Will Your Life-Work Leave a Legacy?
Last week I learned that my best friend from high school had died. Arthur “Pete” Billingsley was fresh out of college when he became my biology teacher and football coach. An all-American basketball player in college, Pete’s athletic talent was exceeded by his ability to genuinely love and lead high school guys who were struggling with life’s big questions. What I read online showed Pete left a legacy in the lives of young men in at least 5 Tennessee communities over forty years.
A few years ago author Ben Fanning noted that the challenges, goals or crises we experience each day crowd out most life accomplishments, especially in the work world. Instead, Fanning pointed to the lasting impact our work has on the people that it affects each day. In other words, the lasting legacy of our work will be interpersonal and not financial or institutional.
The people I meet rarely mention the interpersonal side of their work. They come to me because they’re frustrated, bored, exhausted or desperate for some sense of accomplishment in their work. My own pre-coaching work story was full of these emotions, so I get it, but for most people there comes a point when the meaning and impact of our work becomes important and we begin to long for work that’s impactful and significant.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the lives of celebrities. After achieving some level of success in their respective fields they often immerse themselves in volunteerism and charity work. They recognize the short shelf-life of vocational success, a light goes on, and they look for longer-lasting places to invest themselves. Many of the mid-life men and women I’ve been privileged to help have told me something quite similar – they want to be engaged in work that will have some sense of lasting impact and meaning.
Want to ensure your work has a lasting legacy? – Ask yourself these questions:
Are the people in my work world more aware of my concern for them than of my concerns about their results?
Teddy Roosevelt famously once said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Ironically, so many business leaders fail to see that expressing a genuine interest in the lives of their employees is often the one thing that motivates them to do the things that lead to success.
Am I willing to give my time, energy, and money as investments in their development?
The growth and development of people has an exponential effect, allowing your efforts to be multiplied through the number of lives you touch. Increasing the capacity and competency of the people around you empowers them to also be change agents in lives of the people they know; people you may not ever actually meet.
Am I making real person-to-person contact, rather than relying on the expedience of emails, texts, and other time-saving media?
Put your phone away and have a face-to-face conversation. I’m often amazed that so few people (especially, parents) don’t see that checking our smart phones for incoming stuff conveys a value message to the people in our lives. We’re actually telling them that they are of secondary importance to the buzz of a smart watch or phone. The quality of every interaction you have will either grow or diminish someone’s perception of their “importance to you” in a fast-paced world.
Am I building their capacity, self-confidence and ability to make a positive impact or increasing their dependence, self-doubt, and undermining their potential to make change happen without me?
Empowering people to take measured risks, innovate, make decisions and take initiative expands their competency. Sure, it means you’re relinquishing control over some things that may be pretty important to you, but how else do people become self-competent. In our parenting life my wife refers to this as “giving [our kids] an opportunity to ‘Adult’”. She’s absolutely right – we’re always teaching people that they’re competent and capable or we’re teaching them to be timid and fearful.
Am I modeling the actions and words I hope to see in their lives?
What I do is far more powerful than what I say. This truth becomes painfully apparent when you see people copying behaviors that you’d most like to end in yourself, especially in high stakes situations. Inviting employees, subordinates, mentees and your children to be present in the high stakes and low stakes interactions of your life reminds you that your life is always being watched but also gives you opportunities to live what you value.
Reach out to me here (Click Here to Connect) to learn more about how you can ensure your life's work has the significant impact it was intended to bring. Thanks again for reading and I’m hopeful that we can connect soon!