Legacy, how we LIVE today, more than what we leave

The concept of legacy is seemingly massive. Usually we associate legacy with your name on the wall of a building or the wing of a hospital or the cheering farewell party your co- workers give you with fond speeches of all you’ve done and achieved or through your children. Really legacy is as Steve Kazanjian, former CEO of Promax says, “legacy walks in the room before you and stays long after you have gone.” It’s what endures about you and for you, today and every day. Legacy, whether we know it or not, is something we are already leaving and living every day and we are impacting those around us by our actions that either magnify or detract from that legacy.

Legacy was an odd concept to me a while back when a colleague brought up the concept of living your legacy today. When she asked me what mine was I fumbled around looking for words and instead blurted out something inaudible like, “I want to be a good person.” That’s lovely and true, however it wasn’t exactly it and got me thinking deeply, what is my legacy? Am I living my legacy right here and now and what am I amplifying? This sent me into months of hefty journaling when a meeting with my wonderful late Aunt Chana seemingly had the answers and it was lying deep in my ancestry.

My paternal great grandmother on my grandmother’s side, Dina, was born and raised in Palestine in the 1800’s. She was an extremely religious woman who was married to a religious man who studied the Bible in caves during the week with other men who did the same. Dina gave birth to about a dozen children, several of whom died from a plague in Northern Palestine.

The cornerstone of what I know about Dina is that she lived her life with dignity – for herself and her family. They were poor and Dina had to feed her children and since she could not rely on her husband for an income, she started a merchant business and would walk with donkeys to Damascus to buy and sell goods. She started off quite small and eventually was able to care for her family.

If that’s not inspiring enough for a religious woman at that time, she divorced her husband which wasn’t an easy feat, because in the Jewish faith only a man can divorce a woman. She later remarried. Chana told me that a family genealogist traced Dina’s lineage and he found that she came from a long line of the Yoffe family which she was proud of – so much so that she kept both her maiden and married names, also unheard of for a religious woman. On her tombstone her full name is inscribed proudly, “Dina Yoffe Rosenblum.”

The impact of who Dina was being in her life profoundly shaped my life. As I was journaling this question about legacy, the word dignity kept coming up and the impact of putting dignity into our work and in our lives.

When my father died, and my aunt Chana and my grandparents sat in mourning for him in Israel, a young religious man came knocking on the door and wanted to know if this was the place where they were mourning my father. Turns out my father was the person who gave this young man the ability to live his life with dignity by giving him work and money to live and provide for his family.

Dignity was there all along, in my work, my life and in my lineage. It became my north star – treating myself and others with dignity and helping my clients create workplace cultures of dignity – of trust, respect and psychological safety. When dignity is emphasized as a guiding principle for everyone in the workplace, from the most senior executives to front-line employees and everyone in between, it is the bridge that transforms relationships and improves every area of employees’ lives, both professionally and personally.

So the question is…how do you determine what your legacy is? Here’s the process I would suggest:

Part 1

---

Answer the following questions:

-Where have you had an impact?

-What have you noticed that others appreciate about you?

-What are you most proud of?

-Where would you like to have more of an impact?

-In order to have a greater impact: What would you need to let go of? What can you do to step into the world of possibility for yourself?

-What legacy are you choosing to live into now, today, that incorporates your whole self (work + life)?

Notice, when you answer these questions, when you are limiting yourself. Give yourself permission to break free of your constraints.

Part 2

---

Create a visual representation of your legacy using words and images that inspire you. Keep it handy and enlist others to ensure you are living your legacy fully and completely.

Part 3

---

Begin utilizing your legacy practically and pragmatically.

-What elements of your work connect to your legacy?

-What areas are out of alignment?

-What can you do to bring them into greater alignment? Who would you need to become? What would you have to let go of?

-How can you amplify more of your voice given your legacy as a context?

-How do you provide yourself with self-agency in amplifying your legacy in your work?

Anyone can create and live a legacy today because you already doing it. By awakening yourself to what your legacy is, you can truly live more intentionally and thoughtfully. It’s the foundation to designing life – by you and for you.