LEADERS WORK INTENTIONALLY AT CRAFTING THEIR LEGACY

Legacy is a powerful word. Most leaders do not give themselves time to think about their legacies at their places of employment. They are too busy focusing on the here and now – the next Zoom meeting, the next report, the next project. Too frequently, leaders do not associate the term legacy with their jobs.

Rather, most people – including employment leaders – think about the word legacy in a wider context. They think about legacy as it relates to their lifetimes – their overall careers, their families, their friends and their community work. They hope to leave a positive and uplifting legacy for their loved ones when they depart from this planet.

I thought about legacies a great deal during this past week, a topic I do not think about often. However, during the past seven days, I attended two funerals.

The first was for my former Civil Procedure professor from Georgetown Law Center, who also founded the Continuing Legal Education Program at Georgetown Law. When I returned to my alma mater to run that same department in 1985, this same professor became my mentor and then my friend.

The second funeral was for a respected and admired friend who was a leader at his law firm, at our synagogue and within the Washington, DC non-profit community. He was a role model for every member of his law firm and every one of his many friends in how he led his life and how he faced his death.

Both these men, one who was 92 and he other who was only 61, left wonderful positive legacies. Their impacts on their families, friends and colleagues were spelled out in laudatory eulogies articulated by children, grandchildren, siblings and colleagues.

Legacies are beautiful things, but they need not be limited to life descriptions at funerals. Legacies can be crafted intentionally by leaders at any job – as long as they have the time to create them and the desire to do so. The big question to answer is: “When I leave this leadership position, what do I want people to say about me?”

Within that big question lie several more specific questions:

-How did you as a leader help improve the culture?

-What did you do to enhance relationships between and among teammates?

-How were you able to help people sublimate their egos for the good of the group?

-What contributions did you make to improve processes and operations?

-How did you help bring in great teammates who themselves had a positive impact on your organization?

-Were you quick to help non-contributors move out after you realized hey were not a good fit for your team or department?

-How did you help teammates grow into their full potential as professionals?

-How were you able to challenge authority in an honest and authentic manner to help the organization fulfill its mission?

-How did you prop up your department to serve as a role model for other departments within the organization?

-Did you show teammates and others what true work-life balance looks like, including caring for your teammates as people and not just employees?

-Did you devote significant time to building – then sustaining – relationships with teammates, colleagues, customers and vendors?

-Were you willing and able to take on a leadership role within local, regional or national organizations in your industry?

It is never too soon to start thinking about these legacy questions? Time goes by quickly. Even if you do not serve as a leader at one organization for 32 years like I was fortunate to do at Georgetown Law Center, you can still leave a significant positive legacy at your job if you work there for three years, five years or ten years.

All it takes is a legacy mindset and intentionality.

I invite you to adopt this mindset. Starting tomorrow, jot down some questions for yourself. Then write down your best answers. Keep a record. Add to it regularly. Share your thoughts with mentors, friends and colleagues. You have much to contribute beyond your day-to-day responsibilities.

How can you help guarantee that the day after you leave, people will smile and remark, “This is a better place because you were here!”

If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!

-Larry