LEADERS DON’T NEED BIG TITLES TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE IMPACTS
Have you ever known any meaningful leaders who led from below?
I mean those people who were not in charge of an organization, a department or even an office.
They were team members with important positions, positions that contributed to the organization’s mission accomplishment, but they may not have had any direct reports or a fancy title.
I lost a friend last week who fit this description to a T.
Her name was Marilyn and she worked for 40 years in the Career Strategy Office at Georgetown Law Center. Marilyn started off as a career services counselor when the department was known as the Georgetown Law Placement Office. In the latter part of her career at the law school, she oversaw the alumni career services part of the office.
She had no direct reports. She had no big title. She never really made the “big bucks.”
However the accomplishments she achieved were a testament to her confidence, creativity, positive attitude, and interpersonal skills.
During her four decades at Georgetown Law, Marilyn:
-Created the “World of Choices: A Forum on Careers in the Law,” a first-year focused networking program designed to introduce students to the career choices available to them with a law degree. Many alums have remarked throughout the years that their initial exposure to their chosen practice area was from a connection made through this program.
-Started the Women’s Forum, which has grown into a cross-campus collaboration, alternating annually between university-wide and Law-focused events that bring hundreds of alumni, faculty, staff and students together to celebrate the contributions women have made to Georgetown and their professions.
-Created and spearheaded the International Internship Program, which connected employers from around the world with more than 1,600 law students who had an interest in complementing their classroom education with meaningful cross-cultural experience.
-Provided one-on-one counseling to LLM students from all over the world
Most importantly, Marilyn created and sustained meaningful relationships with hundreds of Georgetown Law alumni for years.
So many former students stayed in touch with her and reached out for her for advice and support.
The word legacy is used in many ways these days. We leave legacies when we move from one part of the country to the other, when we retire from our last full-time job, or simply when we change jobs, regardless of how long we have worked at a particular organization.
The word legacy is most frequently used when people leave this earth.
-What did they accomplish?
-How will they be remembered?
-On whom did they have the biggest impact?
-What will people say about them?
My friend Marilyn left an amazing legacy. We do not need titles to leave a great leadership legacy. We need intention.
Are you working on your legacy right now? I hope so.
If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!
-Larry