The Legacy Drawing Board

Our legacy is more than than what we did.  It is also what we did not do.  Guidelines and standards help us navigate through temptations and peer pressure.  As you build you legacy, have you clearly demarcated the lines you will not cross?  Your character and legacy are defined by your adherence and respect to these lines.  

Patience is a virtue and a gift.  When you practice patience, you gift others the space to grow.  Patience is not passive waiting.  It is a unselfish decision to allow others to find their place at their own pace.  Patience enriches storytelling by supporting deep interactions and appreciating nuance.  Exercise patience and your legacy enriches.  

Jaclyn Orent, co-founder and CEO of Cultural Catalysts Network, provides practical insights to the seasoned corporate leader to the recent high school graduate on how to improve the world by mastering self.  Listen to see how sharing your vision, compassion, and energy will widen your scope and deepen the impact you have in improving the world.  

Shepherd leadership is a better model than servant leadership.  The servant model detracts from leadership by its redundancy, passivity, and limited scope.  If you are not willing to serve, you are unfit to lead.  Shepherds are proactive protectors who do not wait for instructions to lead their flock to safety and pastures where they can prosper.   

The Japanese art/architecture form of kigumi builds houses without nails.  Nail-less structures have the space and flexibility to absorb the shock of earthquakes, are less likely to have wood splitting from changes in humidity, and accommodate seamless assembly and replacement.  
Have you built your relationships to withstand stressful forces?  Do you lead by joining people together as opposed to fastening together with metaphoric nails?  Listen to build a stronger legacy without nails. 

Approximately 12.5 million Americans are solo agers.  Some never planned to spend their latter years alone.  Changing trends in active disengagement reduce the reach of our social networks and strain community cohesion.  Many will be left wondering what their legacy will be.  Listen to transition from life planning to legacy building.  

We are flawed beings who stumble on our journeys.  Often, we looked for a way to correct our course.  We can supply each other with that by designing offramps of grace and mercy.  Listen to be a beacon of humanity to those who are at points of great need.  

Danielle Philips created the They Were Here Foundation to build a legacy for her daughter Angelina, who died from cancer.  The foundation provides a space for grieving individuals to keep the voices of departed loved ones alive through storytelling.  Listen to hear how others are choosing to honor lost family and friends by bringing memories to life.