PODCAST EPISODE № 59

Building a Legacy

by Anita Charlot

Listen to Building a Legacy:

As I continue to shift the focus of my business from intimate relationships to those relationships in the corporate space, company to employee, manager to employee, employee to employee, I’ve often asked myself…

What do I want to leave as my legacy?

While pondering this question, it occurred to me that in everything I do, I do it with the mindset of building a legacy. That is what is most important to me.

According to ManagementConsultant.com, building a legacy means creating something enduring that can be passed on. This might be a physical business or work toward effecting change through a cause.

A business legacy is not simply the thing, such as a startup or product, but also its ability to endure through generations.

When I make my final transition, I want to leave a legacy of having made a difference in people’s lives in the area of healing individuals and healing corporate America.

I want those that come after me to have a model of transformation to follow and to be remembered for being the best that whatever I put my energy into the things that were most important to me.

See you on the inside…

What You Learn:

What legacy means to me and its significance
Questions to ask yourself to begin to develop your legacy
The importance of leaving something better than you left it
How I intend to leave my legacy and leave my clients and the world better than ever before!

Featured on the Show:

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Episode Transcript

What do I want to leave as my legacy?

While pondering this question, it occurred to me that in everything I do, I do it with the mindset of building a legacy. That is what is most important to me.

According to ManagementConsultant.com, building a legacy means creating something enduring that can be passed on. This might be a physical business or work toward effecting change through a cause.

A business legacy is not simply the thing, such as a startup or product, but also its ability to endure through generations.

When I make my final transition, I want to leave a legacy of having made a difference in people’s lives in the area of healing individuals and healing corporate America.

I want those that come after me to have a model of transformation to follow and to be remembered for being the best that whatever I put my energy into the things that were most important to me.

