Everyone leaves a legacy of some kind. It can be positive or negative, big or small, and simple or complex. Leaders typically go about their personal and professional lives with the desire to leave a positive and far-reaching legacy that touches people for generations to come. I am no different when I state that my passion is to invest my life into the lives of future leaders and help them achieve things beyond their wildest dreams. A quick look at some who have left a positive legacy includes Walt Disney in entertainment, Steve Jobs in technology, Mother Theresa in compassion, and scores of other American icons. All of these leaders have left their mark on our world through their noble efforts.
Recently I was reminded of the fact that of all the things I can do to leave the legacy I want, the one that stands out as most important is the legacy created through the people I touch. Over the past thirty years, I’ve literally worked with thousands of people, many of them children and youth at the time, who are now thriving as adults and pursuing their own leadership legacy. I recently reconnected with one in particular with whom I had worked when I was just getting started on my leadership journey. Somehow, even during a time in my life where I really didn’t have my own act together, I was able to plant some positive seeds into this young person’s life, which have now grown to full maturity. As we caught up on the last 25 years or so of his life, I was impressed with how well he had turned out, and how a few of my early leadership lessons had stuck with him. It was wonderful and humbling to see and caused me to think back on the many youth I’ve touched and mentally list name after name of stand-outs who carry a little piece of me into their adult life. As I said, it’s humbling.
My encouragement is as always. Those who desire to be leaders need to be intentional about doing the things leaders do, and one of those things is to leave a legacy, a leadership legacy. It’s great to write books, create experiences, discover new ways of doing things, and much more so as to leave a mark on our world, but the real legacy comes when we touch a life and duplicate a piece of ourselves in others who will, in turn, touch another, and so on. My list of duplications is far longer than I had really thought. I can name many from each of the chapters of my life in whom I’ve invested myself, and I can see a little piece of me in them and how they approach their personal and professional lives. It’s awesome. And the great thing is that I’m only getting started! I can only imagine the legacy that will be left over the next thirty years! I hope you will do the same.
Lead well.