Legacy: Definition, Forms And Importance

To begin with, a Legacy can be looked at as a worthwhile contribution resulting from boosted thinking and caliber for learning that an individual translates to others so that it is available to the organization’s future generation of managers, employees and other stakeholders. In order for a legacy to be successfully passed on it must be digested and absorbed by others. To add on to this, a manager’s legacy can involve the ability to build new ways of thinking and strengthening others’ latitude to learn, to reflect and to gather meaning from their learning in order to leave something of enduring quality behind for the organization and the workers involved. In doing so, it improves how daily business is conducted so that new levels of organizational and individual maturity can be achieved. Knowledge plays a vital role in leaving an unforgettable legacy in an organization and works well when we decide to focus less on what is owned, rather target more on what can be known interns of ‘intellectual-capital-acceleration’. Furthermore, in the process where a manager plans on leaving a legacy in an organization, a few ideas may be taken into consideration. For example; brainstorming on what exactly should be done in order to be remembered for by colleagues, customers and external stakeholders in relation to your roles in the organization (operating systems that don’t exist now might there be). Secondly, reasoning on what can be started to do now or change now to be able to achieve the system made. Then, ruminating on how the operating system decided on might bring about change both to the firm and the stakeholders involved. Then creating a model that can be presented to the firm explaining on how the operating system can successfully work. When approved by owners and working colleagues involved, then implementation and monitoring can be done!

Moreover, there are some qualities that as a manager, should work hand in hand in order for a legacy to be invented. Primarily, one must be fixated on the vision that is in the making to be brought into being. Following that, a manager must be headstrong in operating in a positive attitude mindset which always looks for positive results despite the circumstances being faced etc. having said that, it is not only important for a manager with a goal to create a legacy to work with the positive qualities but as well build legacy by eliminating behaviors and attitudes that weakens impact. It’s not enough to add positive behaviors but eliminate the bad. For example; Bitterness, anger, and fear, Consumerism, activities that suppress priorities, Defeatism (having an ‘It won’t matter’ mentality). In the most vibrant way, building a legacy at work can be one of the most fulfilling things a manager can do. And not only that, it outlives and keeps you relevant and present when you are no longer there as it is passed on traditionally from one generation and to the next in the working organization!

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FORMS OF CREATING A LEGACY

There are divergent ways for a manager’s legacy to become a visible reality in an organization. Headmost, a manager must be able to ‘joyfully officiate in daily activities’ (Serve in ways that bring a sense of liveliness among the employees or co-workers). As a result managers should be able to work in an organization with a positive attitude regardless of the good cultures or laboring in somewhat toxic cultures as well. In doing so, their working life is made much easier with a noteworthy attitude. In not doing so, angry and unhappy managers leading a firm/organisation leave sad legacies which will eventually be eradicated from existence. Therefrom, whether good or bad, managers have the ability to choose to remain positive and optimistic despite their working environment. This is often easier said than done in broad standpoints though. However, managers in varying industries of specializations that are consistently positive, have a reputation for uplifting people around them, of whom may have a perspective of metaphorically complaining because ‘rose bushes have thorns’, into vivid individuals that rejoice because ‘thorn bushes have roses’! And as a result, their legacy is helping others see the ‘roses’ everywhere!

In relation to such a metaphor, we can look at for example, a manager encouraging his or her employees to continue participating in a training program which the employees themselves may be reluctant to as they do not see a long term picture of the kind of skills and new ideas of how they will be able to functionally work with improved quality and quantity and as well as with efficiency and effectiveness. When the manager succeeds in pushing them. Eventually the workers will come to visualize the new skills and techniques they have acquired from the training program. And this supports the metaphor mentioned above.

