office. A reference figure in people and talent management, he has enjoyed a broad career as both consultant and executive at firms such as Arthur Andersen, Andersen Consulting, and Watson Wyatt — of which he was a board member and managing director for Spain. In 2003 he founded PeopleMatters, a company he led until 2020. He holds a doctorate in psychology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, a PADE (Executive Development Program) from IESE, and a diploma in Good Corporate Governance from the IC-A. He has combined his professional activity with teaching and with the direction of programs at universities and business schools. He is also the founder of Recruiting Erasmus, a pioneering platform for bringing young talent into the labor market. Among other titles, he is the author of Creando valor a través de las personas (Creating Value through People), Talento para crear valor (Talent for Creating Value), Empresas que dejan huella (Companies That Leave Their Mark), and El arte de liderar (The Art of Leadership). Since 2021 he has co-authored the Senior Talent Maps, published annually by the Ageingnomics Research Centre. In 2026 he was appointed an academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors. He currently participates, from non-executive positions, on the boards and governance bodies of various companies, associations, and foundations. For Almuzara he published La segunda carrera (The Second Career) in 2024.

INDEX
Work's Introduction ······ 11
During the Executive Life ······ 35
Interview with Ángeles García-Poveda ······ 37
Languages and International Experience ······ 43
Interview with Isabel Tocino ······ 47
Giving and Receiving ······ 59
Interview with María Fernández Guajardo ······ 63
Plan B ······ 75
Interview with Ignacio González ······ 79
Executive Life or Second Career? ······ 87
Interview with César Bardají ······ 91
Consumption, Saving, and Freedom of Choice ······ 101
The Transition ······ 105
Interview with Alberto Terol ······ 107
Fake Relationships ······ 119
Interview with Amparo Moraleda ······ 123
The Origin of Opportunities ······ 135
Interview with Jaime García-Legaz ······ 139
Life Exists Beyond the Boardroom ······ 149
Interview with Juan Arena ······ 153
The Fight Against Obsolescence ······ 161
Interview with Socorro Fernández Larrea ······ 165
The Error of the Parenthesis and the Baker & Baker Paradox ······ 173
Interview with Blanca Montero Corominas ······ 177
External Support in the Transition Process ······ 185
Interview with Marta Martínez ······ 189
Activity or Inactivity? ······ 199
Interview with Hilario Albarracín ······ 203
Second Career and a New Stage of Life ······ 213
Interview with Ana García Fau ······ 217
Travel Addiction and Other Obsessions ······ 225
Interview with Ángel Durández ······ 229
Having a Reason to Get Up in the Morning ······ 239
Interview with Bill Derrenger ······ 243
Administrative Matters Count Too ······ 251
The Second Career ······ 255
Interview with Aurora Catà ······ 257
Seizing Opportunities ······ 265
Interview with Montserrat Trapé ······ 269
The Challenge of Staying Current ······ 281
Interview with María Eugenia Girón ······ 285
From the Demand Side, Senior Talent Is a "Steal" ······ 291
Interview with Xavier Orriols ······ 295
The Art of Dosage ······ 303
Interview with Dolores Pescador ······ 307
The Palette of Second-Career Activities ······ 313
Interview with Laura González-Molero ······ 317
Learning Is Life ······ 325
Interview with Miguel Iraburu ······ 329
Time to Take Care of Yourself ······ 337
Interview with Miguel Canalejo ······ 341
Blessed Routines ······ 349
Life After the Second Career ······ 353
Interview with Javier Vega de Seoane ······ 355
Pro Bono Activities ······ 363
Interview with Antonio Garrigues ······ 367
Until When? ······ 375
Final Reflections ······ 379
Acknowledgments ······ 393