Discovering the Leader Within: Moving with the Right Intentions to Shape Your Leadership Legacy

June 23, 2026

Discovering the Leader Within: Moving with the Right Intentions to Shape Your Leadership Legacy

Leslie Owens Brown | 2026

Abstract

As leaders, we each have a legacy, intentional or not, and that legacy should not be taken lightly. This manuscript offers an introspective and extrospective journey towards discovering the leader within oneself, while also providing insight into issues leaders encounter, in which the legacy they are creating can impact others when their behavior and actions are not shaped with the right intentions by way of moral principles, strategic activities, resources, and tools that enhance their knowledge, skills, and capacities.

Drawing on more than twenty years of leadership experience, workplace studies, and research, the objective of this manuscript is to offer actionable approaches to help readers examine the leader within themselves and prepare them to answer the question, ‘What will your leadership legacy be?’ A leadership legacy is not built on titles or awards, but on the impact of leaders’ behavior and actions after they leave the organization. Employees want effective leaders who are authentic, empathetic, transparent, and accountable. Leaders who possess those qualities receive greater employee engagement in return.

While leaders aspire to leave an impactful, positive legacy, not every leader will. For those who will, leading with your ‘why’ and maintaining an ethical framework are crucial for building a lasting leadership legacy. The manuscript concludes by revisiting the question, ‘What will your leadership legacy be?’ Whatever the answer, keep in mind that a leadership legacy requires intentionality and a clear purpose, leaving people and the organization better off because of the choices leaders make. The actions and words of leaders today are what their employees and others will remember tomorrow, so it is important that those moments, small or not, are brought forward with intention and true purpose to echo beyond one’s immediate influence.

Keywords: communication, culture, ethical, human resource development, innovation, organizational change, resilience, servant leadership, succession planning, training

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