You are building a legacy
This morning I facilitated discussions surrounding legacy for the Virginia Credit Union Sister Society of the Global Women’s Leadership Network, and several parallels could be drawn between what our panelists have done over their careers and my business.
Denise Wymore, head of marketing at Zest AI, has been around the credit union movement for decades, yet one of her first professional learning moments was when she was serving in a restaurant as a teenager. Her boss said, “We are put on this earth to serve,” and it stuck with her. We’ve all had those crystalizing moments, even if we don’t know what they mean at the time.
Along the same lines, when I was waiting tables in college, the owner told me, “You are not waiters. You are not here to wait. You are servers. You make suggestions and ask, ‘how else may I serve you?’” His purpose was profits, which is not a bad thing for a business, but the point is sometimes people don’t know what opportunities await them until they receive a recommendation from their server. So, the next time there’s job opening you want, don’t wait, speak up and recommend yourself as the company’s next great opportunity.
Mitchell, Stankovic & Associates CEO Sue Mitchell shared that identifying and leveraging allies in her career and personal life have been critical. On those days when you’re not feeling ‘enough,’ they can remind you to straighten your crown and show up. Some will even go with you. And as you build this network of allies, you’re able to create things, like the GLWN, that are much greater than yourself.
Denise mentioned, she too, “has a gift for guilting people into things.”
Creating a legacy or a brand has to be intentional, but not necessarily toward that end. Sue talked about reframing her thinking to turn what could have been tragic, like getting nearly smashed in traffic, into motivation. “OK, I’m still here God. I’m meant to still be here for a reason,” she acknowledged.
Denise’s mantra came from Filene: Keeping purpose constant.
Because legacy isn’t about position. It doesn’t have an end-date – that we know of anyway. It isn’t about the accolades, like these two recent America’s Credit Union Museum inductees. It’s about finding your purpose and being very intentional about your dedication of time, talent, energy and even funds toward that purpose.
These two get-shit-done ladies also shared their stories. And to get people to follow them into whatever their latest adventures are and have been, they communicated and built stories around why others should dig in with them. They collaborated with others of common purpose, and through hard work, persistence and time, they are building memories and entities that will last beyond them. Sue was the founding chair of the GLWN, which has helped women in the credit union movement to have a voice, connect us with others who can help us and lift up others. Denise is working with others to create the De Novo Collective and a CUSO to support our boutique credit unions, because Americans need credit unions, especially now, and she’s determined they won’t go down on her watch.
Certainly, one can intentionally build a legacy, but really our legacies comprise all these little moments that make up life. They are stories we use to motivate ourselves and others. They can be seemingly small or snowball into something huge. They become our story. Our brand. Our legacy.
It might take an outside perspective to help you or your company to determine what that is. I’m happy to help!