Footprints in the sand

 Feb 12, 2014

There is an old but wonderful visual analogy of a man who goes up to heaven and finally meets God. The pair sits down to review the man’s life, but rather than having visuals of various moments of his life the man can see a long beach with footprints.

At the beginning, there is a big set of footprints next to a little set, but eventually the footprints grow to be about even in size. On some occasions, the man sees only one set of heavy footprints before another set appears. The man ponders and realises that the singular set of heavy footprints coincide with the stages in his life where he had the most difficult and troubled experiences in his life. He turned to God with an incredulous anger and asked, “God, why when I needed you at the most at the most challenging periods in my life, did you abandon me?” God replied, “On the contrary, you will note that at those stages, my footsteps got heavier because I was carrying you!” Leaving God out of this analogy for a moment, leaders are often judged, not only on what they do in the present but also the legacy that they leave. Where are you walking and what footprints are you leaving behind? Would your footprints show you are carrying your people, pushing your people, trampling over the top of them or growing them? In New Horizons' The Complete Manager course, I ask candidates to reflect on the best manager that they have had and why. Perhaps you might like to do the same now. What was it that made this person stand out? The usual answers include being ethical, patient, caring/empathetic, humble, a developer, a good communicator, collaborative, astute, up-beat or made work enjoyable. One thing for sure, is that the managers or leaders they have chosen, all left a positive, indelible mark on the participants. What will your direct reports say about you in ten or twenty years time? Recently, I coached a sales professional, and whilst not a leader in the traditional manager sense, salespeople definitely lead others and can leave a legacy. Our conversation has a bearing on anyone in a position of influence who wishes to leave a positive legacy. His issue was a slump in performance. After some heavy questioning from me, we spoke of the six human needs:
  1. Consistency
  2. Variety
  3. Relationship
  4. Significance
  5. Yes, I realise I have only listed four, but these needs are the basic needs that all people have. Many, if not most people, concern themselves with only ever meeting these needs in life and fail to take their lives out of a knee-jerk reaction pattern. He was focused on two of these needs, which he thought would ultimately benefit his clients if only they could appreciate what he had to offer them (I’ll leave you to guess which ones he was focused on). It is only when they start to look at the other two human needs that they start to break free of the concentration on the other four.

    5. Growth 6. Contribution

    If you are honest, which ones do you focus on? If we can focus on improving our skills of contributing to the growth of others, we will find that it will bring us to our desired outcomes, and oh, what a beautiful legacy we could leave.

    How do your Excel skills stack up?   

    Test Now  

About the Author:

Tim Higgs  

Tim has been involved in the corporate training industry for over 15 years; seven of these have been as the Portfolio Manager and Senior Facilitator at New Horizons. Tim holds a Graduate Diploma (Psych/Couns), a masters’ degree in Cultural Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Business, giving him a unique theoretical backdrop for understanding human performance in the workplace. This complements his actual experience of working within the corporate sector in sales and management positions and owning and running a small business. Having worked with individuals and groups in both clinical and business settings, Tim has a fantastic insight into human behaviour, motivation and the issue of human change.

Read full bio
top