leg·a·cy a gift, bequest, heritage, something handed down from an ancestor or predecessor, a surviving system…
What do you want your leadership legacy to be?
By that I mean – have you made a lot of moves in your career, making more money, having more associates report to you, achieving more prestigious titles – without positively impacting your team, the company or your community?
Why do you need to think about your legacy now – before you are retirement age? Building a legacy starts now – in fact it has already started. It follows you from one organization or company to the next; from one role to the next.
If I asked your boss, peers and subordinates from your last 3 – 4 roles or organizations, to describe your imprint of legacy what would they say? How would it compare to your views of your lasting historical markers?
Would they say you left an imprint and legacy that:
- Provided for associates’ personal and professional growth and development
- Built a process for continuous improvement
- Implemented an organization construct that not only provided the associate with “job well done” but communicated to all “how” the associate contributed to the organization’s brand
- Impacted associates’ ability to work in harmony
- Elevated the organization culture
- Helped others embrace the true meaning of a diverse workforce
- Created a new forward-thinking business strategy
- Furthered the organization’s mission
- Presented the opportunity for holistic knowledge management
- Fostered a disruptive innovator environment
- Advanced a practice for ‘greening’ the organization
- Offered opportunities to give back to the community
- Or would they barely remember your name? Did you skim the surface, smile broadly and bring in a paycheck – or did you truly make a difference?
Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline . . . Sun Tzu
Leaving a leadership legacy requires all of the above and must ensure that you erect a larger stage for the practice of your skills, talents, strengths and competencies that grow you, your boss, your peers, your organization your family, your community and the global village.
Today, wherever you are in your career: just starting, mid-career, or contemplating a second career, ask: “what is my leadership legacy?”
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