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.
Louis Owens
Alan,
You’re a smart guy with a long track record of success, why waste your time writing something so pointless? I’d be dying to know what your conversion/CTR rates are from this blog.
Alan Weiss
“Pointless” is in the eye of the reader. If you don’t think it’s important to critique societal and professional shallowness, that’s fine. But I hardly think that’s “pointless.” And I have never cared, and never will, about stupidity like conversion/CTR rates. I don’t write the blog for that purpose, I write it for me. And as you point out, I have a long track record of success. So I don’t think you’re in a position to tell me what I should be writing. You can disagree or ignore it, or not come back, I don’t care at all.
Louis
Pointless refers to the absence of problems being solved or value being presented, and as you pointed out in your book, wasted time is a decrease in wealth. I asked simply because I was curious, not for some other nefarious reason. It should be noted however, that Conversion, CTR and the like are all valuable KPIs that accurately measure the effectiveness of a digital marketing strategy (which this blog certainly is).
One more thing and then I promise you can get back to sipping margaritas on the beach. As I’m sure you know, past success does not equal infallibility. If you post your thoughts online and encourage people to comment, but then lash out at anyone that even slightly challenges you, then you don’t understand the internet. All of this sideways energy on your site is really just damaging the effectiveness of your vault items. You have my email address tied to this message, reach out if you’d like to chat.
Or ignore it, or don’t reply. I don’t care at all. haha
Best,
Louis
Alan Weiss
Louis, I don’t “lash out” and no one is making you come to my blog. I don’t give a damn. You’ve commented, I haven’t trashed it, but you’re wrong. Get over it. As for “damage,” last year was my best year ever and this one is well ahead of it. I don’t accept advice from people who are overly buried in technical mire (KPIs, really?) and who launch ad hominem attacks (I might just be able to understand the internet). I’ve given you an opportunity to voice your opinion here. It’s amateurish and wrong, as your gratuitous reference to the beach and “Ha ha” and “don’t reply if I don’t want to” indicate. It’s a free blog. And you come here, there you sit, despite the “damage” you magically concoct. I use this blog’s ability to allow response, unlike most of my peers in this business, to showcase both excellence and ridiculousness. Thanks for contributing to the latter.
Frank Seringa
Thank you for your honest and insightful observation. TED talks have become a reflection of ‘Free Speech’ on today’s campus; you can speak as long as we agree.
Have TED talks become politicized?
I think so, you?
Alan Weiss
They are not only politicized thoroughly to the left, but they are patronizing. We are inferior, and must listen to those who know better morally, intellectually, emotionally, scientifically. But only one side is ever presented. When is the last time you heard a debate in a TED broadcast? The shots of the audience all look alike! It appears that the diversity of the speakers has more weight than the content of their views. And TEDx—this is like amateur hour. Everyone today is a “best-selling author,” a “sought-after speaker,” and a “TEDx presenter.” All of that and two dollars might get you on a bus. In an age of mass-entertainment, mass-sporting events, mass-communication, we’re trying to create mass-intellectualism. The result, of course, is a dilution of wisdom, not an addition to it. It’s not how many books you read, it’s how much of the books’ content you comprehend.
Wolf
Same with methodologies.
Just think of nonviolent communication, meditation or nlp.
One class after another that doesn’t help a bit to get to the heart of the matter.
There is soul, and there are things.
Imagine a wolrd made up only of objects,
a world of idle tools,
a restaurant of nothing but tables and chairs,
a large empty theatre or a deserted plaza in summer.
They cry out for the service of man,
the service to give them life.
We call on man to display his splendid capabilities.
And we observe with undivided attention.
Because the little nuances in the quality of his service
give a flawless measure of his mind.
They tell uns frankly what his sould is worth,
because to serve is first to love.
Arrigo Cipriani
Jeffrey Summers
” In an age of mass-entertainment, mass-sporting events, mass-communication, we’re trying to create mass-intellectualism. The result, of course, is a dilution of wisdom, not an addition to it.”
Oh hell yes!!
God bless you Alan AND your free blog.