Test 36 · CXOs
The Legacy Question
You’re building your legacy this week, whether you’re paying attention or not.
The short answer
The Legacy Question is a free reflection tool for senior leaders. Five short questions ask what you want to have built, how people felt working for you, what you changed, what your successor inherits, and what last week actually went on. Your answers become a one-paragraph legacy statement, with one thing to try next week.
Drafted with AI for Jay Sampat, Chief Mirror Holder · coach review pending
- Who it’s for
- Leaders who sometimes imagine their leaving speech, and wonder whether this week would be in it.
- What you get
- A one-paragraph legacy statement in your own words, and one thing to try next week.
The leaving speech you sometimes imagine giving.
Try a question now
I tell my team when I think they’re capable of more.
A question from The 42 Test that touches this topic.
The Legacy Question
Why ask the legacy question now?
Because you’re building your legacy this week, whether you’re paying attention or not. Most leaders think about legacy near the end, when there’s little time left to change it. Asking it now, and putting last week next to the answer, turns it into something you can act on.
Take The Legacy Question: five short questions, about five minutes. Your words stay in your browser.
What does it ask?
Five questions, one per screen:
- What do you want people to say you built?
- How do you want people to have felt working for you?
- What do you want to have changed, in the company or beyond it?
- What would you want your successor to inherit?
- Looking honestly at last week, what did you spend most of it on?
What do I get at the end?
A one-paragraph legacy statement in your own words, with last week as its final sentence, and one thing to try: look at next week’s calendar and move one hour towards the first sentence.
How is it worked out?
Each answer is dropped into a fixed sentence, such as “I want to be remembered for building …”, in the same order every time. Empty answers are left out. There’s no AI and no scoring; nothing is sent, and the share text never includes your words.
The questions and sentences are a draft written with AI and are waiting for a coach’s review.
What should I read or take next?
Read what a leadership legacy statement is, with a worked example. To check last week properly, use Calendar Audit, and to see who could carry the work on, take Succession Ready. Every tool for this stage is on the CXOs page.
Drafted with AI · coach review pending
Questions people ask
- How do I work out what I want my legacy as a leader to be?
- Start with what you want people to say you built, how you want them to have felt and what you want your successor to inherit. Then put last week next to it. The gap between the two is more useful than any perfect statement.
- Does AI write my statement?
- No. Your own words are dropped into a fixed set of sentences, one per answer, in the same order every time. Nothing is generated and nothing is sent; your words stay in your browser.
- What if I leave a question blank?
- That sentence is left out. You can skip any question and come back to it; the statement uses whatever you’ve written.
- Is The Legacy Question free, and who sees my answers?
- It’s free with no sign-up. Your answers stay in your browser; Coach42 never sees them, and the share text doesn’t include them.
More tests for cxos
- 31The Echo ChamberLive
- 32Shadow 360Live
- 33Succession ReadyLive
- 34Exec Team HealthLive
- 35Calendar AuditLive
From the Question Library
Question 28 of 42
When someone makes a mistake, we talk about what they learned before what to fix.
Drafted with AI · coach review pending