Alternatively, a manager should mobilize a form of ‘thinking service not profit’ as a way of forging a legacy into existence. Relatively speaking, a manager should be able to have an insight that in forming a long lasting value in a firm, he/she must progress in functions that patronize stakeholders in the organization and not involve themselves in self-fulfilling exertions. Let us take for instance, when we think of men and women in history who have left an enduring legacy on the mass of people worldwide. We often realize that those individuals are, and for some, were ‘givers’ in every sense of the word. Some examples include: Isaac Newton (of whom is famous for formulating the ‘three laws of motion which laid the foundation of classical mechanics’! And as well as being the first to formulate the notion of gravity as a universal force, and inventing calculus, and discovering the generalized binomial theorem back in 1665!) Moreover we also have Bill gates, (who established Microsoft which is the most successful computer software company today! And as well as making the PC docs operation system deal with the International Business Machines (IBM) and so on). As if that’s not enough, we have Martin Luther King Jr., (who led the Montgomery bus boycott on December 1, 1955 and being the soul reason behind African Americans getting basic civil rights all the way back in 1964!) In supplement we look into Mother Theresa (who dedicated her life to serving the poor and the sick and also established the missionaries of charity, opened the Kalighat Home for the Dying, opened up the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan to take care of homeless children), and lastly Socrates to name a few, (who was responsible for using philosophy as a tool to make society better by teaching a system of rational ethics to the young men and future leaders of Athens, using the Socratic Method, a system of questioning to reach an answer which helped the people come to rational conclusions). All of them mentioned chose to give to others first as they were smart enough to know that what is put into the lives of others comes back as a retribution. On account of what has been exhausted, those who leave legacies at work and in this world do so by giving first and receiving last.

With progression, a manager should ‘Choose to think BIG’ as a means in order to project their legacy onto others taking part in an active organization. Now in thinking big, one should be able to firstly, know their selves in order to develop and maximize their talent, strengths, and skills. For a manager, this remarkably comes convenient when it comes to see the potential that lies within the people of whom you work with. Take for example in the field of work, where employees are able to recognize that a manager whom they are working under, is able to see the best in them and knows that they can achieve great things even when they filled with doubt. In such a footing these employee will most likely never forget such managers as they helped them become a better and woke individuals that they turned out to be. In as much as what has been explained, when we choose to think of the big possibilities that exist within the people around us, we create an enduring bond and energy that can fuel the organization concerned. As a result, when managers look for the positive in their employees, it composes the working-for-knowledge-journey mentality that is much better for both the employees and the corporation itself. And as a bonus, it even make the whole organization love what they do.

Conclusively, managers should be able to ‘Choose to embrace the big team‘ and monitor their impact on others. Here one should be able to evaluate activities that are being done that make the biggest difference and doing more of that. To hitch on what has been said, for managers to enact a solid legacy, they must bind their co-workers or employees together as a single force with the goal to remain strong and goal-focused. In order to embrace the big team, managers should have an idea that in order for them to be remembered, they must implant the idea that teams are much stronger when they realize that all the functions that they perform from their varying stations are interconnected. In contrast, the feeble organizations are filled with people who are on the look out for their lone desires without concern for the good of the whole organization. Personally, the most memorable managers are those who put the needs of the team or organization ahead of their own. For a fact, I would take a chance to say that managers who hold the ideology of ‘I’ are in most cases not respected and would be voted off of any firm if the moment presented itself. In effect, for managers to have an enduring legacy they must be the persons who embraces the big TEAM and choose to find a way to use their resources for the benefit of all.

IMPORTANCE OF LEAVING A LEGACY

The significance of handing over a legacy begins to manifest with history when we think about those who left a legacy for us to follow. For example; Abraham Lincoln, (who freed the slaves by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and as well as signing the first of the homestead acts, allowing poor people to obtain land, established the united states department of agriculture and signing the Morril Land-Grant Act which led to the creation of numerous universities, instituting the first official thanksgiving day, coining the American Greenback Dollar, Authorizing the first Railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts), more also, the many men and women in Zambia who fought for our sovereignty so that we can live in freedom and safety, John F. Kennedy (who called us to explore space and set us on course to have a man walk on the moon, also took the U.S economy out of recession through his reforms, and with great effort, JFK averted the nuclear war through his negotiations with the Soviet leader named Khrushchev), and lastly, Martin Luther King Jr., (who left us a legacy to pursue the dream of racial equality). The list goes on from there. Undoubtedly, there are figuratively thousands of men and women who lived in a way that affects our lives today both in Zambia and worldwide. And for some they are the same people we knew and the people we lived with who intensely shaped us.

