The Legacy Drawing Board

Shepherd leadership is a better model than servant leadership.  The servant model detracts from leadership by its redundancy, passivity, and limited scope.  If you are not willing to serve, you are unfit to lead.  Shepherds are proactive protectors who do not wait for instructions to lead their flock to safety and pastures where they can prosper.   

Approximately 12.5 million Americans are solo agers.  Some never planned to spend their latter years alone.  Changing trends in active disengagement reduce the reach of our social networks and strain community cohesion.  Many will be left wondering what their legacy will be.  Listen to transition from life planning to legacy building.  

We are flawed beings who stumble on our journeys.  Often, we looked for a way to correct our course.  We can supply each other with that by designing offramps of grace and mercy.  Listen to be a beacon of humanity to those who are at points of great need.  

Danielle Philips created the They Were Here Foundation to build a legacy for her daughter Angelina, who died from cancer.  The foundation provides a space for grieving individuals to keep the voices of departed loved ones alive through storytelling.  Listen to hear how others are choosing to honor lost family and friends by bringing memories to life.  

Explore your legacy as cinema.  Produce your life story as a filmmaker. Develop a script from a vision, "cast" the people in your life by building meaningful relationships, and collaborate with other artists to enrich and to clarify your story.  Make your legacy the best picture possible.  

Stained glass was referred to as the "Bible of the poor."  We can use the process of creating stain glass as a model for designing and building our legacies.  Is your legacy accessible and understandable to the masses?  Does it reflect, reflect, and diffract sunlight into a dance that fills dark rooms with hope and joy?  Listen to infuse your legacy with the beauty of the rainbow's richness.

Garbage in, garbage out.  This is the essence of system designs.  Pivot to beauty in, beauty out for your legacy design.  Listen to blend and balance design concepts from art and engineering to build your intended legacy and a reserve for recentering it when things go awry.  

It's important to pause from legacy building to legacy evaluation.  Set aside time to reflect and to ask others about your legacy.  How fit is it in terms of delivering your message and touching the lives of others?  Examine it for its strength, flexibility, mobility, and balance.   

Writer Farley Ledgerwood identified the four kinds of people you need in your life: 👤 The person who won't let you quit. 👤 The person who won't let you pretend. 👤 The person who makes you feel less alone just by existing. 👤 The person who knew you before the armor.

 Listen to examine your relationships and what direction you want them to go.

Do you show before you tell?  Have you established your identity before assuming responsibilities?  Listen to appreciate the importance of placing indicatives before imperatives in your legacy design and building.  Doing so will position your legacy to empower than to burden.  

Persistent or stubborn?  Collaborative or indecisive?  Honest or indiscreet?  How you channel your core energy will either build or destroy.  Listen to design a path for your essence to engage others in sharing a clear and consistent message.  

How do you view your children's spouses?  Do you consider them in-laws or on as your own children?  Listen to prepare for this family addition with open arms, open hearts, and an enduring loving message of acceptance.  

Will people know your faith by your works?  And, are works grounded in loving others?  Listen to begin examining how you are living your faith and how your works shape your legacy.  

Money has three fundamental functions: it is a medium of exchange, a unit of account/measure of value, and a store of value.  Have you examined the function of your legacy?  Does it promote dialogue, be held up as a standard for living, or continue to influence people after you are gone?  Listen to build a better legacy by combining form with function.  

Your legacy is your kingdom.  How do you treat your subjects: your hopes, dreams, fears, and your message?  Listen to understand whether your rule or govern and what will be the lasting impact of your reign.  

Running barefoot improves form because we receive unmediated input from the ground.  As we build our legacies, are we taking the time to go barefoot to ensure our perceptions are aligning with the truth?  Listen to let your legacy run a better course by shedding comfort for the fullness of life.