Leadership and Legacy

Your job as a leader is to create more leaders. Your job is to give people the opportunity, possibility and vision of what is available to them, and close the gap between how good they are today and how good they are capable of being. Legacy doesn’t just happen. It’s what you create when you interact. This means that when you think about how to bring out the best in others, the question becomes: What are you pouring into them?

The Five Steps to Leadership

• Enroll people in the journey. Put them in the places that allow them to do what they want to do.
• Get them engaged in the process. Help them connect to their purpose so they want to stay consistent towards their goals.
• Empower them to be curious and find new paths to take. Give them space to be creative!
• Encourage education. Education leads to growth, which leads to fulfillment.
• Elevate them to higher roles. Support their growth, even if it leads them away from you.

The Legacy Factor

“Legacy is not leaving something for people, it’s leaving something in people.”

The mistake that most of us make is that we think legacy is something we leave behind when we die, but in truth, it is the long-lasting impact we create through the small interactions, actions and decisions we make throughout life.

In order to elevate others to become their best, it’s important to look at leadership through the legacy lens and consider how you can help others see the potential within themselves.

Elevating the Best in People

1. Desire: Help them attach their efforts to a purpose. You can demand desire all day long and give someone the tools and the training to meet their goals, but the real magic happens when they have a burning desire to grow on their own.
2. Believe: Consider what kind of support you can offer to show that their dreams can come true. Give the gift of possibility, not limitation.
3. Vision: Create a vision for them to see how their work is aligned with their own values and aspirations. The vision is built on the “why.” Re-engage them and they will start to move forward.
4. Plan: Give them clarity on how to achieve their goal, including the resources they need and the next first step to take. Movement stems from them knowing what exactly to do.
5. Model: Model the actions and behaviors you hope to see in others. People see more than they listen. Be intentional with how you show up and the people you want to inspire will follow suit.
6. Lead: Allow people to grow by developing a deep understanding of yourself as a leader and the people you influence:
   • Have awareness of what you know, don’t know and the areas you need to develop personally.
   • Hold yourself accountable to your own growth and accept that not everything will go as planned.
   • Make sure that you give others the latitude to create and be curious.
   • Give them responsibility and authority, and allow them to make mistakes.
   • Create safety around failure by recognizing that mistakes reveal powerful lessons for those who are learning.
   • Acknowledge the wins. Your celebration and belief in other people is what drives your legacy and allows others to live fully expressed into their potential!