This week, I’m reflecting on legacy.

A month ago, I served at Federal Judge and former prosecutor Sterling Johnson’s funeral.

One of the speakers, Robert L Capers, a former U.S. Attorney, and Chief U.S. Probation Officer of the Eastern District of New York said that Judge Johnson emphasized serving faithfully and knowing those you labor amongst.

He said Judge Johnson told him “You’ll have many bosses in your life. But not all of them will deserve to be called boss…Just keep toiling away in the vineyard. Your time will come.”

There’s a lot in this statement. Positional authority is different from spiritual authority.

We’ve probably all had bosses who demanded subordinates honor a title they themselves dishonored with their conduct. We followed them because we had to. If we’re lucky, though, we’ve also had bosses we would have followed if they had no title, because their character was worth emulating. We followed them because we wanted to.

The Bible talks warns against “respect of persons”, a favoritism that honors status. A respecter of persons might do their job if the right person asks. If you’re not important, they’re not moving.

God, the scriptures assure us, is no respecter of persons. His rules apply to everybody.

Sadly, we fall short of this standard.

We treat people differently if they are in our tribe. We defer to their education, wealth, and fame, or lack thereof.

But a fair person is faithful regardless of the status of the people they encounter.

Capers said that Johnson modeled the value of honoring everybody. “He taught me that one of the best things you can be is a person who has the common touch. He made everybody feel like they were important.”

When people feel valued, they will grow. When people know you care about them, they will listen to you. They will follow you. They may even rise to the occasion, or go the extra mile, because of you.

People with the common touch inspire us to become better versions of ourselves.

And amongst these three contrasting archetypes, we see a principle.

The bad boss flexes status to dominate

The fickle servant caters to status to manipulate

But the leader identifies status to motivate.

My pastor often says that greatness doesn’t come from what we do, but what we inspire others to do. Influence multiplies our impact. Influence enables us to transcend time and space. It allows us to touch people beyond our reach and affect people beyond our life span.

And yet, we tend to lose sight of our influence in our desperate race against the clock.

We have things to accomplish. We have benchmarks to achieve.

Measuring yourself by the people you reach takes a certain maturity, because it chooses to find joy in someone else’s curtain call.

The person who makes everyone feel important is rare, which is sad.

Because everyone is important.

Everyone is made in the image and likeness of God.

Everyone’s life contains inherent dignity.

The travesty is that society, and industry, and family spends lifetimes beating this understanding out of people.

We teach them to doubt themselves, to despise their accomplishments.

We teach them to take themselves, and their neighbor, lightly.

And when we do this, everyone loses.

We can lead by calling people to listen to their better angels, or we can lead by calling them to indulge their worst impulses.

Everyone is free to do as they will.

But our influence will be our legacy.

So what do you want yours to be?

Your leadership style makes all the difference.

(Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko)