Opinion: Care about your legacy? Stop gripping it so tightly

Andrea Battaglia

If you care about your legacy, you need to stop gripping it so tightly.

Now, I’m not saying you should lower your standards or lose your ambition. Quite the opposite actually. Caring about success now and in the future does require quite a lot from you.

What I’m saying is that your success is not about you. It never has been.

I used to think success was a grand arrival. That starstruck moment when everything worked, everyone is noticing, and it all comes together. Plus, confetti, there’s usually confetti.

I’ve spent decades working toward that imaginary moment. Chasing it with everything I have. Because I wanted what I did to mean something. I wanted to mean something.

And what I was doing wasn’t working.

The more time and energy I spent making it about me, the more unfulfilled I felt. The more I noticed how far I had to go to arrive; there was no recognition, spotlight and there certainly wasn’t confetti.

Then about a decade ago, I noticed something.

In my life, the moments that mattered the most weren’t others celebrating me; it was when I was pulling others into the light. Helping them see the best of themselves, even if they didn’t see it fully yet.

And those moments weren’t loud or grand. They were small and easy to miss if I wasn’t paying attention. It was usually a slight shift in the other person, but it spoke volumes. I saw them standing a little taller, leaning in a little more or that tiny smile that meant they finally got it and now had the courage to act.

In my career, it’s meant different things:

In my retail days, it meant training part-time seasonal workers and growing them into successful store managers.

In my higher education job, it meant working with students and helping them develop into student leaders.

And now, it’s working with young accountants and guiding them into becoming confident advisory professionals.

The work isn’t easy. Sometimes they don’t get it. Sometimes they do the opposite of what is best for them.

Sometimes they let fear lead instead of opportunity. But, man oh man, it’s rewarding.

Even now, these defining moments come back like a vivid wave of warmth. I was so proud of the other person, and their growth, their accomplishment and their success. I distinctly remember celebrating when my new sales employee made their first sale, listening when my student leader navigated through heartbreakingly difficult decisions and smiling when my accounting team guided a client toward making smarter decisions.

Luckily, this isn’t magic. It’s a mindset where you focus on others. And you can get there, too.

Here’s what it really means to focus on others and build a legacy that lasts:

• Pull others into the conversation instead of dominating the room

• Ask better questions instead of proving your point

• Help someone else win, even if it doesn’t benefit you

• Give others a bigger vision for themselves

• Help others see possibilities, when they’re stuck on problems

These may seem small to you, but for the other person, they often become defining moments. And there are delightful, and sometimes unexpected, outcomes:

• Your influence grows faster when you stop chasing recognition

• You start to notice opportunities come through people, not performance

• Your work gets bigger and endures because it’s no longer limited to you

Over time, something else happens, too – you feel different. Less pressure. More clarity. A sense of peace that doesn’t come from proving yourself, but from knowing your work is making a difference beyond you. And that’s a legacy I hope we can all build.

Andrea Battaglia is the chief excellence officer at Abacus in Springfield. She can be reached at abattaglia@abacuspro.com.