What kind of leadership legacy will you leave behind?

An otherwise calm night in the middle of March 2021 as the Tanzanian nation prepared for bed suddenly turned ominous as the country was hit by the news of the passing away of the fifth President of the Republic, Dr John Pombe Magufuli, fondly known among his ardent followers simply as ‘JPM’.

A reflection of his life led me to ponder the subject of leadership legacy and how, at some point in our lives, we will all be called upon to leave the leadership scene.

The question that haunts me as I ponder this is ‘What kind of leadership legacy will I leave behind’? As I ponder these thoughts I am reminded of the basic tenets of good leaders that, if practiced, would go a long way in ensuring positive memories of you when that time comes. Allow me to share those thoughts with you.
Leaders that turn out with great legacies first and foremost possess an amazing ability to accurately scan the future and make plans that ensure that the opportunities they see ahead are prepared for well in advance.

Developing visionary skills for one that does not already have them naturally can be a daunting task but an ability to study the past and learn from it is a good way to start harnessing them.
A leader that does not allow him or herself the vulnerability of occasional failure will limit the number of risks that they take and in so doing deny themselves the opportunity to learn from the failure.

Courage is therefore the second of the leadership tenets necessary to build great legacy. Courage is the mother of innovation and innovation the mother of sustainability and an imperative for growth.
Leaders who don’t build trust with their people stand the risk of not being followed. Developing a high level of integrity as a leader is key to effective leadership which in turn leads to great legacy.

Integrity cannot be faked.

You either have it and demonstrate it, or don’t have it at all. Leaders who lack integrity are very quickly ‘caught out’ by their followers who quickly lose their trust in them.
Passion for mission is another of those that cannot be faked. Leaders that leave great legacies are driven by ‘Mission’ and remain true to delivering the mission goals throughout their leadership. Moses, the legendary leader who led the Hebrews out of bondage to the promised land of Canaan, teaches us a great lesson in passion and mission led leadership. Though his passion was tested time and time again by the leaders of Egypt, he never lost sight of the mission and delivered it against all odds.
“Do as I say but not as I do” is not the best attitude for nurturing great legacy. History constantly reminds us of great military leaders of the past who built their legacies by leading from the front and ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’. Great leaders are highly inspirational by nature. Unfortunately, history also reminds us of some highly inspirational leaders who used their inspirational skills to create havoc rather than build society. One therefore needs to proactively use this tenet to channel societal energy in the right direction.
Leaders who are inclusive stand a higher chance of leadership success than those who are not. For one, it is not possible for one person to know everything, and secondly, it is a well-known fact that diversity of thought builds quality of outcome. Without courage it is difficult to be inclusive because inclusiveness requires a certain level of vulnerability in exposing areas where one needs support. Courage must however be followed by humility to allow this to happen. I would therefore venture to say that inclusivity and humility are more of those traits that leaders who build great legacy possess.
Finally, all the above adds to naught if a leader is not able to create value for the people he or she leads. In whichever way a leader’s purpose is spelt, unless there is an element of value creation, hopefully real rather than perceived, he or she stands to be relegated to the land of those one would rather forget about. Remember that legacy is about the value that you leave behind once you are gone. All that you do as a leader must therefore be about nothing but building value.
As I pen off allow me to challenge you to reflect on the above and ask yourself how you measure against each tenet, for your leadership legacy depends on it.