Legacy A Leader has to Leave Behind?

Wisdom is the power that enriches us to use the knowledge for the benefit of ourselves and others

Introduction

Our legacy is in our own hands. Some day, we all will leave our current organization. Some may retire, some may move and others may choose to continue their career elsewhere. Regardless of the reason we all leave, our time in our current organization will be remembered by others. How will they remember us?

Given a choice, every one would like to be remembered as a helpful and appreciative colleague. But the point is whether that would be a lasting legacy? However, when it comes to recognition, creating a culture of appreciation and praise through the Power of Thanks is very compelling legacy. With their span of control, senior executives have the ability to dramatically impact the course of the company, the culture, and the everyday employee experience. But that doesn’t let the rest of us “in the trenches” employees off the hook. How we choose to interact with each other every day is our own personal legacy, too.

What is The Issue?

Few leaders are remembered for leaving a remarkable legacy behind them but Steve Jobs is one such example. As the face of Apple for so many years, Jobs became part of the very fabric of the company’s products. The unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs has drawn considerable attention to a topic prominent in the discourses of Plato and Aristotle, that of legacy.

Throughout history, outstanding leaders have been distinguished by their strength of character and deep conviction of purpose and mission. Whether dictatorial or collaborative by inclination, their oratory nurtured a charisma that convinced, perhaps even manipulated, others to applaud their cause.
President Harry Truman’s words “a man or woman who can persuade people to do what they ought to do... without being persuaded”, sounds true. These outstanding men and women are the legacy leaders. They are the ones who have others do what they desire because of their ability to inflame passions that the motivation to do so comes from within.

However, the ancients equally warned us of the downside of legacy leaders. The profound and evident contribution of Steve Job is countered by the scandals of Bernie Madoff [Ramalinga Raju of Satyam or DhruthaRashtra in Mahabharath, both bitten by Putra Prema]and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco.These leaders were originally viewed as people of high integrity but later revealed to have abused their privileged position. Some are crooked from the start; others unfortunately just lapse.

Aristotle was deeply conscious of the challenge of continuously being virtuous not just because of the erosive effect of personal weaknesses, but also because of the impact of forever balancing competing moral priorities. In this sense, the search for everlasting posterity can become an overarching temptation in its own right. Even some fifteen hundred years before Socrates, the Chinese extolled the virtues of balance captured in philosophies that have become catchphrases of today, Taoism and Daoism. The Tao, (the way), is a journey of trial and tribulation where man and woman stand bare in front of the world clothed only by their virtue as a cover for their modesty.

Distressingly, the teachings of our Chinese and Greek forefathers seem to have been neglected and substituted by prescriptions on how to be that ‘great leader’. Even recent works such as, Your leadership legacy by Robert Galford and Regina Marcia or How do you measure up as a legacy leader, by Walter Lippmann, pay insufficient attention to one critical life experience, namely that all leaders have their weaknesses and most have been tempted by the ultimate mistress of salaciousness, namely, ego.

Therefore the challenge is, how to lead in order to realize sustainable legacy without ego taking over? There is no particular secret as such,but we can consider the following questions:

• Are we approachable, particularly when strained?
• Do we create a culture where others have the confidence to offer comment that can feel like criticism, but is intended to enhance ours and others performance?
  
• Do we reflect on our actions and motivation, not in the quiet of our own home after a long stretching day, but when we are being stretched and probably at the height of being stretched?
  
• Do we instill confidence in others to have them offer even half formed views, sometimes for information and sometimes just to make people feel they have made a contribution even when we already know the answer?
  
• Are we both driver and coach, authoritative and instructive, able to forge direction but in an environment that encourages open dialogue?
  
• How do others address us - with our title first or just talk to us as a person they deeply respect? Perhaps more important, how do others refer to us when we are not present?
  
• Are stories of our successes, failures or learning’s more about us, or more about the wisdom and learning we have shared with others?
  
• When displaying tenacity and courage, is that done quietly, driven by the issues at hand, or more flamboyantly with we holding centre stage?
  
• When behaving inconsistently does the example we have been striving to set fall apart or have we won sufficient respect to explain yourself?
  
• How do we maintain dignity when we show that we are like everyone else – human?
  
• How do you pursue your vision –with great strides or through sharing the bite size steps that are being taken, therefore allowing others to contribute and feel part of the daily momentum of striving for success?
  
• Do we stretch and develop those around us, or just frighten them?
  
• How do we know when it is time for us to go? We have done all we can and to remain longer will hold the organisation back.
  

Conclusion

So much depends on the deeply held values of each leader. The balancing of resilience with care, being visionary and yet humble, and being ruthless but still compassionate, distinguishes a leader that unknowingly lives their legacy as compared to the one who is obsessed with leaving a legacy. And therein lays the secret to legacy – worry less about yourself and what you leave behind and be more concerned with what is the right thing to do today. Legacy shaped by clearly thought through values is long lasting. Ironically, legacy shaped by ego and self-concern is also long lasting but creates folklore of distaste and sets an example of what not to be. As Benjamin Franklin rightly said, “If you don’t want to be forgotten as soon as you die, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing”.

By Dr A Jagan Mohan Reddy