When
the New Year is upon us most smart business people take inventory and make
plans for the coming year. Most of these actions focus on external items, like
deciding on how many widgets you are going to make and sell, or how many new
clients you hope to acquire by the end of the first quarter. While this type of
inventory and planning is necessary, it is important as a business leader that
you take time to inventory and plan for your own development as a leader, and
this involves both reflection and introspection.
A
good place to start is simply by asking yourself the question: what do you want
people to say about your impact as a leader 10, 20 or 30 years from now? Or
what would you like your leadership legacy to be? Even better: write down your
responses to both of these questions. What comes out on paper may surprise you.
Cartoonist
Johnny Hart once noted that a legacy is "something that one should be able
to hand down, without having to trump up." It is not a strategic plan that
can be nicely quantified and measured. Rather, it is the sum of all of the
outcomes resulting from our behavior that others continue to remember about us.
That's the key here - it's what others continue to remember about us, not how
we remember ourselves. Put another way, it is the cumulative record of how
others think we measure up to the person that we had intended to be or that
they expect us to be.
Take
a moment to think of some of the current or former public or corporate leaders
that have been in the news during the past year: The Apprentice's, Donald
Trump; The Oprah Winfrey Show's, Oprah Winfrey; South Dakota's former Senator,
Tom Daschle; LA Laker's Guard, Kobe Bryant; Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Martha
Stewart; Secretary of State, Condolezzaa Rice; and U.S. President, George W.
Bush. For most of us, it is probably very easy to articulate their leadership
legacy - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So,
what can you do as a leader to insure that your legacy is the one that you want
to be remembered for? First, successful leaders have a strong sense of their
personal values beyond their business values. They have a personal mission and
vision for their life as well as their business. And, as you probably guessed,
the most successful leaders are those who have found a way to combine the two
proactively.
Second,
successful leaders have passion. Find what you are passionate about in life and
then find a way to incorporate this into your life in some way every single
day. To me, passion can be defined as the current that propels us forward to
fulfill a purpose or a goal. It is often the source of the creativity, energy,
rejuvenation, and inspiration, that all leaders rely on everyday in order to be
effective. For me, that passion revolves around helping others be successful
leaders.
And
finally, successful leaders take time every day for personal reflection and
renewal. Reflection is critical because self-reflection is the greatest source
that we have for tapping into our own self-knowledge. And, it is by tapping
into our own self-knowledge that we grow both personally and professionally,
helping us to become the authentic leaders we hope to be.
If
you hope to obtain greater self-knowledge, the only way to do that is to find
time for silence. In today's 24/7 media-bombarded world, there are fewer and
fewer opportunities that present themselves naturally for reflection. That's
why it is critical that you schedule time for reflection as frequently as you
can. Daily would be best but weekly and monthly can work too.
You
don't always have control about what people will remember as your leadership
legacy. However, there are things that you can do to ensure that you are
remembered the way you want to be remembered. Identifying what you would like
your leadership legacy to be is a good first step. Combine that with a strong
sense of your personal values and your passion, and, take time for personal
reflection and renewal, and you will be well on your way to achieving a lasting
legacy that you can be proud of.
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