Leaving a Legacy at Work: Why The Intangibles Can Matter Most

In her final post for The Leadership Program, Amanda Meeson reflects on the idea of leaving a legacy at work.

Today, is my last day at the company I have served for nearly 12 years. If you go to our website and click on my picture, part of my tag line reads ‘home grown from the roots of leadership…’

For those of you who know me or have seen me present, I AM Leadership. My personal and professional values, how I lead and the impact I strive to make in this world was fortified, coached, and flourished here. It is both heartbreaking to leave while incredibly satisfying to savor the learning, relationships, and experiences I’ve had here.

Legacy: Anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.

After many meetings and individual time with my colleagues over the last few weeks, have left exploring the idea of legacy. Despite what I’d like to think, I will not be remembered for my wisdom, effectiveness, success, or that killer PowerPoint I nailed in tap shoes. Instead, it’s all the soft and fluffy leadership stuff we can so easily push aside when the going gets tough. It seems simple and we’ve seen this list before, but I urge you to take another glance as we navigate our daily grind.

• Our energy when we walk in a room.
• Our intention when we speak.
• Authenticity.
• The depth of our relationships.
• The trust people have in us.
• And lastly, did our leadership prepare them to thrive without us?

As I sit in these transitions meetings with a two-three paged document, I am embarrassed by the lack of information I have to cascade. It is incredibly humbling to embark on transferring what you felt like was a gigantic role into a few pages of information for others to carry forward. One generous colleague reminded me this week that I have already prepared her; that I’ve been preparing her for years. I took a deep breath and remembered the importance of empowered leadership as we build relationships with our staff and colleagues.

A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought was possible. – Simon Sinek

My departure has amplified these lessons for me and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share them. What legacy do you want to leave? Let it serve to inform the way you lead each day.

Signing off,

Amanda Meeson,
VP of Programming
The Leadership Program

"Leaving a Legacy at Work: Why The Intangibles Can Matter Most", The leadership program, 2016