I never set out to be a fan of Walt Whitman, but somewhere along the way, he captured me, and not just because he was the first poet I ever read who wrote about baseball. What drew me in was his persistence. For years, Whitman struggled to find anyone who cared about his poetry.
Then came a letter.
“Dear Sir, I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of Leaves of Grass. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America has yet contributed. I greet you at the beginning of a great career.”
It was signed, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Think about it, what would the world have lost if Emerson had not taken the time to write that letter? A few sentences changed the trajectory of Whitman’s life and, in turn, American literature. That is what legacy leadership looks like, a simple act of encouragement that transcends time and place.
If I asked you to name a legacy leader, you might think of a president, a philanthropist, or a celebrity with a cause. But you probably would not say Maggie Terry.
Maggie was my mother-in-law. When she passed away a few years ago, we gathered in St. Louis to celebrate her life. I had known Maggie for nearly 25 years. I admired her devotion to her family, especially her grandchildren. What I did not know, until her funeral, was how deeply she had shaped the lives of people far beyond her family.
That day, under the St. Louis sunshine, a woman we had never met approached us. She had flown in from Denver just to say goodbye. Through tears, she told us how Maggie had mentored her for more than a decade, pushing her to set higher goals than she set for herself. That woman is now the provost of a major university.
Then came another story. A man who once taught high school history admitted he had been so unhappy that he planned to quit teaching. But Maggie convinced him to apply to graduate school, at Harvard, no less. Today, he serves as dean of the English department at a prestigious East Coast university. His words still echo, “She believed in me when I did not believe in myself.”
That is legacy leadership. It is not about headlines, titles, or balance sheets. It is about lifting others higher than they could climb on their own.
So here is my challenge to you, take the time today to encourage someone. Write a kind note to an unknown author. Send a message to your child’s teacher. Call your mother-in-law and tell her you love her.
Even if you change no one else’s life, you will change your own.
Always Forward.
Ron
