What’s in this issue:
Your Leadership Legacy — a concept and [optional] exercise to help you discover the impact you’re having as a leader
Journaling prompts to create a leadership legacy statement for yourself
Best Practices for 1-on-1s — make the most of your 1-on-1 time with your team members
😆 Today’s Laugh
Enjoy!
💭 Today’s Thought
Your Leadership Legacy
If you are a leader—of a company, a department, a division, or any group of individuals—you will have a leadership legacy. It won’t be a record of how you behaved or a report card of your company’s performance… Instead, your legacy will be revealed in how your colleagues, employees, and others think and behave as a result of the time they spent working with you.
- Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca, Your Leadership Legacy
In their book Your Leadership Legacy, Galford and Maruca argue that your legacy isn’t something to start thinking about when you take your next job, or at the end of your career.
It’s something to start thinking about now.
It’s not so much how you want to be remembered by others at some point in the distant future, but instead, what is tangibly different today because of you.
Consider that you’re having an impact on everyone around you already, each and every day.
What IS that impact? And what’s possible if you brought more intentionality to the impact you’re having?
If you’d like to make these inquiries more than just a thought experiment, here’s an exercise from the book cited above that I’ve shared with lots of leaders — and many find it incredibly eye-opening and validating…
Reflect on the four questions below independently, and then ask the same questions of two people you’ve worked with closely who you trust will give you positive, meaningful input (we’re not looking for criticism here!):
What do people take away from having worked with me? What have I taught them?
What 3-5 characteristics describe my approach to work and my resulting impact on other people?
What do I stand for?
What has changed as a result of my influence and work?
Leading is hard.
And there are many tough moments when you’re not quite sure what to do or how to show up.
My hope is that clarifying your impact and the legacy you’re leaving gives you a beacon of light to show you the way during those tough times.
🖊️ Today’s reflection
If you’re new to journaling, I highly encourage you to read Nancy Adler’s article: Want to be an outstanding leader? Keep a journal.
This week, find a quiet place and gift yourself 10 minutes to reflect on any of these prompts, based off of the exercise I shared above:
Reflect on the above exercise:
What similarities (if any) do you notice between your answers and those of your colleagues?
What differences do you notice? What insight does that give you?
Create a rough draft of your legacy statement. Taking the inputs you have so far, what are 1-2 sentences that summarize the impact you’re having on others? (If you’re stuck, you can follow the format: “I am the [insert adjective] leader that [insert the impact you’re having].)”
On a scale of 1 to 10, to what extent are you living your legacy statement each day? If less than a 10, what would a 10 look like?
What’s one small step you could take tomorrow to get closer to a 10?
📚 Today’s Read
Best Practices for 1-on-1s: How to Get The Most Out of Your Meetings
Whether you’re a new leader doing 1-on-1s with your team members for the first time, or a more experienced leader feeling like your 1-on-1s have become stale, this article by Allison Schultz has a host of practices and questions you might consider asking to spark meaningful dialogue, engagement, and growth.
See you next week!
xo,
Anne
P.S. Enjoying this newsletter? Please share it with someone you care about!