Your Legacy is Now
Life is not a search for meaning from others, it’s about the creation of meaning for yourself.
For over 30 years Alan Weiss has consulted, coached, and advised everyone from Fortune 500 executives, state governors, non-profit directors, and entrepreneurs to athletes, entertainers, and beauty pageant contestants. That’s quite an assortment of people, and they run into the thousands. Most of them have had what we euphemistically call “means,” and some of them have had a lot more than that. Others have been aspiring and with more ends in sight than means on hand.
Alan Weiss states:
I’ve dealt with esteem (low), narcissism (high), family problems, leadership dysfunctions, insecurities, addictions, and ethical quandaries. And I’ve talked about them through the coronavirus crisis. But don’t get the wrong idea. About 95% of these people have been well-meaning, honest (to the best of their knowledge), and interested in becoming a better person and better professional. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be talking to me.
I found the equivalent of the “runner’s wall” in their journeys, where they must break through the pain and the obstacles and then can keep going with renewed energy and spirit. But runners know how far they must go after the breakthrough, be it another half lap or another five miles. There is a finish line.
I’ve found that people in all positions, even after the “breakthrough,” don’t know where they are in the race, let alone where the finish line is.
They do not know what meaning is for them. They may have money in the bank, good relationships, the admiration of others, and the love of their dogs. But they have no metrics for “What now?” They believe that at the end of life there is a tallying, some metaphysical accountant who totals up their contributions, deducts their bad acts, and creates the (hopefully positive) difference.
That difference, they believe, is their “legacy.”
But the thought that legacy arrives at the end of life is as ridiculous as someone who decides to sell a business and tries to increase its valuation the day prior. Legacy is now. Legacy is daily. Every day we create the next page in our lives, but the question becomes who is writing it and what’s being written. Is someone else creating our legacy? Or are we, ourselves, simply writing the same page repeatedly?
Or do we leave it blank?
Our organic, living legacy is marred and squeezed by huge normative pressures. There is a “threshold” point, at which one’s beliefs and values are overridden by immense peer pressure. Our metrics are forced to change.
In an age of social media, biased press, and bullying, we’ve come to a point where our legacy, ironically, is almost out of our hands.
Yet our “meaning”—our creation of meaning and not a search for some illusive alchemy—creates worth and impact for us and all those with whom we interact.
Dave Gardner
Alan…only an idiot could conclude that “there’s no value in your book for me.” As you know, I’ve been reading your books and incorporating your intellectual property into my business and personal life since the mid-90’s. I’m always a bit amazed at the perspective you bring in each new book. In the past month, I’ve purchased “Million Dollar Speaking” and “Million Dollar Coaching.” I am very impressed with the value you bring to the table with these new books. If you want to add speaking as a value proposition or simply expand your perspective about what speaking can mean to your consulting practice, buy “Million Dollar Speaking.” If you want to add coaching as a value proposition or simply expand your perspective about what it means to add value as a coach, buy “Million Dollar Coaching.” Few coaches and speakers make 6 figures a year much less 7. Readers who do more than peruse your books can dramatically increase their earning potential if they think about and apply the concepts. Please keep writing. I’ll keep buying and benefiting. Thanks, Alan!
Alan Weiss
Thanks, very kind, Dave. Apparently I don’t write well for people who thumb through the book for free!
Chris Blackman
Perhaps he was really looking for “Million Dollar Shoplifting”? Seems incredible he didn’t buy the book, but could be bothered to post a mediocre review. Obviously has too much time on his hands.
Michael Harrison
Alan, sadly there probably wasn’t any value for him. Some people are happy with mediocrity. I’ve read most of them and incorporated many ideas. They work for me – and anyone else who wants to improve.
Daniel Rose
That’s very interesting. I found Million Dollar Consulting very useful. It was a great introduction to your concepts, and was the first of your books I purchased. I’ve found that later books (such as your work on value based fees and the book you did with Omar Khan) even more useful, perhaps because they go more in depth on an individual topic.
Like you say, everybodies a critic. It makes you take Amazon (and other) reviews with a grain of salt…
Linda Henman
Alan,
Your books and you scare people. You scared me right into quadrupaling my income and the Hall of Fame. You made me realize I could never have the life I wanted if I continued to do as I had always done.
Someone who wants to continue with hourly billing, training with someone else’s intellectual property, and coaching with prescribed techniques must find you and your bold ideas downright frightening.
Thanks for continuing to scare the hell out of me,
Linda
Alan Weiss
My pleasure!
Alan Weiss
I don’t expect everyone to like my work, especially since I take unpopular views (e.g., mocking coaching “credentials”). But it’s conspiratorial when people with a private agenda try to rally others to disparage what could be helpful to a lot of unsuspecting people.
Alan Weiss
Provided by Guido Quelle, here’s the critical acuity of one of the “reviewers”:
“The page dimensions were kind of small, the pages themselves seemed to have
lots of white on them, the print was kind of large, and the space between
each line of text was kind of big.”
Alan Weiss
Not everyone’s opinion is equal. When you consider a book that can improve your business income and effectiveness, and you’re concerned about the publisher’s choice of white space on a page, then you’re not fit to really review anything. Unfortunately, social media provide that opportunity, and that’s why we’re sliding toward the lowest common denominator. Some people’s reality is divorced from the more general reality.
Daniel Rose
I guess the guy with the “whitespace” problem has a valid opinion (however oddball). The challenge is to take onboard all feedback and weight it accord to legitimacy and impact. It might just be one guy talking about a percieved problem, but as you’ve noted several times, perception is reality! 🙂
Jeffrey Summers
Which is why I love this blog so much. It’s a marketplace of ideas, not a marketplace of opinions.
MCG
Amazon will remove that review if you ask them to. But why ask, when we’re having so much fun reviewing the reviewer?
Alan Weiss
Clean up in aisle seven!!
Alan Weiss
Amazon only removes reviews that are slanderous, not those that are merely stupid. I have had them remove reviews that claimed I was running a pyramid scheme, hadn’t written my own books, etc. A lot of nuts out there with Internet access.