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July 2004 |
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Welcome to Ignite!—the online newsletter from The Ken Blanchard Companies®.
This issue focuses on creating your personal leadership legacy.
Whatever your position, if you influence the lives of those around you, you are engaged in the act of leadership. And if you are a leader in any sense, you are creating a legacy as you live your daily life. Your leadership legacy is the sum total of the difference you make in people’s lives, directly and indirectly, formally and informally. Will you consciously craft your legacy or simply leave it up to chance? What can you do to create a positive, empowering legacy that will endure and inspire?
Those are the questions that authors Marta Brooks, Sarah Caverhill, and Julie Stark set out to answer in their 2004 book Your Leadership Legacy. The book challenges leaders to take responsibility for the lasting impact their actions can have, for better or for worse. The authors spent five years speaking to a cross-section of men and women from all walks of life, asking them who was it that had left an indelible impression in their lives and, more importantly, how did they do it? Why do some people leave a positive, memorable mark on those whose lives they touch, while others are either remembered in a negative way or simply fade into obscurity when they leave their positions?
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 | Remembering a Question by Charles Schultz
In looking through people’s responses, authors Brooks, Caverhill, and Stark were reminded of some questions first posed by the late Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip. The questions were designed by Schultz to help people reflect on the truly important things in life. Schultz began by asking people if they could name the last five winners of
- The Heisman Trophy?
- The Miss America contest?
- The Academy award for best actor or actress?
For most people, remembering even a few of these past award winners was a challenge—even though each of these award winners had been a household name at one time.
Schultz would next ask people a second question: what are the names of five
- People whose stories most inspired you?
- Teachers who most influenced you?
- Friends who have helped you most?
Not surprisingly, Schultz found that these names came quickly to the lips of the people he spoke with. Why was it so much easier to name these people? It’s because we can easily remember the people who have had a personal impact on us. The people who really make a difference in our lives are not necessarily the ones with the best credentials, the highest education, the finest awards, or the most money. They are the ones who take a personal interest in us, the ones who guide, trust, and believe in us.
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What Legacy Are You Building?
Your legacy to an individual or a group is built moment-by-moment, and will impact the way your organization performs in the future. If you care about shaping that future, examine the legacy you are currently building. In the same way that character determines destiny, so too, the leadership legacy you build within your organization will influence the future of the people around you. Who you are filters throughout your entire organization. | | |
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The Three Dares
It takes courage to forge a meaningful legacy. Authors Brooks, Caverhill, and Stark found that those leaders who create a positive legacy are daring. They
- Dare to be a Person not a Position—how you define and conduct yourself is the foundation of the legacy you leave. Living by values and behaving authentically will have a far greater impact than anything you can achieve through strength of position.
- Dare to Connect—people can exist in isolation, but they cannot thrive. In order for your leadership legacy to live on and be emulated, you must foster emotional connections and mutual trust. The effects of such connections will echo in far-reaching ways, unlimited by time or place.
- Dare to Drive the Dream—those who live their leadership legacy turn dreams into a future that people want to live in. What you do now has the power to change the face of the organization. Dare to create a path that people will want to stand on and follow.
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It’s Your Choice
You are going to leave a leadership legacy—whether or not you want to. As a leader, you will impact your people and they will take what they learn forward into the future of your organization. But a positive legacy doesn’t just happen. The legacy you leave is the legacy you live. What you control is the way you live and do things now. The challenge is how to live in a way that creates a legacy that will make a positive difference in the lives of those around you. | | |
 | Would You Like to Learn More about Creating a Leadership Legacy?
Join Your Leadership Legacy coauthor Sarah Caverhill for a free Webinar on Thursday, July 15.
Creating Your Leadership Legacy
Thursday, July 15, 2004
11:00 a.m. - noon Pacific Time
In this dynamic and interactive online seminar, Sarah Caverhill will show you how to create and live your own positive leadership legacy.
You'll learn:
- The three reasons to begin intentionally living a positive leadership legacy (increase employee trust and commitment, increase engagement, increase productivity)
- How to identify the three “dares” that impact your living a positive legacy
- How to overcome the roadblocks that most of us face when confronting each of the “dares”
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 | New Video Release: The Leadership Pill--The MOVIE
The Leadership Pill—MOVIE takes you behind the scenes and follows a "real-life" director and a newly formed group of actors as they create a "Leadership Pill" movie. Immediately, it becomes apparent among the actors that their new leader/director and his geniune use of the leadership skills portrayed in the movie is actually very motivating. It's as if they aren't even actually acting.
Special interviews throughout the film with Ken Blanchard, PhD, and coauthor, Marc Muchnick, PhD, offer insight and personal commentary on the core leadership principles.
Call or visit our website today for more details or a free preview! | | |
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