“You were always so kind to me”
I barely remembered this man, but clearly he knew me. As we kept talking I learned he was now a tech guy like me, and in high school, I had talked with him a few times about computers. I didn’t remember the conversations – at that point, I thought EVERYONE had a computer in their basement…
I said back “wow… ” and then thought to myself “what a Legacy that is!!!” We proceeded to talk about AI, his own concerns about it, how he was using it, and then caught up on his life… at my 50th high school reunion, at a school that has since been renamed from Robert E. Lee to … Legacy.
…the question that follows every leader home from work…
In a pivotal part of my career, I didn’t yell it, but I said to all of the senior VPs, “… the project you gave me is bright Red.” After a LOT of yelling, one of them finally said, “well how are you going to fix this one?” My Legacy was the turn around guy…
You are good at fixing things. It is why they promoted you. And somewhere in the last year you have started to wonder whether the people around you will remember the fixes… or you.
…50 years ago, a kitchen full of kids who had engaged before they could play…
On Saturday, September 25, 1976, a handful of teenagers answered a notice Larry Mullen Jr had pinned to the board at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, and met in his parents’ kitchen in Artane. They called themselves Feedback, then The Hype… then U2. One of the guitar players in that kitchen was Dik Evans, born in 1957, the older brother of the kid the world would come to know as the Edge. Dik was already at college. By early 1978 the band was being built around 4, not 5, and on March 4, 1978, in a church hall in Sutton, he played the first part of the show with them and then ceremonially walked off the stage.
The other 4 came back on as U2. Dik had chosen the Virgin Prunes, and he played with them until 1984. Exactly 50 years to the day after the kitchen, on September 25, 2026, Ireland put the 4 of them on a 2 euro coin, and U2 went back to play for the students at Mount Temple.
A Lasting Legacy leaves what?
…the song that asks for quiet…
U2 released Silencio on September 24, 2026, the day before the anniversary. It runs 2 minutes and 35 seconds, and it opens the door to Carnaval de Luz, their 16th studio album, due November 13. Fifty years in, the band that made its name on noise put a single called silence in front of its birthday.
Dik walked off a stage so something bigger could start without him. My friend in the ballroom was a quiet member of my class of over 700 that remembered a conversation I didn’t even remember. And yet, like Dik, he has a real story of success, failure, and learnings over 50+ years.
…what 175 people taught me about engaging in a loud room…
Each conversation was catching up on their lives since High School. The patches that were hard, the things that were easy. Their thoughts about the future. Each of them involved real challenges that were much harder than I have had to face… and each of them gave me a chance to really listen to them – deeply – which is what coaching does. I did it in every conversation and I think each appreciated it. I know I did…
Nobody in that ballroom asked about a title. Not one person asked what anyone had fixed. The whole night was people telling each other who they had become, and hoping somebody was listening closely enough to hear it over the band. Including me… I can’t even remember what that project was, or that we did it (we did…) or why…
…Legacy, and how to engage with it…
When I graduated in 1976, I had no idea that in Ireland, a group of 5 became 4, and their Legacy is the group I have written the most about. And, still have many more stories to tell to match their amazing catalog. This week is 7 days about Legacy, one U2 story a day, and one small act a day. Nobody else will engage for you on the part of your Legacy that lives in other people’s memories. So start in the room you are in.
The pictures I helped take interestingly didn’t capture my “friend”… just a quiet guy who lived a life building systems that people took for granted, while building a family that I am sure he didn’t…
Your “Simple… Not Easy” move: Ask 1 person on your team, today, what they want to be remembered for here, and write their answer down in their words.
If you want help turning that answer into the first conversation of a real plan, that is the kind of hour I love to engage in. Schedule time with me here.
Write it down, then listen for what comes back in the… Silencio
