THE LEGACY YOU LEAVE IS THE LIFE YOU LEAD

Much as compelling words are essential to uplifting spirits, exemplary leaders know that constituents are moved by deeds. They expect leaders to show up, to pay attention, and to participate directly in the process of getting extraordinary things done. Leaders take every opportunity to show others by their own example that they are deeply committed to the aspirations they espouse. Leading by example is how leaders make visions and values tangible. It is how they provide the evidence that they are personally committed. Bossidy and Charan remind us that you have to execute. When it comes to deciding whether a leader is believable, people first listen to the words and then watch the actions. A judgment of “credible” is handed down when the two are consonant. How you lead your life is how people judge whether they want to put their lives in your hands. Leaders are judged by how they spend their time, how they react to critical incidents, the stories they tell, the questions they ask, the language and symbols they choose, and the measures they use. Nothing fuels the fires of cynicism more than hypocrisy, and leaders need to be constantly vigilant about aligning what they practice with what they preach. If you dream of leaving a legacy, then you’d better heed the Golden Rule of Leadership: DWYSYWD do what you say you will do. Schein and Spreitzer and Quinn remind us, also, that leadership is not a solo act. It takes collaboration to get anything significant done in organizations. There is not a single example of extraordinary achievement that occurred without the active involvement and support of many people. Long before “empowerment” came into the popular vocabulary, credible leaders knew that only when their constituents felt strong, capable, and efficacious could they ever hope to get extraordinary things done. Constituents who feel weak, incompetent, and insignificant consistently underperform, want to flee the organization, and are ripe for disenchantment, even revolution.