Book Review - Your Leadership Legacy by Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca
Category Book Reviews
Regardless of what you do as a leader, you *will* leave a legacy behind. Rather than wait until there's not much left you can do about it, Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca make the case for managing your legacy now in the book Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today.
Contents:
Part 1 - Making Leadership Last: Building a Legacy
Part 2 - Impact and Duration: What Kind of Impact Are You Having?; What Role Are You Playing?; Your Intentional Legacy; Is Your Legacy Designed To Last?; Are You Doing the Right Thing?
Part 3 - Judgment: The Need for Judgment; Legacies and the Responsibilities of Leadership
Notes; Index; About the Authors
In many ways, this is reminiscent of Stephen Covey's "Begin With The End In Mind". You start out thinking about how you would like to be perceived and remembered, and then start taking actions to make that happen. The authors define "legacy" as how others approach work and life as a result of having worked for you. They also advocate for looking at "legacy thinking" early on in your career, so that your goals can shape your day-to-day interactions with those you lead. Through a series of exercises, they walk you through assessing your current influence on those around you, identifying the type of role you play in the organization (as well as how that will affect your legacy), and then what steps you need to put in place to ensure that you are creating the legacy you intended. It's not necessarily a comfortable process, as the odds are that you'll have to acknowledge that there are aspects of your leadership style that may be effective to the organization but devastating to those around you. But ultimately, you'll leave some sort of personal signature on your charges. You might as well make sure it's one you'd *want* to be remembered for.
While written specifically for leaders, it's not hard to extrapolate the principles to your personal life. Think of your role as a leader of your family or of some organization where you volunteer your time and efforts. These areas also affect your legacy, and in many ways it's a legacy that's more personal and important than a corporate one. Even if you choose not to follow through all the exercises put forth here (and I recommend you do), just the thought of actively managing how others will remember you will start to move you down a road that not many travel in time to have much of an impact...
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
Regardless of what you do as a leader, you *will* leave a legacy behind. Rather than wait until there's not much left you can do about it, Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca make the case for managing your legacy now in the book Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today.
Contents:
Part 1 - Making Leadership Last: Building a Legacy
Part 2 - Impact and Duration: What Kind of Impact Are You Having?; What Role Are You Playing?; Your Intentional Legacy; Is Your Legacy Designed To Last?; Are You Doing the Right Thing?
Part 3 - Judgment: The Need for Judgment; Legacies and the Responsibilities of Leadership
Notes; Index; About the Authors
In many ways, this is reminiscent of Stephen Covey's "Begin With The End In Mind". You start out thinking about how you would like to be perceived and remembered, and then start taking actions to make that happen. The authors define "legacy" as how others approach work and life as a result of having worked for you. They also advocate for looking at "legacy thinking" early on in your career, so that your goals can shape your day-to-day interactions with those you lead. Through a series of exercises, they walk you through assessing your current influence on those around you, identifying the type of role you play in the organization (as well as how that will affect your legacy), and then what steps you need to put in place to ensure that you are creating the legacy you intended. It's not necessarily a comfortable process, as the odds are that you'll have to acknowledge that there are aspects of your leadership style that may be effective to the organization but devastating to those around you. But ultimately, you'll leave some sort of personal signature on your charges. You might as well make sure it's one you'd *want* to be remembered for.
While written specifically for leaders, it's not hard to extrapolate the principles to your personal life. Think of your role as a leader of your family or of some organization where you volunteer your time and efforts. These areas also affect your legacy, and in many ways it's a legacy that's more personal and important than a corporate one. Even if you choose not to follow through all the exercises put forth here (and I recommend you do), just the thought of actively managing how others will remember you will start to move you down a road that not many travel in time to have much of an impact...
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
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