“Have you ever wanted to be a legacy? Do you want to be remembered? Do you want your store to be the best? The one everyone remembers as an all-time best seller that has the most satisfied customers? Well, the only way to be a legacy is to design one.”

Wow. Talk about a legacy. Our 12-year-old daughter wrote the above paragraph. She’s watched me write the “Word of the Week” enough times to want to try it for herself. Last week she did one of my jobs at church for me, and she helps with housework and chores. She likes to write like me, and she’s become quite a reader like her dad.

Emma’s picked up the best – and the worst – in both of us. Kids have a funny way of doing that, and the traits that push my buttons fastest are the very things I have portrayed to her first.

She picked the word “legacy” herself. I am leaving a legacy, whether I like it or not.

So are you.

What kind of legacy are you passing on to your company? Is it your work ethic, or your waning enthusiasm? Are you ever overheard badmouthing customers or talking behind your manager’s back? Do you do the right thing, even when it hurts, and do you always leave something on the table? Do you walk the walk?

The next time you get your hackles up, take a minute to look in the mirror. Ask hard questions: Are they modeling me? Did I start this? Get the smudge off your face, then you’ll see clearly to wipe theirs.

I want my legacy to be by design, not by accident.