Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today [Hardcover]

Robert M. Galford (Author), Regina Fazio Maruca (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

You should worry about your legacy later in your career, at the edge of retirement--right? Not according to Robert Galford and Regina Maruca. In Your Leadership Legacy, these authors argue that thinking about your legacy now makes you a better leader today. Based on stories of top leaders who have shaped successful careers, the book explores the art of "legacy thinking," helping you to formulate a legacy that will exert a positive effect on your work immediately. The authors provide a disciplined approach to framing your legacy, as well as shaping it over time. They start with the idea that your legacy is defined by how others approach work and life as a result of having worked with you. They then demonstrate how to assess your current impact on those around you, strengthen that impact, and pass along the best of yourself in the process. While many leaders "find themselves" and hone their work accordingly only after a major life crisis, Your Leadership Legacy enables all leaders to craft their work and build their legacy unburdened by such crises, and to experience personal satisfaction and achievement throughout their working lives.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

“After reading Your Leadership Legacy, any leader would wish that they had read it at the start of their career. It’s a book that actually forces you to think how your day-to-day actions are molding your eventual measure as a leader. By planning for the impact you will have on your people and your organization, you become a better leader today.”

--Thomas C. Leppert, Chairman and CEO, The Turner Corporation

“This important and useful book goes to the heart of leadership today. It challenges thoughtful leaders to ask themselves not just what it takes to get ahead but, more importantly, what it means to leave something lasting behind.”

--Alan M. Webber, Founding Editor, Fast Company

“Your Leadership Legacy should inspire many leaders to empower the people who matter at work, at home, and in their communities. Galford and Maruca will teach you how to learn as much from your leadership mistakes as from your successes.”

--Carol Goldberg, President, The AVCAR Group, Ltd

About the Author

Robert Galford is a managing partner of the Center for Executive Development in Boston and has taught executive education programs at Columbia, Kellogg, and Harvard. Regina Maruca is a former senior editor at Harvard Business Review and is currently a writer and editor based on Cape Cod.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591396174
• ISBN-13: 978-1591396178
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Actively managing the way others will remember you..., October 25, 2006

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today (Hardcover)

Regardless of what you do as a leader, you *will* leave a legacy behind. Rather than wait until there's not much left you can do about it, Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca make the case for managing your legacy now in the book Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today.

Contents:
Part 1 - Making Leadership Last: Building a Legacy
Part 2 - Impact and Duration: What Kind of Impact Are You Having?; What Role Are You Playing?; Your Intentional Legacy; Is Your Legacy Designed To Last?; Are You Doing the Right Thing?
Part 3 - Judgment: The Need for Judgment; Legacies and the Responsibilities of Leadership
Notes; Index; About the Authors

In many ways, this is reminiscent of Stephen Covey's "Begin With The End In Mind". You start out thinking about how you would like to be perceived and remembered, and then start taking actions to make that happen. The authors define "legacy" as how others approach work and life as a result of having worked for you. They also advocate for looking at "legacy thinking" early on in your career, so that your goals can shape your day-to-day interactions with those you lead. Through a series of exercises, they walk you through assessing your current influence on those around you, identifying the type of role you play in the organization (as well as how that will affect your legacy), and then what steps you need to put in place to ensure that you are creating the legacy you intended. It's not necessarily a comfortable process, as the odds are that you'll have to acknowledge that there are aspects of your leadership style that may be effective to the organization but devastating to those around you. But ultimately, you'll leave some sort of personal signature on your charges. You might as well make sure it's one you'd *want* to be remembered for.

While written specifically for leaders, it's not hard to extrapolate the principles to your personal life. Think of your role as a leader of your family or of some organization where you volunteer your time and efforts. These areas also affect your legacy, and in many ways it's a legacy that's more personal and important than a corporate one. Even if you choose not to follow through all the exercises put forth here (and I recommend you do), just the thought of actively managing how others will remember you will start to move you down a road that not many travel in time to have much of an impact...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start thinking about your leadership legacy now, October 10, 2006

By 

Jim Estill (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today (Hardcover)

The authors of "Your Leadership Legacy", Robert Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca asked for my thoughts on the type of leadership legacy I want to leave.

I read their book and was thoroughly impressed. Although I had not given a lot of thought to the approach, I am completely sold on it. The thesis of the book is to think about what legacy you want to leave and work backwards. This is the best way to have the greatest impact.

I think I will find this approach particularly worthwhile to keep me working on the big picture as opposed to getting too much into the little things.

The book talks about legacy thinking. In their words, legacy thinking helps you recognize when you are wasting time at a given spot. Legacy thinking helps you put planning in prospective.

This book is very fast and easy to read with a tremendously powerful message. I would strongly recommend this for any leader.

I plan to use this legacy thinking in my decision making.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking toward the future never looked better, September 12, 2006

By 

Suzanne C. Lowe - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today (Hardcover)

"Your Leadership Legacy" serves as an excellent springboard for an issue that too many leaders leave unaddressed. While they could have simply reminded us that looking toward the future is a good idea for leaders, the authors provide a fantastic framework and practical discussions for crafting -- and actually achieving -- professional results.