Ultimately, a legacy can be anywhere whether household, government and the business enterprise environment and it all depends on how we live our lives. How we live our lives is critically important because in relevance to corporation related matters, it is important to leave an appealing legacy for the following reasons;

First of all, it is part of the ongoing foundation of life of an organization. Managers who came before leave employees with an existing firm in which they function in. Those who come after will have only what current managers leave them. Thus, managers can be looked as guardians for an organization and have a calling to leave it better than how it was found, even if it seems like only a small part.

Continuously, it has the raw power for success and for failure of an organisation. There are managers who have changed firms for good and opened up new worlds for millions of other managers and employees, and those who have driven others on to new heights. And, conversely, there are people who have caused huge downfalls, people who left a wake of a drawback behind them wherever they managed or worked. In all, what managers do affects the success or failure of an organisation. It is important that not only managers but workers or employees and stakeholders in coordination to work together to ensure the success and survival of an organisation.

Furthermore, it is an act of responsibility to leave a legacy. Because of the power in the way managers do their line of work in leading an organisation and the legacy they choose to leave is a great responsibility and must be that of a positive legacy. All good men and women in management and in function as employees or workers must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation of the firm involved to a greater level imaginable. In belief, there is a part of what makes us good and honorable people in business, is having an introductory part of our lives based on the goal of leaving a legacy.

Progressively, the importance of leaving a legacy in an organisation breaks the cycle in pursuing selfish goals that can be deep-rooted in us all. When we strive to leave a legacy, we are acting with a selflessness that can only be beneficial for everyone in the corporation involved. Contradictory, someone could work hard to earn money so that when he or she dies a building is named after them, but that is not the kind of legacy we are talking about. Rather, we are talking about legacies that make the working environment better for those who come after us, not about our own fame or recognition, but about helping others. After all, we won’t be around to watch our legacy. To build that which will last beyond us is selfless, and living with that in mind breaks the power of selfishness that tries to engulf itself in our lives.

Lastly, leaving a legacy in an organisation is vital because it keeps us focused on the big picture. Legacy building is part of the ‘big picture in an institution.’ It keeps us focused on the long term and gives us values that we can evaluate or functions at work. When we are acting based on selfishness, personal visions and the like, we are having are minds focused on the ‘small picture’ on whatever that is sensible right now. Therefore, leaving behind a legacy serves an enormous effect when we are building a life that will serve for many in the business society.

CONCLUSION

In discontinuation, we have looked at how a Legacy can be looked at as a worthwhile contribution resulting from boosted thinking and caliber for learning that an individual translates to others, so that it is available to the organization’s future. And as well as discussed the important qualities that as a manager, should work hand in hand in order for a legacy to be invented. we have also looked at the different ways for a manager’s legacy to become a visible reality in an organization and they were that managers should; joyfully officiate in daily activities, thinking service not profit, Choose to think BIG and lastly, to Choose to embrace the big team. To add on to this we have saturated on the significance of leaving a legacy in an organisation as already discussed the importance collaborates with historical times where we look at how different peoples actions influenced what kind of legacy they left for the existing generation. And these people were: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., to name a few. In continuity we then focused on how it is important for people to leave legacies and the reasons involved legacies being; part of the ongoing foundation of life of an organization, a raw power for success and for failure, an act of responsibility to leave a legacy, able to break the cycle in pursuing selfish goals and that it keeps us focused on the big picture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Leaving a Legacy: Intergenerational Allocations of Benefits and Burdens by Kimberly A. Wade-Benzoni, Harris Sondak, and Adam D. Galinsky
2. Creating A Lasting Legacy by O’ Brien & Wolf, L.L.P
3. Leaving a legacy by David R. Bue PF’s Vice President of Development
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7. Article in 10 Ways To Build Powerful Legacy Now by Dan Rockwell -
8. Article in Jornal of aging Studies – September 2005
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10. Article in 7 ways to build your legacy at work by Phyllis Weis Haserot – February 10, 2016
11. The blog in 5 ways to leave a great legacy by Joan Moran – December 7, 2017
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13. Article in 4 ways to leave a positive Legacy at Work by Heather R Younger, J.D., CCXP – December 2017