Taking the client on the path for greatness

A few days back, I was coaching a nonprofit leader and his top of the mind agenda was to talk about his leadership legacy. He thought that he could have been better, especially in the last few years. He is 54 and wishes to retire in 2 years, to focus on being a mentor to nonprofit leaders and help small nonprofits to scale up. I asked him if he had to express his leadership journey in few words, what would that be? He mentioned, “task chasing, spending time understanding the operations, not tilted towards softer thinks like understanding people”. He also mentioned ruefully that he could have spent more time in knowing the humans behind the professionals who were working hard in the field. 

I asked him when it comes to legacy, what could he do in the next two years. If he had to invest more time in the human side of things, what 2-3 things came on the top of his head. He thought and said, “The first thing I am going to do is to have a “real” town hall meeting, perhaps out in a village kind of setting where ideas would be shared without judgements being passed on people”. He asked me if that idea was a good one. As a coach, I didn’t want to answer his question which he was himself equipped to answer. I probed him further, “How would you make your remaining term as a journey for greatness? What are you offering your people that can add on to your legacy?’. He stood up and paced around the small room where we were talking. He suddenly smiled and said, “I will actually ask my people in what areas they need my expertise from now on. As I have decided to retire and be a mentor, why don’t I start doing it right away? I want to leave a legacy of a mentor who loved to share”

A leadership legacy is all about how the people you work with remember you. If you are someone who always encouraged people to share their ideas, your legacy will be of a leader who cared for diverse viewpoints. If you were a micromanager, people would remember you differently. It is for you to decide. I personally like to put a bet on a leader who listens and cares.