What’s Your Living Legacy?

By Hightower Westchester on October 31, 2023

I recently came across a blog post that I wrote about three years ago about wealth, prosperity, and abundance. Reading it inspired me to explore the topic a bit more, and I think it warrants an expansion to include “legacy.”

When most of us think about a legacy, it’s usually in the past tense. As in, it’s something you leave to someone when you die. When I think about it, I think in terms of the legacy you pass down to others. In terms of wealth management, it usually means money. But I think that is a very narrow definition or view of legacy.

I think legacy can mean so much more. I think we should look at legacy as how we live, not what we leave.

There is a school of thought when it comes to customer service that says it’s how you make someone feel that will resonate and stay with them versus what happens.

I was recently on a plane, and the pilot did something I had never seen before. He not only handed out his business card to passengers, but he also greeted them by name and thanked them for flying with the airline. That simple act, which only took him a few minutes, put everyone at ease. Which is a gift considering how stressful flying can be. The pilot showed us his legacy of kindness. Most pilots get on the speaker and say hello and give you perfunctory announcements, but he went out of his way to tell the passengers he appreciated them.

Funny enough, a couple of months later on another flight, I had the same pilot, and he did the very same thing, except this time he came into the terminal, handed the gate agents a piece of candy, and made an announcement when the flight was delayed due to maintenance issues. This simple act made for a lot less grumbling and upset passengers. As he put it, we are all here together on the same team, so let’s work together.

This pilot did not do anything that took much effort, but what it did do was make us all feel as though we were part of something bigger than ourselves. His legacy will be that of taking time and spreading kindness and humor to both his fellow employees and passengers.

I think we should all start to look at legacy a bit differently and realize that every day we are doing something to build our legacy. But instead of just writing it in your will or trust, as you would with your financial legacy, let’s work on our living legacy. Take time to appreciate those you work with, those in your family, and even some complete strangers. We live in stressful times when it seems we are all on edge about something, be it the news, politics, wars, or famines. We worry about the health of our family members and friends, whether they are here or abroad.

I think we should all take some time every day to be thankful for what we have and what we can do to impact others. That impact need not be financial; it could be helping a neighbor move a piece of furniture or picking up a piece of trash in the street. These small acts of kindness are what our legacy ultimately is; it’s not the big, giant thing we might do, but all the small things we do. As the old saying goes, a waterfall is just a lot of drops of water all working together.

Start creating your legacy today. And I would love to get your feedback on what you plan to do toward this endeavor.

Peter Lang – Managing Director, Partner – Hightower Westchester

914-825-8631 – plang@hightoweradvisors.com