The Legacy Drawing Board

About 1 in 10 adult children are severing relationships with their parents.  Parents are left shocked and confused.  Listen to understand the driving factors and how storytelling can keep your family intact and you relevant in your children's lives.  Your legacy is not your children; it is the relationship with your children.  

Move beyond show and tell and embrace show, tell, and do.  Align your thoughts, words, and deeds to delivery a clear and consistent message.  Virtue signaling is not virtuous.  When you show, do you display and do you reveal?  The former is transactional; the latter is relational.  Design your story to balance and to integrate show, tell, and do.  

Autumn marks the transition to shorter days and cooler temperatures.  The laziness of summer gives way to the resumption of school schedules and work loads.  It is a time of harvest, to bring forth the fruits of seeds planted in the spring.  Your legacy is a labor of love.  Take the time to reflect on your efforts.  Listen to renew your aspirations and travel on new roads.  

You were never meant to carry on another's legacy.  Legacies can inspire and encourage.  They can point to a direction, but not determine a destination.  How you deliver your legacy matters.  It is part of the message.  Listen to ensure your legacy is a blessing, not a burden.  

Have you built your legacy on a platform or a stage?  Does your legacy facilitate exchanges and participations or passive viewing and listening?  Listen to see the difference between a platform and a stage and how that difference influences the impact and direction of your legacy.  

Americana is the tapestry of our collective history, folklore and culture.  It identifies, unites, and inspires us to go west and to the moon.  What is the collective history, story, and culture of your legacy?  Listen to explore and to articulate the cultural artifacts and symbols that characterize your legacy.  

"Water seeks its own level."  "Still waters run deep."  Water's physical properties direct the nature of its flow.  Water's function is dependent on its movement in controlled measures.  What is the nature of your legacy's flow?  How are you directing its flow?  Listen to explore the path your legacy is traveling and whether that is your intended direction.  

Our legacy is more than than what we did.  It is also what we did not do.  Guidelines and standards help us navigate through temptations and peer pressure.  As you build you legacy, have you clearly demarcated the lines you will not cross?  Your character and legacy are defined by your adherence and respect to these lines.  

Patience is a virtue and a gift.  When you practice patience, you gift others the space to grow.  Patience is not passive waiting.  It is a unselfish decision to allow others to find their place at their own pace.  Patience enriches storytelling by supporting deep interactions and appreciating nuance.  Exercise patience and your legacy enriches.  

Jaclyn Orent, co-founder and CEO of Cultural Catalysts Network, provides practical insights to the seasoned corporate leader to the recent high school graduate on how to improve the world by mastering self.  Listen to see how sharing your vision, compassion, and energy will widen your scope and deepen the impact you have in improving the world.