The Legacy Drawing Board

We are flawed beings who stumble on our journeys.  Often, we looked for a way to correct our course.  We can supply each other with that by designing offramps of grace and mercy.  Listen to be a beacon of humanity to those who are at points of great need.  

Danielle Philips created the They Were Here Foundation to build a legacy for her daughter Angelina, who died from cancer.  The foundation provides a space for grieving individuals to keep the voices of departed loved ones alive through storytelling.  Listen to hear how others are choosing to honor lost family and friends by bringing memories to life.  

A composite baseball bat is a technological wonder that compensates for a hitter's limited skill by producing towering homeruns that surprise even the hitter.  A wooden bat is less forgiving when the hitter fails to execute.  Contact at the wrong place can lead to a spray of wood in the field with the batter walking back to the dugout with only the handle in hand.  The wood bat has heft that provi...

Explore your legacy as cinema.  Produce your life story as a filmmaker. Develop a script from a vision, "cast" the people in your life by building meaningful relationships, and collaborate with other artists to enrich and to clarify your story.  Make your legacy the best picture possible.  

Stained glass was referred to as the "Bible of the poor."  We can use the process of creating stain glass as a model for designing and building our legacies.  Is your legacy accessible and understandable to the masses?  Does it reflect, reflect, and diffract sunlight into a dance that fills dark rooms with hope and joy?  Listen to infuse your legacy with the beauty of the rainbow's richness.

Garbage in, garbage out.  This is the essence of system designs.  Pivot to beauty in, beauty out for your legacy design.  Listen to blend and balance design concepts from art and engineering to build your intended legacy and a reserve for recentering it when things go awry.  

Who are your role models for mentorship as you begin to mentor?  The Bible provides us with five examples of men who fulfilled the fundamental responsibility of mentorship: protecting the mentee.  Initially, this will be from external threats.  As the relationship matures, the mentor will need to protect the mentee from internal threats.  Mentors take on this duty because they serve a higher purpo...

It's important to pause from legacy building to legacy evaluation.  Set aside time to reflect and to ask others about your legacy.  How fit is it in terms of delivering your message and touching the lives of others?  Examine it for its strength, flexibility, mobility, and balance.   

Writer Farley Ledgerwood identified the four kinds of people you need in your life: 👤 The person who won't let you quit. 👤 The person who won't let you pretend. 👤 The person who makes you feel less alone just by existing. 👤 The person who knew you before the armor.  Listen to examine your relationships and what direction you want them to go.

Do you show before you tell?  Have you established your identity before assuming responsibilities?  Listen to appreciate the importance of placing indicatives before imperatives in your legacy design and building.  Doing so will position your legacy to empower than to burden.  

Persistent or stubborn?  Collaborative or indecisive?  Honest or indiscreet?  How you channel your core energy will either build or destroy.  Listen to design a path for your essence to engage others in sharing a clear and consistent message.  

How do you view your children's spouses?  Do you consider them in-laws or on as your own children?  Listen to prepare for this family addition with open arms, open hearts, and an enduring loving message of acceptance.  

Will people know your faith by your works?  And, are works grounded in loving others?  Listen to begin examining how you are living your faith and how your works shape your legacy.  

Money has three fundamental functions: it is a medium of exchange, a unit of account/measure of value, and a store of value.  Have you examined the function of your legacy?  Does it promote dialogue, be held up as a standard for living, or continue to influence people after you are gone?  Listen to build a better legacy by combining form with function.  

Your legacy is your kingdom.  How do you treat your subjects: your hopes, dreams, fears, and your message?  Listen to understand whether your rule or govern and what will be the lasting impact of your reign.  

Running barefoot improves form because we receive unmediated input from the ground.  As we build our legacies, are we taking the time to go barefoot to ensure our perceptions are aligning with the truth?  Listen to let your legacy run a better course by shedding comfort for the fullness of life.   

Your legacy.  Your story.  Yet, who are the individuals who are part of the story, who have contributed to expanding your vision, and shared in the labor of telling it?  We have examples of the value of partnerships in business, the arts, and in sports.  Have you identified and thanked those who opened doors to collaboration and synergism?  When you do, you enrich your legacy.  

I interview Amanda Moss, founder of AMG Creative, a marketing and design studio for small businesses.  She shares how she developed AMG from her work with museums and as a photographer.  Amanda has a passion to connect with people who have a mission, but are unsure how to clarify and amplify their message.  She has a particular interest in helping non-profit organizations.    

My guest, Victor Varnado, discusses how AI lower barriers for people to produce artistic content.  He is a New Yorker cartoonist, filmmaker, and comedian.  He has developed AI platforms for education and his mission is to make creativity accessible for all.  

Parenthood matures you through joyous challenges.  Among the challenges is the art of giving of self without being intrusive.  Your child will always need you as a parent, but the seasons of life shape and direct those needs.  Listen to build a relationship with your child that will last beyond your lifetime.  

The options for college have increased with more online offerings.  With increasing costs and a tough job market, what is the value of a college education?  How does the growth of AI impact higher education and skill acquisition?  Listen to this episode to start the exercise of designing a college.  This exercise will help you focus your messaging and evaluate how you impact other people.  

I interview Jermaine Ee, founder of HeirLight, an app for writing your will.  Jermaine developed this platform to help people achieve clarity in their decisions regarding loved ones.  He defines clarity as love in action.  We discuss how different generations view death and their comfort level in discussing the future.  

Once your bring people or elements together, what happens?  Do you elevate those involved to bring about a mutually beneficial experience?  Have you increased the lead when you pass the baton?  Your legacy has the power to unite people and inspire them to go in directions previously unimagined.  Listen to make amalgamation and synergism foundations of your legacy design and building.   

Your character is the story you tell to an audience of one: you.  Your reputation is how others choose to edit your story.  Take the time to craft your story with a strong singular voice that can withstand the harshness of envy and pettiness.  Listen to understand how the dynamic between character and reputation is central to your legacy design and building.    

When you are faced with imperfection in life, do you hide it?  Or, do you work with the imperfection and see it as an opportunity to expand possibilities?  Kintsugi is the Japanese art form that repairs cracks in pottery with lacquer mixed with precious metals.  Imagine applying this art form to your legacy to create something beautiful from something flawed.