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One thing every leader must never forget in the course of their leadership is how they would want to be remembered when they are no longer in charge. You see, this aspect of leadership talks about your legacies, which is like a gift you would love to hand down to those who would succeed you, most especially, in terms of your contributions to the growth of the organization and how you have been responsible for the height the organization had attained in the past as a result of your leadership prowess and contributions. For example, the Bible said concerning David in Acts 13:36: “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God.” Did we see that? For David, that was a legacy of service to his own generation.
Listen to Podcast: Pathways to Building Lasting Legacies in Leadership
The question then is: What would be your own legacy in leadership? How do you want to be remembered? In this podcast, I want to quickly show us a few pathways through which leaders can build lasting legacies for themselves in leadership and I believe this is going to be of tremendous benefit to us even as we progress in our leadership endeavors.
Pathway number one: Lead with integrity of heart and skillfulness. In Psalm 78:72, the Bible says: “And David shepherded them [in other words, he led them] with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” Now you would agree with me that it is not every leader out there that leads with integrity of heart. Many leaders today lack integrity. They are dishonest, they are unfaithful and they are untruthful. It is not like they care about the people or the organization they are leading, they are simply leaders because of every dishonest gain they can find out of leadership. And this is a sad reality with many leaders today. We spoke about David’s legacy of service to his generation earlier on and here, the Bible is showing us how he attained that legacy: he served with integrity of heart and he led his generation with skillful hands. So, as leaders, if we are going to build a lasting legacy in our leadership, it is important that we lead with integrity and with the skills that God has endowed us with.
Pathway number two: Lead with love and compassion. One of the ways through which leaders create lasting impression in the hearts of the people that they are leading is through love and compassion. I love this statement from a political commentator which says: “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind in others the conviction and will to carry on” and this is exactly how the legacies of a leader who led with love and compassion is sustained. The legacies of Jesus Christ were sustained by His disciples because He practically showed them what it means to lead by love and He said to them categorically in John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So, from that place, we saw that Jesus loved them first and He commanded them to also love one another in return. It is important that we know this truth that as leaders, we cannot build lasting legacies outside of the love that we have for our organization and the people we are leading. Our legacies would be built around that love and compassion with which we led our people and organization.
Pathway number three: Invest in people. This is perhaps, one of the greatest legacies any leader can leave behind, investment in people. We must understand as leaders that the greatest resource anywhere in the world, is not crude oil, it is not money, it is not buildings, it is simply people. Leaders must learn to invest in people who would in turn invest in others. Leaders must learn to invest in others who can take up the same leadership assignment even when they are no longer on the scene. In Numbers 27:18-20, the Bible says: “So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.”
Paul also speaking to Timothy in the book of 2Timothy 2:1-2 said: “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” What can we glean from these two scriptures? When leaders invest in the right people, these people in turn becomes their legacy. In other words, people can look at these new leaders and then trace back their exploits to your own leadership. For example, when the sons of the prophets saw the exploit that Elisha did by parting the river, they simply said: the spirit of Elijah has rested upon Elisha as well (2 Kings 2:15). In other words, they could see Elijah’s investment upon Elisha, the new leader, simply by the things he was doing. O, as a leader, never forget that part of your legacy is in investing in people.
Alright! This is where we are going to draw the curtains on today’s edition of Leaderview and I believe that you have learnt something already. Please don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and loved ones and also, drop your comments in the comment section so that I can get to read about your thoughts on what we have shared with ourselves today. Till next time on Leaderview, stay blessed and God bless you.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
