“Legacy is your fingerprint on the next generation. Not your name or image, but something eternal that you stood for beyond yourself.” ~Frank A. and Joyce S. Thomas Legacy Gala.
Defining Leading with Legacy
In my book, Leading Well, I define legacy as “ultimately about the stories told about us when we are gone. It’s about the testimonies of what we stood for and championed and what we established to advance the causes we believed in and promoted so passionately.” Legacy is fundamentally about the values and things of value we pass on to the next generation. Leaving a legacy starts now with leading with it in mind.
Leading with legacy requires leaders to look beyond the now to that which will live beyond their earthly journey. A legacy isn’t always about an institution we launch. Instead, it’s about the values passed on that shape and impact a new generation. In this blog, I discuss how we can honor those who came before us while creating an honorable legacy for those to come.
Examples of Leading with Legacy – Dr. Frank and Dr. Joyce Thomas
Legacy is such an important component of leadership. This was reiterated when I attended the Legacy Gala for dear friends and colleagues Dr. Frank and Dr. Joyce Thomas a few weeks ago. The Thomases launched a doctoral program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at the Christian Theological Seminary (CTS).
This program is groundbreaking and essential to the field of preaching. It focuses on developing and nurturing African American preachers, a group with unique talents, needs, and challenges. As the gala organizers shared, “this endowed chair will publicly acknowledge, celebrate, and resource Thomas’ commitment to developing practitioner-scholars and advancing scholarship on the beauty, depth, creativity, imagination, and power of African American preaching.” This groundbreaking program will undoubtedly transform the lives of many, creating a legacy of hope and inspiration for years to come.
Dr. Thomas’s love for African American preaching will be transmitted to future generations of scholars, starting what he envisions as a renaissance of Black preaching that will ignite a revival in American Christianity!
Examples of Leading with Legacy – Dr. Charleyse “Charley” Pratt
Another excellent example of leading with legacy is Dr. Charleyse “Charley” Pratt, whose vision and passion founded the Academic Success Center at Cleveland State University. The Pratt Center is for students who have aged out of the foster care system and “offers a unique multiuse space that offers students from diverse cultural backgrounds” an “on-site space to support academic growth, leadership development and retention for those who have lacked a traditional support system.”
Students admitted to the program are awarded the Sullivan-Deckard Scholarship and provided tutorial, mentoring, and social-emotional support. Dr. Pratt, then Assistant Vice President for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement, launched the Center, which now bears her name. The Pratt Center cemented the legacy of Dr. Pratt as a champion for fostering success, leadership, and hope for formerly fostered young people. Although Dr. Pratt has passed on, her rich legacy and impact live on
Dr. Pratt led with legacy in mind and left Cleveland State a better place because of her love for young people, especially those underserved and under-resourced. The Pratt Center opens space for perpetuating success and hope in ensuing generations.
Honoring Those Who Came Before You
The best way to honor those who came for us is to honor their values and continue their work. Think of the people who came before you, whose stories of perseverance and persistence encourage you today. I think of Mary McLeod Bethune, who so valued education that she launched a school to serve underserved Black young people. She valued education and built a valuable institution that carries her vision forward to this day.
I think of my maternal grandmother, “Granny.” She was a powerful praying woman who led the church of my youth after her husband passed. She valued prayer and demonstrated a consistent prayer life to her other grandchildren and me, so much so that for the past fifteen years, three of my cousins and I have led a prayer call every Sunday night to intercede on behalf of our families, our friends, our nation, and world.
My prayer-partner cousins and I continue our Granny’s legacy of prayer. We recognize that we received the baton from our mothers, who received the prayer baton from Granny. Now, we must prepare the next generation in our family to be ready to carry our family prayer movement forward.
How Can You Lead with Legacy in Mind?
To lead with legacy in mind is to see beyond oneself and inspire hope in others to follow a path to a new and preferred future. What values do you live by that you pass on to the next generation? You might not establish an academic center or get an endowed chair. But what can you build now that will live on into the future? What can you write that the next generation will read? What is your portfolio of values that leave an imprint on people today and into the future? Take a moment to reflect on these questions and consider the impact of your own legacy.
Let me close with a quote from Dr. Anita Phillips, author of The Garden Within.
She writes, “Legacy is anything that leaves the world a better place…Legacy work is all about love, pure and unconditional—pouring love into the future that we may not be present to enjoy.”
Like steaming tea from a teapot, may your passion for that of eternal significance be poured out into others to make your world better. When leading with legacy in mind, you can make an impact far exceeding anything you could have imagined.
This is a great post. Thank you. One thing about one’s legacy, like fingerprints, is that they are left wherever we go, whether we intend to or not.