Thought-full Thursday: Legacy
April 22nd, 2010 | 
Author: Every Thursday, we provide you with a thoughtful way to coach yourself – something all leaders need to do. So take five – enjoy the inspirational quotes or and reflect on the questions that follow.
“If you are a leader – of a company, a department, a division, or any group of individuals- you will leave a leadership legacy. It won’t be a record of how you behaved or a report card of your company’s performance (although that is how it might be summed up by the press). Instead, your legacy will be revealed in how your colleagues, employees, and others think and behave as a result of the time they spent working with you.” Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca, in Your Leadership Legacy
- Describe the legacy you wish to leave in six words. What is it? Commit it to memory.
- How do you want others to think and behave as a result of your legacy?
- What can you do today to begin acting on your legacy?
- What can you do tomorrow? Next week? Next year?
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5 Responses to “Thought-full Thursday: Legacy”
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Very inspiring and thought-provoking!
In an organizational context, a leader’s legacy is the culture he/she builds – leaders may go, but the culture, the belief system and the ways of working stays there for long.
In a personal context, leader’s lasting legacy is his/her contribution in developing other human beings (via books, blog, knowledge sharing, value addition, one-to-one people development, behavior and building memorable moments). There is no greater satisfaction than to see others growing with you.
Different people have different views about legacy they want to leave – the above were mine!
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Thanks very much for thoughtful posts every Thursday!
Tanmay,
Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your own way of leaving a legacy. It is very inspiring.
My six-word legacy: “Only you define your own success.” Succeeding based on someone else’s expectations is a poor substitute for personally defined success.
Practically speaking, this means defining personal aspirations and connecting them to company-defined goals all while encouraging others to do the same.
The legacy I hope I have left: “The guy that make things work”.
The legacy I hope I will leave: “The guy that make things happen”.
Bradon and Kevin: very nice six-word legacies. It really forces you to be succinct to get it down to six words, doesn’t it?