Now Is the Time to Leave a Legacy

There are moments in your career that stay with you forever.

Not because they happened on a stage.

Not because they came with a promotion.

But because someone chose to invest in you when they didn't have to.

One of those moments happened very early in my career.

At the time, I was working in the Parramatta Contact Centre.

My manager, Julie, had recently completed an exercise with one of our senior leaders, Scott, called The Leadership Legacy.

She couldn't stop talking about it.

She described it as one of the most impactful leadership conversations she'd ever experienced and encouraged me to reach out to Scott to see if he'd be willing to take me through the same exercise.

To be honest, I almost didn't ask.

I was still fairly low on the organisational ladder.

Scott wasn't.

He carried significant responsibility across the business, and I assumed that even if he was open to helping me, it would probably happen months down the track—if it happened at all.

But eventually, I decided to send the email.

Back then, there was no ChatGPT to help polish my words.

Every sentence was mine.

Every edit was mine.

What should have taken five minutes turned into nearly half an hour as I rewrote the email over and over, trying to strike the right balance between confidence and humility.

Eventually, I took a deep breath...

...and pressed Send.

I expected to wait days.

Maybe weeks.

Instead, only moments later, my desk phone rang.

It was Scott.

Trying my best to sound calm and professional, I answered.

He got straight to the point.

"Hey James, I just got your email."

"I'd love to take you through The Leadership Legacy."

"Have you got time now?"

For a moment, I was speechless.

Then I did what many of us do when someone unexpectedly offers us something valuable.

I tried to minimise it.

"Surely you've got more important things to do than spend time with me?"

There was a brief pause.

Then he said something that has stayed with me for more than twenty years.

"James, I will always make time to grow people. Now is the time to leave a legacy."

At the time, I don't think I fully appreciated what he meant.

Today, I do.

Legacy Is Built One Person at a Time

That conversation reshaped the way I viewed leadership.

Before then, I assumed leadership happened in meetings.

In presentations.

In strategy documents.

After someone earned a certain title.

Scott showed me something entirely different.

Legacy is rarely built in the spotlight.

It's built in ordinary moments.

A phone call.

A conversation.

An hour freely given to someone who simply wants to grow.

He wasn't just talking about leadership.

He was living it.

The Greatest Investment You'll Ever Make

It's easy to believe our legacy will be defined by the size of our team...

The revenue we generated...

The projects we delivered...

Or the position we held.

But twenty years later, I couldn't tell you what Scott's calendar looked like that morning.

I can tell you exactly what he said.

That's the power of investing in people.

People remember how you made them feel.

They remember the belief you placed in them.

They remember the moments you stopped being busy long enough to help them become better.

That's the kind of leadership that echoes long after the meeting ends.

Busyness Is the Enemy of Legacy

Most leaders don't intentionally neglect people.

They're simply busy.

Busy solving problems.

Busy responding to emails.

Busy chasing deadlines.

Busy preparing for what's next.

But here's the irony.

The work will always be there.

The opportunity to shape someone's life may not.

Scott could have replied, "Let's book something in next month."

Instead, he recognised that leadership isn't something you schedule for when life gets quieter.

Leadership happens in the moment you're given.

Legacy is built one conversation at a time.

Jesus Never Saw People as Interruptions

One of my favourite observations from the Gospels is how often Jesus allowed Himself to be interrupted.

Blind men called out as He walked by.

Children gathered around Him.

A woman reached through the crowd to touch His cloak.

Again and again, Jesus paused.

He made time.

He noticed people.

Perhaps that's because people were never an interruption to His mission.

They were His mission.

As leaders, it's a question worth asking ourselves.

Are the people around us interruptions to our work...

Or are they the reason for it?

A Question Worth Asking

Who invested in you before you felt ready?

Who made time for you when they didn't have to?

Now ask yourself another question.

Who needs you to do the same for them?

Because your leadership legacy won't be built by the number of meetings you attend.

It will be built by the number of people who are stronger because you chose to invest in them.

Now Is the Time to Leave a Legacy

Looking back, I don't remember every lesson from The Leadership Legacy exercise.

But I remember the leader who lived it.

Scott taught me that leadership isn't simply about achieving results.

It's about multiplying people.

It's about creating ripples you'll never fully see.

It's about choosing significance over convenience.

Today, one of the greatest privileges I have as a coach is continuing that legacy.

Creating space.

Asking better questions.

Helping leaders discover who they're becoming.

Investing in people the way others once invested in me.

Because every time we intentionally develop another person, we extend our influence far beyond ourselves.

After all...

Leadership isn't measured by what you accomplish during your career.

It's measured by what continues to grow because you chose to invest in someone else's.