How do I deal with being respected at work but lonely?

You made it to the top of the firm, and a career spent as everyone's adversary has left you respected and strangely alone. That's a hard bargain to notice late, that the very posture which made you good at the work, skeptical, guarded, unwilling to be charmed, also kept people at arm's length. Feeling the loneliness of it is not weakness. It's clarity. The good news is that the role and the person are not the same. You wore adversary because the job demanded it, but you don't have to wear it everywhere, or forever. The skepticism that served the audit can be set down at the door of a friendship. Connection is a different skill than judgment, and it's one you can still practice, no matter how long the other one ran the show. Start small and outside the work. Reach toward one person with curiosity instead of scrutiny, a former colleague, an old friend, someone you'd like to actually know. Let yourself be a little unguarded, a little unimpressive. Respect was never going to keep you warm. The years of standing apart don't have to be the whole story. You still get to choose how the rest of it goes.