Crafting a Lasting Relational Legacy

While I was never willing to sit still long enough to develop a comprehensive knowledge of our nation’s founding fathers when I was a kid in high school, I truly enjoy history. I was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution in 2019, and even then I didn’t do the legwork for detailing how my family lineage served in or provided material support to the revolution. Since then, though, I have written a couple of lessons in our Leading At The Next Level program detailing the leadership traits of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. One point I drove as I shared characteristics of each was the legacy they left. Although not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, they all made significant contributions that we still benefit from today. In the lesson dedicated specifically to Washington, I explained how intentional he was about creating his Cabinet; surrounding himself with people he respected, even when they had opposing views. A major turning point in Franklin’s life was when he purposefully put himself in a formal association with a group of men with strong character. Their leadership capabilities grew stronger through great professional relationships, and they left a tremendous legacy.

I’ve shared repeatedly here how I’ve been able to leverage my own leadership growth through the mentorship I’ve had access to. Any success I achieve is part of the legacy those mentors leave. I’ve also mentioned several times just how obligated I feel to do everything in my power to pass along what I’ve learned. I’ve worked tirelessly to practice each of the steps we’ve worked through here in building the framework for relational leadership. Not only do I want to continue growing, I want to make sure I’m passing the torch to others so they can draw strength from their professional relationships.

As we each grow - in age, hopefully in maturity, and in the amount of leadership responsibility we carry - there will be ongoing opportunities for crafting a lasting relational legacy. When we approach each relationship with humility, and we’re willing to adapt that framework as needed, the resulting success can be far more than we’ll ever be able to measure on our own. Early in the process, I emphasized that “When we care more about serving everyone involved and getting great results than we do about who gets credit for an idea, we’ll be able to leverage our relationships as a true learning network.” If we can build the structure for each relationship with that in mind, we will indeed have a framework in place that yields a lasting leadership legacy.

Before we tie this all together by looking at what will be required to live this relational framework daily, I want you to start a list detailing who you need to be sure you’re passing what you’ve learned onto. Who are you mentoring currently that will benefit from building a framework of their own? Who have you interacted with on occasion but would get value from more focused mentorship? And what do you need to be looking for in others to identify potential mentoring opportunities moving forward? When you and I are intentional about passing on what we’ve learned, we’re carrying our mentors’ legacy and we’re crafting one of our own.