Moshe’s Blog

How Will You Be Remembered? The Ultimate Question for Effective Leaders

A Most Important Question for Good Leaders to Answer

“Emily, how do you want to be remembered?” the hard-charging newspaper editor asked the prolific young writer who was resistant to having her excellent work published.

It’s a really powerful legacy question that every leader should answer. Why? When you are clear about how you want to be remembered as a leader, and you commit to it, magic can happen. Your clarity will enable you to set priorities, make decisions, and take action in alignment with that desire and rooted in your integrity.

By the way, the young woman in the story above was the famous poet Emily Dickinson, as portrayed in a wonderful fictionalized biographic mini-series. Ultimately, due to both her circumstances and choices, she was not widely recognized or remembered until well after her death. You may choose otherwise.

What comes to mind when you consider how you want to be remembered?

What are you doing now to be remembered as you wish?

4 Amare Steps to Get Clear About How You Want to Be Remembered

1. Sit with the question. Ask yourself today, and throughout the week, how you want to be remembered as a leader. Note whatever answers come to mind. Then quietly meditate until one idea rises to the top.

2. Imagine it came to be. Now take the future perspective of having completed your leadership work and cemented your legacy. Look back at the pivotal choices you made that led to you being remembered as you desired.

3. Now plan forward. Come back to now, and list three things you will do now to achieve the legacy you want. Then list three things you will change about who you are being.

4. Bravely share it. Tell a few people you deeply trust about how you want to be remembered as a leader. Invite them to remind you of your desires and hold you gently accountable if you get off track.

Getting clear about how you want to be remembered is an extraordinary and courageous investment in yourself, and through you, in your organization. It is a powerfully transformative act for Amare love-powered leaders who understand the value of being self-aware and commit to being the best they can possibly be.

Lead with the Best Version of You & Your Team

I work with executives and leadership teams on being the best version of themselves, through the Amare Way of love-powered leadership. For more information, contact me here.