Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Adaptive Legacy
One of my friends met his untimely dead 5 years ago. I said untimely dead because he was at the peak of his business career. The business ventures he setup have started to bear fruits at the time, and he spectacularly chose to pursuit other out of this world adventure. He was a larger than life, charismatic character, live his life to the fullest, always on the edge, extreme in every things. His legacy would always remind in our hearts and minds.
Since then, every morning when I read The Star, or other newspapers, invariably I would read the Obituary column. Every picture, every obituary, tells a story. The story of legacy that the passed-on person left behind.
Is he/she going to heaven or hell?
Did he/she die young or have had a full life?
Is he/she die as a lonely person? Lonely meaning with no spouse and/or kids.
Is he/she a prominent person? Normally, this can be seen from the size of the obituary column. For some unknown reason, the more "prominent" a person was, the bigger, or more column/frequency the obituary.
For a ripe old age fellows, the number of children, grand-children, and even great-grandchildren. This has always blessed my heart when a old fellow passed away that have lived a full & rich life.
Or, names listed that have deceased spouse. I could feel for the fellow if he/she has deceased descendants.
This is a legacy a person's life left behind. So, what is your legacy? We don't need to die to leave behind our legacy. That is terminal as dead can be fatal. In our professional life, as a manager, or a leader, we need to access at all times what would be our legacy when we left the company we work for. What would your "Obituary - resignation" say about you? A good leader, a devil, or somewhere in between.
We've choice to leave behind a good legacy. Lives that you touch, a kind & encouraging words here and there, a commitment or promise come good, people that you nurture, successes that you're part off, and many moments when you could've been angry or bitter but chose not to.
So, what would be yours?
Since then, every morning when I read The Star, or other newspapers, invariably I would read the Obituary column. Every picture, every obituary, tells a story. The story of legacy that the passed-on person left behind.
Is he/she going to heaven or hell?
Did he/she die young or have had a full life?
Is he/she die as a lonely person? Lonely meaning with no spouse and/or kids.
Is he/she a prominent person? Normally, this can be seen from the size of the obituary column. For some unknown reason, the more "prominent" a person was, the bigger, or more column/frequency the obituary.
For a ripe old age fellows, the number of children, grand-children, and even great-grandchildren. This has always blessed my heart when a old fellow passed away that have lived a full & rich life.
Or, names listed that have deceased spouse. I could feel for the fellow if he/she has deceased descendants.
This is a legacy a person's life left behind. So, what is your legacy? We don't need to die to leave behind our legacy. That is terminal as dead can be fatal. In our professional life, as a manager, or a leader, we need to access at all times what would be our legacy when we left the company we work for. What would your "Obituary - resignation" say about you? A good leader, a devil, or somewhere in between.
We've choice to leave behind a good legacy. Lives that you touch, a kind & encouraging words here and there, a commitment or promise come good, people that you nurture, successes that you're part off, and many moments when you could've been angry or bitter but chose not to.
So, what would be yours?
# posted by Dr Roland Chia @ 6:29 PM 
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