What's frequency got to do with leadership legacy?

Leaving a leadership legacy? Start with your frequency.

Betty Coleman emailed last week, out of the blue.

Betty emailed me on behalf of the authors of Your Leadership Legacy. She was honest. It was a PR campaign...asking bloggers to blog about leadership legacies and blogging and how blogging plays a role.

I liked that she was honest and direct. I began to give it some thought. ( Leadership legacy deserves more than a rant, a riff, a bam-bam-bam, off the top of my head.)

I thought: Forget what legacies others may leave. What legacy do I want to leave?

Then I thought: Why wait to leave a legacy?. Why not LIVE a legacy?!?

Hmmm?  I mean...we all do. We all live our legacy. Why not just admit it. (I know why we don't admit it. We'd have to come to terms with what legacy we're living right now. Much easier to just go shopping...)

What legacy am I leaving as I'm living? What legacy am I living right now with every blog post, every conversation, every informal chat walking through our offices, every morning I wake up with the punk'n, chase Auggie out in the backyard, every customer I interact with, every family member I ignore...what legacy am I living? 

Is it something I'm proud of? Some.

Is it something I'm not proud of? Some. But less than the first. And growing smaller all the time.

As I embrace this role of being a leader, being a CEO, (and being a slow learner...) it's clear and getting clearer that...ok, I'm a leader. That changes how people see me. Even those in the company who I've held as friends now see me different because now I'm the CEO. And every thing I do and don't do sets the tone for their day, for the company, for our customers...

The impact of my discussions go far, farther than I realize I'm sure, the impact I have on people's lives is greater. The opportunity is greater. A razor's edge? hmmm. Not so much. But driving on roads covered in 'black ice"... yes. Living your legacy is much like drving your car on a road where slick and dangerous spots of black ice remain. You're zipping along...beautiful snowy landscape, making good time...and if you're not attentive, you're spinning out of control ending up in the ditch.

And in a tickle it here, it laughs over there moment...I had just resumed reading The Radical Edge. My friend Stever Farber wrote it.  The section where I resumed reading it was Steve's discussion of "frequency" of finding your frequency as a leader, what station are you tuned into with your life. Page 100. Let me share it: (Steve's a better writer than I. Not suckin' up; it's fact.)

...the first thing we have to do is find our frequency, find our station - the one that clearly expresses who we are at our core. And one of the characters goes on to confess: "It tooke me a while to find it, to tune in, as it were. There are a lot of values I hold dear: respect, integrity, honesty, love and family, to name a few. But for me, it all plays on the radio station called 'service'." ...Every value that I ...well...'value' rolls up into service: service is the way I show respect; integrity and honesty characterize the kind of service I give to others. And if I'm really serving from my heart, I see everyone as family - not just my genetic relatives. That's the way it works for me, and the moment I got clear on that -the moment I tuned in - I committed to it with all my being.

Whew. Talk about your timing between Betty's email and this section of Radical Edge on finding your frequency...a  perfect storm causing severe bouts of self-reflection, inquiry, wonder, some regret, a little angst...but now coming out of it with some renewed focus.

With Betty and Steve now driving my personal, private, conversation for the last few days...here's what I'm thinking:

POSSIBILITIES. that's the radio station I'm tuned to receive. Maybe I'm a dreamer. Ok. I am. "What if?" is a constant question in my mind. What if we could...create a community of small businesses each providing their resources for the other's growth....what if we could do it in an industry that's becoming commoditized...what if we could do it and encourage everyone to take time for their families...what if my wife and I could live in town but off the grid and with our own greenhouse and then moved to live overseas...what if I ran a marathon in under 4 hours (yeah, ok...dreamin') ...what if everyone in the company began to blog passionately, doesn't matter on what...and our customers, what if they did also.

The dream is cool...sweet. The possibilities are grand. They leave me smiling.

But what if's only run so long and the sweetness only so deep.  The real reward comes from seeing that possibility manifest, of figuring how to bring along on the ride all the people who need to come. It's the  work that brings it into brilliant focus...brings out the fire, the full color of the dream ....that's invigorating, much sweeter. It's not nough to dream the possibilities; I want to feel the synapses snapping, old habits breaking off, new possibilities discovered every day. ONe of my great pleasures is opening people's eyes to possibilities, of what they could do, what options they have, of showing them new and cool things to use and share. Bringing a smile to their face.

There are values I clearly cherish: honor, honesty and integrity are at the top. Always have been, except when static interfered and we had moments tied to my 2nd question above. Kindness and compassion are right behind. Balance. Completeness. Never quit, patience, wait-your-turn, do-it-now, learn and learn and learn. And passion. Get up in the morning when you're passionate about the day. Otherwise, stay in bed and figure it out. Definitely don't waste people's time until you do. 

Seems a rather long list of qualities, some even contradictory. What do I say?

Coming back to Steve's book: ...

it's not about finding your frequency by ruling out everything else; on the contrary, it's about finding the frequncy that includes all those other important values and ideals.  The very act of trying to wrap it all together is what's really important, because in order to do so, you have to get very clear on what you mean by each value and pinciple. you have to define them, think them through, understand them to your core and evaluate your life against each one. The clearer you get, the closer you get to the frequency that pulsates through your life and characterizes who you really are.

All this talk about frequency has me humming and singing Wavelength by Van Morrison.

Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Betty. More later.

Comments

[Ken Partain]

Zane, great post! This really gets the the heart of who we are as an individual whether we consider ourselves, or others consider us, a leader or not.

Each person is emitting a frequency whether they are conscious of it or not. We might as well do it with purpose.

When we emit a frequency of integrity, honesty, love, and respect, we attract others to us who are on the same frequency.

Thanks,
Ken

[Regina Maruca]

It's always so amazing to me where people go with this topic. This blog is a wonderful example. The idea is something that resonates with people, and then, just as they should, they take it and "extend it" or "redirect it" it to apply to their own lives. Frequency is an excellent concept!! And marrying the ideas of Frequency and trying to Live a Legacy is a really insightful way to think about how What We Do each day adds up to Who We Are and Who We Want To Be. Or doesn't.

Ultimately, my sense is that no one would want to think about their legacy to the point where it takes over their thinking every second of the day. You wouldn't be able to Do Anything. It would be like asking an endlessly looping "what if?" The constant "second-guess." That's not what it's for. It's supposed to be a useful tool, not a scare tactic, and this blog gets it exactly right.

The idea is, if you can include legacy thinking in your day-to-day, and check that your "frequency" is in sync with your responsibilities and your day-to-day activities, that's hopefully going to help you be a more satisfied and grounded person in the short run and in the long run.

Also have to say, I appreciate it when someone recognizes an honest PR move, accepts it, and runs with it!

-Regina- (co-author of Your Leadership Legacy)

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