Leave a Legacy

Developing outstanding leaders is fundamental to any company's success. Strong leaders have a positive, profound, and measurable influence on retention, but more important inspiring commitment through demonstration of leadership in action.
From Leadership Challenge we are reminded that there are five practices of exemplary leadership™:
1. Model the Way
Do you set an example through your actions? Do you attempt to unravel bureaucracy or create it? Do you create opportunities for victory not just for yourself, but the team that you lead?
2. Inspire a Shared Vision—
Do you passionately believe you can make a difference?
3. Challenge the Process—
Do you search for opportunities to change the status quo?
Enable Others to Act
Do you foster collaboration even with dissenters and build spirited teams? Do you create an environment of mutual respect where trust, authenticity and dignity are the most important tenets?
5. Encourage the Heart
Accomplishing the extraordinary is hard. Do you keep determination alive by rewarding team members for their efforts? Do you celebrate accomplishments even the small ones?
Some of you may remember the story that my mom would tell me of the mighty oak tree. It is a story about leaving a leadership legacy, not about mass acorn production. It is about the added steps in helping others take root, find their path, to enable discovery of their own unique power. Helping those who choose to work with you find something that matters, something to care about at work or a place where they can excel, that is the leadership challenge. Whether or not you leave a legacy depends on if you have succeeded at becoming an extraordinary leader.
To help leaders develop their full potential and leave a leadership legacy, my compnay is committed to using Extraordinary Leader (Zenger Folkman) as their leadership model.
I share this book with each of you as the next step of your leadership journey. If you were measured by your actions today, what leadership legacy would you leave?
- Stacy