Don’t Just Leave—Leave a Legacy: Why It Matters Before You Move On

Don’t Just Leave—Leave a Legacy: Why It Matters Before You Move On

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, he believed the Interstate Highway System would fundamentally reshape American life.  By connecting cities and regions, he envisioned an economic and social network for products, professionals, and personal opportunities. A byproduct of his vision was that it enabled a labor migration and allowed people to seek new job opportunities, commute longer distances to work, and tap into previously unreachable labor pools. 

With the future in mind, the highway system was designed not just to serve the present with opportunities. It unlocked possibilities beyond the horizon. Almost 70 years later, the highway system has made the horizon benign to limiting job opportunities. Couple this with a virtual recruiting market that entices and incentivizes individuals to take on new roles and environments, and we must not lose track of the legacy we are leaving behind.

The median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 3.9 years in January 2024, down from 4.1 years in January 2022 and the lowest since January 2002. - Bureau of Labor Statistics

Establishing your Legacy

When considering an offer for a new position, ask, what legacy am I leaving behind? When we forget our legacy, we resign from a position versus truly transitioning. We may see the glare and the flash of a new opportunity thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. Within this excitement and sometimes delusion, we may lose track of the state that we are leaving behind. In other words, we lose track of fortifying a legacy.

There is 12,554 employment and recruitment agencies in the US in 2023. - Lead and Gain

An organization’s attrition rate is an administrative task during a resignation or a transition when it is thorough, prepared, and thoughtfully intentional. The goal we must seek is to transition to new opportunities which sets the stage for your successor to build upon an opportunity better than you found it. If you have an employee who is leaving for something brighter and more glamorous, ask the question. Have you established your legacy?

Did you build a legacy to leave, big or small, to ensure that your work, your team, and your contributions continue to have an impact in your absence? You’ve spent years investing in solving problems, mentoring others, and developing sustainable processes for your predecessor to make better than what you started with. If not, you are choosing to leave without tying those loose ends and the results will be a loss in momentum, and sometimes, meaning. You want to make a transition that your followers will seek to emulate.