{"id":1028,"date":"2011-10-13T15:31:22","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T22:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2011-10-13T15:31:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T22:31:22","slug":"everyone-loves-to-leave-a-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=1028","title":{"rendered":"Everyone loves to leave a legacy."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be honest now.\u00a0 Have you ever thought of what legacy you\u2019ll leave behind?\u00a0 If you are an entrepreneur or CEO, surely you\u2019ve thought of how you\u2019ll be remembered by your associates and stakeholders after you move on.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve all heard the stories of tough SOB bosses that took advantage of employees, vendors, even stock holders.\u00a0 And such stories do get around.\u00a0 How many people who know those stories are willing to trust their next chapter to that person\u2019s next act?\u00a0 In my past, I made it a practice to hold exit interviews personally with nearly all separating employees, gaining insights from them they would not be willing to share while still employed with the company. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And invariably, I\u2019d end each with a handshake and the admonition: \u201cI want us to part as friends. We never know how we\u2019re going to meet again, perhaps with the shoe on the other foot.\u201d\u00a0 I did not know for many years, until a most successful reunion planned by my former executives bringing back over a hundred past employees, how much that and other signs of respect and dignity for the employee-associate made our workplace rare and desirable.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0[Email readers, continue here…] <\/em>\u00a0<\/span>I used to receive a list of birthdays for the next month from my assistant, culling the information from the corporate books spanning offices in many countries.\u00a0 Once a month, I would maintain the ritual of going to the local gift shop and buying enough birthday cards to fit each employee or associate.\u00a0 And once a month, while watching TV, I spend part of an evening writing personal messages to each birthday employee, recalling an event or complimenting a behavior or success.\u00a0 Such amazing accidental returns for such a small gesture.\u00a0 Even today, years later, I am met at industry events by former employees with a common refrain, \u201cOur company was the best employer I have ever had, before or since.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is a legacy you cannot buy, at a cost of acknowledging individuals with respect and personal recognition.\u00a0 And what do I remember about that ten-plus year experience, among the thrills of rapid growth, great workplace, and great lucrative exit?\u00a0 Most of all, it is those personal moments of contact with former employees, each recalling with appreciation their time at this one company.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be honest now.\u00a0 Have you ever thought of what legacy you\u2019ll leave behind?\u00a0 If you are an entrepreneur or CEO, surely you\u2019ve thought of how you\u2019ll be remembered by your associates and stakeholders after you move on.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-liquidity-event-and-beyond"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}