Accomplish Your Legacy — What Way Do You Want to Be Remembered?
Who originally inspired you to be the leader you are today? Every great leader has been sparked by someone who dared to make a difference, someone who showed them that the true measure of leadership isn't found in spreadsheets and reports or even in the way they have managed but in the positive ripples they created in the world. No one is born the perfect leader. We all need guides. We all need to learn from others we aspire to be.
Remembering those who have inspired us is important because it helps to show the value of leaving a legacy as a leader. It’s also a reminder that our leadership legacy is tied to the impact of our work.
But we’ve found that so many of the leaders we work with are not clear enough about what they want the result of their leadership to be. They aren’t able to answer the question: “What do you want your decades of leadership to result in, and what do you want to be known for?”
Even in the best situations, we find that some leaders grasp their legacy conceptually but aren’t capable of describing it in a manner that energizes their work and rallies others. Or, when asked about their legacies, leaders tend to merely echo their organization's mission, conflating their individual legacy with the collective mission statement.
What’s the problem with this? As you know, if you don’t know your destination, it’s going to be impossible to get there. I never want you to be the leader who wonders what those years of hard and heartfelt effort resulted in that mattered to you.
So ask yourself: Why do you do what you do? What matters to you? What do you ultimately hope to achieve and leave behind with your work?
Those questions may seem straightforward, but for many leaders I’ve worked with, they’re deceptively difficult to answer. But taking the time to know your legacy is essential to maximizing your abilities as a leader and inspiring hope and action in others. It is the key to making the difference in the world that matters to you.
Your leadership matters — but it will only be extraordinary if you understand your motivations, objectives, and what you hope to achieve over the course of your time leading.
Assessing Your Impact
Knowing what you want your legacy to be is vital to succeeding as a leader. In our Leadership Support Program, The Changemaker, we identify what motivates you to lead every day. You all have a purpose behind your work — that’s what’s allowed you to become as successful as you already are. Your legacy connects your desired impact to your personal stories and experiences, and it is what drew you to your work in the first place. This legacy is deeply personal.
But most of us aren’t fully aware of just what our legacy is as we go through each day. And how we want that legacy to connect to tangible results. We often get bogged down in trivial tasks that seem disconnected from what we’re hoping to achieve long-term. The Changemaker leadership support system helps you define what you want to achieve that will have a profound impact — always keep this in mind. You’ll understand what you want to achieve, so you can then determine how you want to achieve it.
More Meaningful and Effective Leadership
Knowing what you want the desired impact of your work to be makes everything you do more meaningful. That big picture perspective fills even minor responsibilities with more significance. Every little step is contributing to that lasting impact. You’re building your legacy brick by brick. Again, your legacy is the type of impact you want to have in the world, not how you will do it. It stays consistent over time and aligns with the mission of your organization.
Knowing your desired legacy also allows you to prioritize your time more effectively. Never forget that your time is your most valuable resource. How you use it is a sign of your priorities and what matters most. Ultimately, through the Changemaker, you will be able to align your daily and weekly activities to your legacy so you can create the change you see.
Understanding your legacy will make you a more compelling leader who inspires others. Everything you do will be grounded in the conviction and passion that can only come from work directly tied to what matters to you most.
Download this free Leadership Legacy Visualization Exercise to get you started.
If you’re interested in discovering your legacy or helping your team members discover how their legacy can make them more effective, please schedule a free call with me. Our next Changemaker cohort will launch this spring.