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.
Greg
Someday I hope the book gets written telling us about the behind the scenes, smoke filled room negotiations that must have accompanied this decision. I cannot begin to imagine what those talks about Senator Clinton becoming (or not becoming) the running mate must have been like. Both inside the Obama and Clinton camps respectively, the possibilities that were discussed would be a fascinating insight into a historic nominating campaign. Oh yes, it would also probably be ugly to the highest degree considered what was at stake.
David M. Patt, CAE
This marketing scenario is more complicated than it appears.
What if the Clinton market included a large anti-black market? That entire 49% could not merely be transfered to Obama and some might have gone to McCain anyway.
What if Clinton turned out to be an uncooperative teammate? How would that have affected the performance of an Obama/Clinton enterprise?
There are no sure things here.
Dennis Snow
Not choosing Clinton as a running mate is a huge mistake for Obama. The election would’ve been a lock and he could’ve made history twice. Yes, Hillary Clinton has a strong personality and it could be challenging working with her as VP. But if Obama can’t handle that, we’re in real trouble if he becomes president. Alan, don’t great CEOs surround themselves with people who challenge their thinking? I’m with you on this one.
David M. Patt, CAE
The people who challenge the CEO’s thinking need to remember they are not the CEO. Whatever the content of the discussion, the CEO makes the final decision.