See you on the inside…
~~~~~~~

In the military when it came to cleaning the barracks, the dining hall, and the kitchen of the other bases, we were always told to leave it better than where we found it. Even if it was an old barracks that have been empty for a long time, we went out of our way to make it look better than it did when we first got there to ensure a stellar reputation.

If we needed to borrow another base’s dining facility, barracks, equipment, whatever, our reputation preceded us, so there was never any hesitation in allowing us to borrow anything.

This is also how I live my life.

For every job I’ve had, when I decided to walk away, I left big shoes to fill. If you’ve been a listener for quite some time, you’ve probably heard the story about me being hired as an admin and then quickly being elevated to project manager status, having full access and autonomy to use my manager’s corner office in his absence. Well, for those that are new to me, I’ll share the story here…

Bill, in today’s terminology, would be considered an ally. When the sales department was disbanded, he used his status to secure an interview for me with the marketing department. Rumors were flying everywhere that Bill and I must have been sleeping together since he made such a fuss to ensure that I still had a job once he left. Of course, this was not true, but the question at the time, which was over 20 years ago, was why would this White man fight so hard for that Black girl if he wasn’t sleeping with her?

I’d like to believe that Bill saw something in me, that he appreciated my work ethic, and he didn’t want me to be out of a job simply because the sales department was going away.

We had a great working relationship. I was more than just an admin and then a PM to Bill. I was his confidant and the gatekeeper. In old school terms, I was Bill’s work wife. I made sure there was time on his calendar for him to think, eat, review his notes, and take a breather during his tight schedule. I also made sure to block time for the important things with his family and took the load off of him so that when he went home, he could relax and enjoy family time knowing that I would take care of everything, and I did!

I was always two steps ahead of Bill. We made a great team.

So after taking the interview with the marketing team, I got hired for the admin position and marketing. Later that afternoon, I received a call asking if I will be open to taking the project manager position and carrying the admin position while they work to backfill the role. Of course, I would be! Sounds simple, right?
Not exactly.

The project manager quit three weeks from the annual trade show in which there will be nearly 2000 attendees. Things were left in the lurch as a former PM was not known for keeping up-to-date documentation. I had to quickly get up to speed, try to locate the thumb drives that had the company logo on them that were coming from China, and fill in any gaping holes so that nothing fell through the cracks, I had to do all of this while doing the admin work.

So how did I do it?

I developed the system, a weird system that worked for me. On certain days, I served as PM in the office and would go home and do the admin work. The next day, I would complete the admin work, then take the PM work home with me.

This continued for roughly two to three months.

Well, I’m happy to report that the management of the trade show event team and all of its moving parts went off without a significant hitch. The little things that fell through the cracks were quickly rectified, and the company’s reputation and trade show were successful.

I went on to manage two more of these trade shows, getting better and better each time. I could do my best work there, and I was very well compensated for it. I even became the manager of marketing communications, managing global websites, working with external vendors, email marketing, sales marketing, training, you name it.

When it was time to move on, I knew that my legacy with the company would live on and that I had done my best work.

It’s funny how when I’m left alone to do what I do best, it appears to others as though I’m not doing anything or not enough. There have been times when individuals question my methods, whether or not I was doing my work, and how I was getting everything done.

My methods aren’t necessarily those that others would use, but they are what work best for me, and allows me to do my best work.

Attempting to micromanage my work goes against my grain and does not work out well for either party. It’s also stressful and doesn’t allow me to do what I do best.

Before my departure as the manager, I shared a detailed list of what I did, and I try to include as much of how I did it within my last two weeks. The how is and will always be a part of my individual character, and something that I can’t necessarily teach without having worked side by side over an extended period of time with someone.

It’s just my superpower.

A few weeks after leaving, I received a call from my replacement telling me that there was no way that she could keep up with all that I was doing and that the work was going to be split between – get this – two people at the office, her and another party, and the external vendor that I used to work with. Now I use the vendor as a consultant and I would have them teach me how to do things in-house, saving the company thousands of dollars. Now they were going to be added bag is an integral part of the marketing department.

One of me translated into two people and a design firm? Talk about leaving a legacy.

I continue to leave a trail of legacies behind me in each of the positions that I have moved on from. Another position had to divvy up my responsibilities between two people, and the next one would have hired me back if I wanted to return. The latter of the two asked me to participate in hiring my replacement, and I continue to be involved in the training and development of that replacement even though I no longer work for the firm.

Legacy.

If I’m going to be involved in something it has to be something that is making a huge difference, and it has to affect change on a global level. It is now embedded in my DNA that I give the best of what I have to offer for as long as I decide to participate. With my clients, I often give more than other coaches that charge two to three times more than I do.

Why?

Why do I not charge what they are charging when I know how much I give to my clients, but the joy of helping my clients experience long-term transformation.

Legacy.

I have clients that sign up with me and tell me within the first couple of weeks that they have received more from me in that short amount of time than they did with their previous coaches even in year-long programs.

Legacy.

I have had similar experiences with speaking engagements, workshops, and retreats for companies and organizations. The surveys and testimonials at the end of our time together speak to how much the audience received during my time with them. They are not only informed but transformed, leaving our time together never the same.

Leave them better than when you found them. Sound familiar?

Legacy.

What is the legacy that I’m focusing on? Now, with Women of Color, I help them heal from corporate trauma, increase their confidence so that they operate in their genius in the workplace and in other areas of their lives, and teach them how to source their happiness and healing so that they are not dependent on anyone else to do it for them.

Legacy.

For White women that want to be allies, I tap into my role as a safe Black woman that White women can talk to about Black women and our communities, then teach them how to activate their privilege and tear down systemic racism and oppressive practices
in the workplace from the inside out.

Legacy.

I show them that allyship is not just an external thing that you do to help People of Color, but the real work begins with examining their own lives, peeling back their emotional layers, and holding a safe space for them to do so.

Legacy.

I am that Black mentor and corporate metaphysician that teaches White women that there are levels to allyship, how to accept the level that they honestly are equipped to participate from, and then support them as they begin to work to dismantle their racial programming so that they can consciously do the job they say they want to do. And to show you what this looks like, I will include a link to a testimonial from one White woman’s journey as an individual and a director of her organization after having spent time and honest dialogue with me about her training program.

Legacy.

Every conscious companies and organizations that want to move their diversity, equity and inclusion needle forward by focusing on the spirit/mental health of their Black and Brown employees, I help them identify the cracks in their current programs, teach them about urban trauma and how that plays out in the workplace.

Legacy.

So my ultimate goal is to create conscious DEI management training programs that will focus on helping individuals that desire to advance in the workplace, consciously to lead a diverse group of people, uncover their unconscious bias, support them as they grow through it, and provide them with mentors of color to teach them about their real-life experience and how it shows up in the workplace.

This is what I’m building as my legacy.

So what is your legacy?

What do you want to be known for, remembered for?

What is your superpower?

If you have heard anything in this episode that resonates with you as a woman of color, a White woman, or an organization or company, and you would like to learn more about how I can support you, reach out to start the conversation through the contact page on my website, AnitaCharlot.com/Contact.

Until next time…

Let’s work together to heal from corporate trauma, increase your confidence and activate your privilege.

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Building a Legacy

PODCAST EPISODE № 59

Building a Legacy

by Anita Charlot

Listen to Building a Legacy:

What You Learn:

Featured on the Show:

Episode Transcript

Enjoy the Show?

IF YOU LIKE IT, SHARE IT

Get the free video training...
"Can He Handle Your Grind?"

podcast

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PODCAST EPISODE № 59

Building a Legacy

by Anita Charlot

Listen to Building a Legacy:

What You Learn:

Featured on the Show:

Episode Transcript

Enjoy the Show?

IF YOU LIKE IT, SHARE IT

Get the free video training..."Can He Handle Your Grind?"

podcast

stay in touch

Get the free video training...
"Can He Handle Your Grind?"