The Legacy Question: Who Are You Becoming as You Lead?

Leadership is often measured in visible outcomes—crime rates, budgets, programs, and initiatives. Municipal leaders are evaluated by results, and rightly so. Public service requires accountability for performance. The true question every public servant must face isn’t What did I accomplish? but Who did I become while leading?

But there is another measure of leadership that is less visible and equally important: the person the leader becomes over time.

Positions of authority shape those who hold them. Decisions accumulate. Pressures persist. Responsibility narrows choices and tests priorities. Over time, leadership leaves its mark not only on the organization but on the individual.

Early in a leadership tenure, attention naturally focuses on what needs to be accomplished. Goals are defined, policies reviewed, and improvements planned. The pace is active and outward. Only gradually does a quieter question emerge: What kind of leader am I becoming?

That question matters because leadership habits tend to deepen with time. A leader who values fairness becomes more consistent. A leader who avoids difficult conversations tends to avoid them more often. Patterns of decision-making solidify into character.

In municipal leadership, pressures are constant. Criticism comes from multiple directions. Decisions rarely satisfy everyone. The temptation exists to become defensive, impatient, or detached. Leaders who do not reflect on these pressures may find that the position gradually shapes them in unintended ways.

Over the course of my career, I saw leaders whose authority hardened into distance. The demands of the role caused them to withdraw from the people they served and supervised. Others became overly reactive, allowing the pressures of the moment to determine long-term direction.

Sustained leadership requires something different: steady reflection.

Taking time to evaluate decisions, motives, and conduct helps maintain perspective. Not every criticism is justified, but every criticism offers an opportunity to examine whether decisions remain grounded in principle. Leaders who ask difficult questions of themselves maintain clarity that cannot be imposed from outside.

Municipal leadership is ultimately a form of stewardship. Authority is entrusted for a limited period of time. Chiefs retire. City managers move on. Councils change. The organization continues.

Long after specific initiatives are forgotten, the manner in which leadership was exercised remains part of the institution’s culture. Standards that were enforced consistently endure. Fair treatment is remembered. Integrity becomes part of the department’s identity.

Legacy is often discussed in terms of accomplishments. Buildings constructed, programs established, or reforms completed all have value. But the deeper legacy of leadership lies in the example set day by day.

Employees remember whether leadership was fair. Municipal leaders remember whether decisions were honest. Communities remember whether authority was exercised with restraint and respect.

When I assumed command, the department’s reputation had been badly strained. Two previous chiefs had been terminated in succession, and several lawsuits were pending. Restoring stability and credibility became the immediate priority.

Shortly after my appointment, a reporter from the local paper asked about my vision for the department. The question seemed to invite something ambitious and forward-looking. Instead, my answer was simple: “Stay out of the news.”

I explained that this did not mean avoiding difficult decisions or necessary confrontation. It meant doing everything possible to restore the department’s integrity and ensure that our conduct could withstand scrutiny. If we held ourselves to consistent professional standards, public confidence would follow in time.

Years later, as I prepared to retire, that same reporter reminded me of that conversation and noted how faithfully the goal had been met.

Looking back, I came to understand that leadership leaves its mark in quieter ways than we often expect. The department’s reputation improved not because of any single initiative, but because standards were applied consistently and decisions were grounded in principle.

In the end, the legacy I hoped to leave was a simple one—captured long ago in Shakespeare’s words: “To thine own self be true.” Over time, I learned that integrity in leadership is not built through memorable moments but through ordinary decisions made the same way, day after day.

The question of legacy is not answered at retirement. It is answered gradually, through ordinary decisions made over years of service.

Leadership shapes organizations.

It also shapes the leader.

The most important legacy question is not what a leader achieved, but who the leader became in the process.

References

International City/County Management Association (ICMA). ICMA Code of Ethics and Guidelines. Available at: https://icma.org/code-ethics

International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Ethical Leadership in Policing. Available at: https://www.theiacp.org

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). Building Trust and Legitimacy in Policing. Available at: https://cops.usdoj.gov

Kidder, R. M. Moral Courage. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Heifetz, R., & Linsky, M. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.