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.
Jeffrey Summers
These people don’t even know what they are protesting. Most are getting paid to protest.
Jeffrey Summers
#FakeProtests #FakeOutrage
Alan Weiss
No matter what anyone’s politics, I become giddy watching an awards show full of multi-millionaires protesting things that they, themselves, easily circumvent. John Denver, the mega-environmentalist, had thousands of gallons of gasoline stored under his garage and Barbra Streisand pays thousands in fines to ensure her lawns are watered even in drought conditions.
Peter McLean
I loved Meryl Streep’s line that Hollywood actors were now the most ‘vilified’ people in America! Should have won an Academy for fantasy writing.
ALAN WEISS
They wanted to cancel the Oscars after 9/11 because they were sure “we’d be the next target.” This is a level of narcissism for which the critique Trump. Except he won a real election. Their awards they bestow upon themselves. And for that matter, the next time someone like Kanye West calls himself an “artist” he should be arrested for fraud.
Dominic carrea
From a purely business perspective I can’t understand why these celebrities voice their political views. The only stand to lose fans and $ in the long run. They should stick to what they do best, ie . act,sing,etc.
Alan Weiss
There is a “mixed media” phenomenon, identified by Marshall McLuhan, wherein people acclaimed in any given field often begin to believe their talent or expertise is universal. Barbra Streisand is a great singer, but her political writing is at about fourth grade level (and so is her grammar). Don’t forget, these “stars” are cosseted and protected by layers of handlers. They have little idea about what the real world is, sort of like a tenured professor who can’t be challenged and seldom leaves campus.
Peter McLean
Nope, it won’t hurt them $$-wise. Fans will still see the movies no matter what tripe comes out of their mouths offstage – that’s been happening for decades. Look how much money the “big” stars still make even when their movies are absolute bombs, let alone the mega $$ earned by films that never should have left the “cutting room” floor. It’s only when they offend someone inside the industry that they’re in trouble.