Choosing Your Legacy

Who invented dynamite…? No, it isn’t Napoleon (even if you are a fan of the movie Napoleon Dynamite).

Don’t Google it yet. Let me ask you another question. Who envisioned and started The Nobel Peace Prize? If your answer is Nobel, you are right - Alfred Bernhard Nobel.

Let me return to my first question, who invented dynamite? You’ve probably put 2 and 2 together and realized it was Alfred Bernhard Nobel.

The Nobel Peace Prize and the other Nobel Prizes were established by the Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel through his last will.

But why? Alfred Nobel had an “aha” moment regarding his legacy, after seeing his own obituary (a French newspaper had mistaken his brother’s death for his). He realized that he was going to be remembered as the person who invented dynamite, something that killed people, so many people. Even though he created it with the intention of helping with mining, dynamite, and some of Nobel's other inventions, were used to make war more devastating.

Nobel actually declared himself a pacifist. It is believed that the Nobel Prize was an attempt by Nobel to leave a better legacy in the world than having improved military weaponry through his ingenuity. He wanted a legacy that aligned to his pacifist values.

And he did it. He changed his legacy. We know this because virtually no one can answer my first question correctly.

So, my dear leaders, what is your legacy? What are you doing about it every day? How would you like to be remembered? Do you even know?

Legacy is an important part of how you lead, where you are leading your team to, and the impression you leave on people.

Creating your legacy, if you haven’t already done it, can seem daunting. But it’s not as complicated as it may seem. Use the following resources for inspiration and guidance and start leading with more intention.

Previous
Previous

Value in Comparisons

Next
Next

Leadership Lessons from our Pets