Legacy is a distraction disguised as ambition
Even your great-grandkids won’t know your name.
We’ve all heard the same recycled line:
Make an impact.
Leave a legacy.
Be remembered.
Sounds noble. Stirring, even. But let’s take a sober look at it.
Most of us won’t be remembered. Not for long. Not by many. And that’s not some dark confession. It’s just a fact. One that frees you, if you let it.
The false promise of legacy thinking
Legacy sounds like ambition, but it behaves like ego. It distracts founders from the job at hand: solving problems in real-time, for real people, with real consequences.
I worked with a founder who built his entire pitch around his “impact thesis.”
He had a beautiful deck. A snappy manifesto. A detailed plan for how he’d be remembered in 100 years.
But you know what he didn’t have?
Customers.
He burned out. Not for lack of vision, but for lack of usefulness.
Meanwhile, the most successful founders I’ve coached rarely mention legacy at all. They’re too busy doing the thing. Quietly. Consistently. With care.
They:
Build things they’d still build if no one noticed
Solve the same problem 100 times if it helps just one more customer
Ask better questions, not louder ones
Keep their ego on a short leash
So why does legacy talk feel so seductive?
Because it flatters us.
It gives our work the illusion of immortality.
It lets us believe we’re playing the long game, when really, we’re avoiding the hard game.
Let’s be blunt: building a business is not about becoming the next name in a textbook.
It’s about being useful. Profitable. Effective.
The irony is, those are the very things that sometimes end up creating a legacy by accident.
But chasing legacy directly? That’s like trying to write a bestseller by brainstorming chapter titles before you’ve lived the story.
Useful now beats memorable later
I coach CEOs who’ve built £10M, £50M, even £100M+ businesses.
And you know what unites the ones who last?
They optimise for today’s impact - not tomorrow’s applause.
They fix internal bottlenecks no one else sees.
They ask hard questions in meetings that feel too quiet.
They pass up PR opportunities if they’ll slow product progress.
They're not chasing statues.
They're chasing clarity, margin, efficiency, and meaning - right now.
If legacy happens later, great.
But it’s a byproduct, not a strategy.
Ask this instead of “What will I be remembered for?”
Ask:
What would still be worth doing if nobody noticed?
It’s a better litmus test.
It makes your decisions sharper.
It strips out the fluff.
You’ll stop dressing up your pitch with abstract impact metrics and start tracking the only things that matter:
Are we solving a real problem?
Are we the best people to solve it?
Are we making decisions we’d stand by if this never went public?
The business coaching trap no one talks about
Here’s where coaching gets dangerous - yes, even (especially) in my field.
You get people telling you to “scale your vision” and “craft your personal legacy story.”
That might sound helpful. Strategic. Even inspiring.
But for most founders, it’s just another distraction.
More positioning decks. More fluffy vision documents. More meetings about imaginary press releases.
Meanwhile, cash flow is stalling.
Team culture is fraying.
Sales targets are slipping.
The best coaching I’ve done hasn’t been about purpose statements.
It’s been about tightening decision-making, clarifying roles, simplifying operating rhythms, and - yes - helping the founder fall back in love with the unglamorous stuff.
The founders I rate most?
They’ve stopped trying to be remembered.
They’re trying to be useful.
They know that:
Legacy is what happens when you do the work that matters.
Growth happens when you’re willing to shrink your ego.
Meaning shows up when you stop trying to manufacture it.
And they’re quietly building companies with integrity baked into the culture - not tacked onto the website.
If you’re still with me, here’s a gentle provocation.
What if your impact isn’t measured by who remembers you - but by what continues to work long after you’ve stepped away?
That’s the mark of real success.
Quietly built.
Sustainably run.
Respected by the people who mattered. Not remembered by people who never knew you.
If that resonates (or irritates) we should probably talk.
Regards,
Kevin McDonnell
CEO Coach & Advisor
Let's connect on LinkedIn
Learn more at kevinmcdonnell.co