The Leaders Journey: Phase 4
December 2008
The Leader's Journey
Phase 4: Your Service Legacy
Leaders who are fortunate enough to create success on all levels have the resources, passion, and expertise to give back to the world. If the first three phases - your heart, your core team, and your organizational effectiveness - are about building something of real value, the final phase of the journey is about using what you have built to improve life for everyone you possibly can. It is the fulfillment of your highest purpose.
Some do this by expanding their company's capacity to solve problems for a growing customer base to enrich the world with meaningful value. Others invest in philanthropic work or teach less fortunate people how to create genuine business success. For example, the 2006 Nobel Peace prize winner last year, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, created a "micro loan" business for third world women.
As we work our way through the worst economic challenges we've faced in almost 100 years, now is a good time to reflect on why we are here.
Even as we look at significant losses to our net wealth, retirement funds, and short term business opportunities, many of us are not in real jeopardy of losing everything. However, many others are in survival mode, and they do not have the immediate wherewithal to figure things out. Of course, we would all wish prosperity and opportunity for everyone. But pragmatically, we also have a need for everyone to "make it." The one undeniable lesson from this financial crisis is this: interdependence. We are truly interconnected to one another in spite of the differences that seem to pull us apart.
So what will your legacy be? What do you have to give back to society? Each of us has a choice right now. Shall we choose to hunker down in fearful trepidation and make sure we take care of our own, or shall we be grateful for what we do have, expand our consciousness, and use our success to give back?
Whether you have a lot or a little, if you are reading this article, you have been blessed with success. And as we know, giving and receiving are an interrelated process that supports the interdependence of everyone and everything on our one planet. When we give, we are actually giving to ourselves. So you can be sure that your legacy, no matter how small or large it may appear, will have positive consequences for everyone, including yourself.
If you know someone who would appreciate reading this article, please send it along to them.
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