Using Your Values To Create Your Legacy

When Harry Kraemer stepped down as CEO of Baxter, Inc., he was unsure what he would do next. Dean Don Jacobs of Kellogg School of Management knew exactly what he wanted Harry to do—teach.

In 2006, a Kellogg student, Andrew Youn, decided to use his MBA to help the farmers of Kenya increase their crop yields. After meeting Andrew at his 5th class reunion in 2011, Harry partnered with Youn to create The One Acre Fund to assist the farmers in Kenya. The Fund now helps farmers in a total of nine countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, including Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

What Harry has done—as he documents in his newest book, Your Values-Based Legacy: Making a Difference at Every Phase of Life —is to use his values to create his legacy. As Harry illustrates, legacy is not just what you do upon retirement; it is a sum of contributions you make as you live your life.

Knowing Your Values

Values are the principles you hold dear. As Harry has said, values are not preferences; they are principles. Identifying them comes from many sources, but a critical source that works best for Harry is self-reflection, something he practices daily with simple questions about what you did that day and how you might do better the next.

Harry writes in his new book, "For years in my classes at Kellogg about becoming a values-based leader, I will ask the students whom they expect will deal with all these problems (poverty, hunger, injustice, etc.)." Responses from students are that someone else will. "And everybody refers to these people by the same name, 'those guys,' a gender-neutral term for people with money, power and influence."

Harry's response to his students and the audiences to whom he speaks is simple: “Guess what? We are those guys!” The problems facing the world do not belong to someone else; they belong to us because what harms some of us harms all of us—maybe not directly but indirectly through affecting global stability, the climate crisis and government spending.

Making A Difference

So what do we do about it?

In his chapter about "those guys," Harry offers a series of questions that illustrate how we, as individuals, can make a positive difference.

• What problems or challenges capture our attention – intellectually and emotionally?
• What skills, talents, and experiences do we have that could help others?
• Where in our community (local or global) do we feel drawn to make a difference?
• What organizations or individuals do we know who are doing something similar?
• And finally –the most important question of all: what’s holding us back?

While the questions are straightforward, acting on them is challenging. We—or should I say I—can think of many reasons why I don't want to become involved: work, family, leisure time, or my favorite—it's not really me. Can't I just stroke a check?

Writing a check is a generous offer, and every nonprofit will welcome it, but funding is different from doing.

No Effort Is Too Small

What makes Your Values-Based Legacy so powerful are the many stories of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to become involved in tackling the problems that matter most to them.

One example is One Hope, a small nonprofit founded by Steve Buss in Eugene, Oregon. As the book states, this foundation “engages local churches, businesses and organizations to work together to positively affect the Eugene/Springfield area, which has a population of 375,00.”

Scott's wife Patti told Harry, "The significance of small for me is about never underestimating the small idea, the simple gesture." There is a need for national and global philanthropy, but Patti says, "The act of kindness, a word of encouragement – these are small things that can have a big impact.”

In short, we all need a helping hand at times, and in return, we can extend that helping hand to others.

It’s our legacy!

By John Baldoni, Contributor