Living in Indianapolis and being a Colts fan I have great interest in what is happening with the Colts organization. Most recently the buzz has been about the firing of Jim Caldwell, a coach who has coached three seasons with a winning record overall. This is a man that went to the Super Bowl his first season as coach. So how did he fail?
One would argue that he was not the one that failed, that he did his head coaching duties. I could agree with that to an extent but I think he set himself up for this failure when he positioned himself to take over the team. I believe that when he was named heir apparent (while his predecessor was still around) he did so by giving away his rights to do it his way, he gave up the opportunity to create his legacy.
Fraternity and Sorority leaders are not necessarily in the same position as a person applying for a head coach of a football team but they can take a lesson from this. No matter how good something is, when you are in charge you need to own it and to some extent control it. It needs to be your legacy. It needs to be better than what it was before.
You need to view the work that was done and the successes of the past as the foundation for you to build your legacy on. You are not moving into the “house”, you are adding on or renovating it. When you leave your position, do you want people to say “He/She kept it together” or do you want them to say “That is when the organization really exploded and he/she took it to the next level”.
My challenge to our Fraternity and Sorority leaders, from the of national boards all the way down to the new member class officers: Create your legacy, don’t live in someone else’s. If you do I think things are going to get even better.
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