[August 2, 2015] How you are remembered once you’re gone from an organization is an uncommon topic in the study of leadership but it should be, I think, one that we review at least occasionally. All leaders leave some form of a legacy; whether it is a good one or not will depend more on how well that leader took care of those that worked for the leader than how well the mission was accomplished.
This may seem like an unusual thought … that taking care of those who work for the leader is a greater measure of a good leader’s legacy, but that is where the facts lie. It is important for that legacy to be a good one since it will follow that leader into their next job or, more crucially, it will be part of that organization’s future success. For those who think short-term and who work in the present, they are less likely to leave a legacy where they are remembered for having a positive impact.
The reason is that work in the short-term is how we prioritize resources to achieve organizational mission. People, on the other hand, are a long-term investment in time and effort. This investment in time is not an uncommon topic among senior leaders. In a truly enlightening article by Todd Hirneisen entitled A Legacy that Matters, Todd argues that the willingness to invest in the younger and more inexperienced team members is a tough choice but pays off more in the longer term.1
By building relationships and helping employees (the people) and effectively communicating an easily understood vision (the leader), it is this combination that ultimately satisfies the quality of the leaders legacy in the organization. One point that should be made is that a legacy is not something that a great leader thinks about when they are nearly retirement but are constantly leading in such a way throughout their career.
The best measure of a good legacy is how well junior and less experienced members of an organization prosper in the future. Being a member of the U.S. military, has allowed me to see those who I commanded later in their careers. It has afforded me the opportunity to again influence them but also to see how well they have done since we departed years ago.
Leaders will all leave a legacy. Whether it is even remembered a few years after they are gone or whether it is a good legacy or bad will be determined by their success with people. Everything else is less relevant. Successful mission accomplishment will happen if the people who work for you are taken care of in the right way.
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