Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today

by Robert Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca

In a world obsessed with quick wins, leaders face immense pressure to focus on immediate objectives and short-term achievements. However, effective leadership is also about the long term and the impact you leave behind—your legacy. Every leader creates a legacy through their influence, whether they’re aware of it or not. It’s not just about numbers or achievements; it’s about the behaviors, ideas, and growth you foster in others.

Too often, leaders think that legacy is something to consider at the end of their careers. The truth is that legacy is built every day through your actions. Your Leadership Legacy teaches leaders how to use “legacy thinking” to shape their impact now, ensuring it aligns with their values and goals and makes a difference in the lives of those around them and the organization they lead.

Authors Robert Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca outline how legacy thinking can help you connect your daily actions to long-term goals, making decisions that have a meaningful, lasting effect. This approach isn’t about chasing praise or recognition. It’s about making intentional choices today that create a ripple effect for tomorrow.

About the book: The book is organized into eight chapters. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of legacy building, guiding readers through a step-by-step process of self-reflection, goal-setting, and action planning.

About the authors: Robert M. Galford is a managing partner at the Center for Leading Organizations and an experienced consultant who has taught at top business schools, including Harvard and Columbia. Regina Fazio Maruca is a former senior editor at Harvard Business Review and a seasoned writer focusing on leadership and organizational development.

This summary reflects my takeaways from a useful book I recommend to others. Reading a summary isn’t a substitute for reading the book. There’s much more than I can cover here. Plus, this is my interpretation. If these ideas resonate with you, get a copy from your library or favorite bookseller. Here are the Amazon links: e-book | Print

All quotes should be attributed to the book’s authors unless otherwise noted.

Key Takeaways:

Legacy Happens Daily: Every leader leaves a legacy, but whether it’s intentional or not is up to you. Don’t wait until retirement to think about it; start shaping it now. Align your daily actions with your values and aspirations, ensuring they contribute to the legacy you want to build.
The Power of Legacy Thinking: Legacy thinking is a proactive approach that helps leaders become more effective and fulfilled. By focusing on long-term impact, you can make better decisions, prioritize better, and align your actions with what truly matters.
Know Your Natural Leadership Style: Understanding your natural role as a leader is critical to aligning your actions. The book provides tools to identify your natural style — ambassador, advocate, people mover, truth-seeker, or creative builder — so you a lean into your strengths to make your leadership authentic and impactful.
Crafting a Legacy Statement: A legacy statement helps clarify your desired impact and guides your actions. The book walks you through creating one, encouraging you to reflect on your values and the lessons you want to leave behind. Your statement becomes your benchmark, ensuring you make choices that align with your vision.
Feedback Refines Your Vision: The book emphasizes pressure-testing your legacy statement with feedback from trusted colleagues. This feedback loop grounds your aspirations in reality and true to who you are.
Action Steps Matter: Turning your legacy statement into reality requires practical steps. The book offers tools like the “stop, start, continue” framework to make your legacy actionable. Regularly reviewing and adjusting these actions keeps your progress on track.
Empowering Others: Leadership isn’t just about your legacy; it’s about helping others build theirs. The book challenges leaders to create environments that support growth, helping others develop their leadership potential and their legacy.
Legacy Building is Ongoing: Building a leadership legacy is a continuous process. The path will have challenges, but staying true to your values and making thoughtful decisions ensures you navigate obstacles effectively.
Measure Success in Others’ Growth: A successful legacy is evident in the organization’s long-term health and the development of its people. The book highlights that the true mark of leadership is how well an organization and its people thrive after the leader moves on.
It’s Never Too Early (or Late): Legacy thinking can elevate your leadership, whether just starting or nearing the end of your career. You can begin at any stage.
Turn Setbacks into Stepping Stones: Legacy thinking helps you face challenges with clarity and resilience, keeping your focus on long-term goals and values.
Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: Legacy isn’t about being perfect. The idea is to aim for progress not perfection.
Beyond the Workplace: Legacy thinking extends to personal life. It can enrich relationships and create a ripple effect that touches every aspect of your life.

We all “know” that we need to think long-term, but every day, the odds of getting around to it are against us. The value of this book is that it shows you how to turn this into a practice.

Book details and where to buy it:

Get the book on Amazon: e-book | Print (affiliate links*)

Amazon rating: 4.3
Goodreads rating: 3.6
Page count: 206
Publication date: Sept. 1, 2006
Author website: http://www.yourleadershiplegacy.com

*These are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission from Amazon on your purchase at no additional cost.