Daily Inspiration: “Leadership leads. Legacy lingers.”

“Leadership leads. Legacy lingers.” – Futurist Jim Carroll

What a week!

As one person commented on social media:

“Gotta say, as a Canadian, watching this season of America has been absolutely riveting. Kudos to the writers.”

My view and that of many others? Joe Biden will now always be remembered for the things he did – not necessarily for the things he didn’t do. Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, you have to admire him for making a decision that has to be the hardest he will ever take. All of us, at one time or another, will have that moment where we have to come to grips with reality. We will have to come to accept the reality of where we are as opposed to where we might hope to be going.

True leadership is the one that leaves a legacy that lingers, rather than a legacy lost.

I won’t pontificate much more, since I try to not let politics bleed into my Daily inspiration, so I’ll just share my own Joe Biden story.

In 2014, my youngest son and I were golfing in Phoenix. We had lined up our third game at the resort where I was to speak the next day – The Westin Kierland and had arranged for an early morning tee time.

Just before we were due to start, and while we were chipping in the area near our tee box, a sudden commotion unfolded with the sudden arrival of a whole bunch of golf carts. My son Tom commented that they didn’t have any golf bags – and that they were seriously looking dudes, too, with earpieces. Just at that moment, the starter approached us and advised us that we wouldn’t be playing our chosen course, but we would be on the alternative one, with a tee box about 50 feet away from where we were.

Suspecting something was up, we moved over there, and began to prepare to tee off – and then Vice President Joe Biden came around the corner in a golf cart to meet up with his security detail on the other starting hole. They were closing the parallel course for him; he had been in town for several meetings and fundraising events and was now chasing a bit of personal time.

I remember my son asking me if he might be able to get a picture with the VP – and I said go for it. Tom laid down his driver and started walking over toward the Vice President. Instantly, a Secret Service dude started walking towards him. “Do you think I’d be able to get a picture with the Vice President,” asked my son. “I don’t know,” said the Secret Service dude quietly as Biden did a few practice swings, “but would you please take your hands out of your pocket.” My son was so nervous that he had instinctively put his hands in his pocket to stop from shaking.

Biden ripped his drive right down the middle, and then graciously waved my son over for the photo opp of a lifetime – and then chatted with him for a few minutes.

Months later, my keynote for a massive manufacturing conference in Detroit was pre-empted by Penny Pritzker, the then Treasury Secretary in Obama’s administration; my time was cut down to 15 minutes as she took the limelight. Hanging with her backstage, I asked if she might get the Vice President to sign a copy of the picture for my son. Days later, it arrived.

The picture now proudly hangs on my son’s home office wall.

There are many moments that we might make that define our legacy.

And the fact is, the most difficult decision you might have to make is also most often the right one. That it’s better to be remembered for what you did right, rather than what you did wrong. That people will respect you for leaving a legacy that lingers and that represents real leadership. That you rose to the moment and defined the future, rather than having a volatile future that defines you.

We can’t wait to see what the show called America might bring next week!