Legacy is an intoxicating idea.
It promises us freedom from our finitude if only we create a life worth remembering. Wikipedia Pages, Forbes 30 Under 30 Lists and Diary of a CEO podcast invites are all sold as milestones on the pathway to permanence.
We endlessly strive for ever greater follower counts, user numbers and link clicks, believing that more must always be better.
But, along the way I believe we’ve forgotten that depth matters as much as, if not more, than breadth when it comes to making an impact.
Let us use an example… Would you rather?
Make 1 million people’s lives 0.1% easier.
Or empower 1,000 people to overcome their most difficult challenges, understand who they truly are and embrace their unique identity.
One asks you to be a small part of many people’s lives, while the other asks you to be a huge part of a few people’s lives.
Personally I know which one I’d choose.
Mostly because I’ve already chosen it…
The House Hack Story
It’s been two years since I closed my second business, House Hack, after building it alongside my co-founder Ryan in lockdown.
In our year and a half journey since April 2020 we’d built consulting teams of over 500 18-25 year olds, hosted 31 live events and impacted 70+ start-ups.
When we closed the bootstrapped business we were profitable with a solid clients base and business model. The decision came as quite a shock to all those involved who had seen us as successful. However, for a number of reasons that I explain here we decided to end our journey.
At the time I remember telling everyone how important the legacy of House Hack would be. That it would live on not as a business, but as an idea in the minds of everyone it impacted. It might have been wishful thinking back then, but now 24 months later I realise that I was onto something…
Speaking for DofE at Google HQ
While guest speaking at The Duke of Edinburgh’s Youth Without Limits event at Google HQ last month I had a complete full-circle moment.
Following a great interview on the future of careers and how they're changing the audience members were invited to ask questions.
A young man, Zakariya, in his early 20s raised his hand immediately and directed a question at me to which I couldn't help but break into a huge grin.
He asked:
"I attended one of your House Hack events and met my now co-founder there. Without attending the Innovation Challenge I wouldn't be here. How did you start the business?"
I smiled so hard before giving my reply. Not just because someone knew about a previous business that I hadn't even mentioned. But, because of the impact the business had had on their life and continues to do so.
Reflecting back now it truly makes me appreciate that every single one of the over 500 people impacted through House Hack are real humans beings with their own challenges, ambitions and journeys.
Which has made me realise that leaving a legacy that shapes the career trajectory of those it impacts is a pretty awesome legacy indeed.
No matter if it’s one person or one million people.
The Team Leader Legacy
Chosen from the highest performing team members from our events, the 39 Team Leaders we recruited became the back-bone of our business model.
They led, hosted and managed our events, enabling us to scale our impact beyond the direct involvement of my co-founder and I. In return we fostered a community of high-potential young leaders, trusted them to work directly with start-up clients and paid them where we could afford to along the way.
At the time we joked about the idea of a House Hack mafia, similar to the star-studded PayPal mafia that includes Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman.
Now that joke is starting to become pretty true.
Both in that 11 out of the current 39 (coincidence!) members of The Undefinable Community were Team Leaders or Co-Founders of House Hack.
And in the 28 others who I see the occasional LinkedIn life update from who continue to take on ever more exciting job roles and life milestones.
Even after just 2 years, having been the spark that ignited their career decisions is pretty awesome. Especially when they share posts like this one that Saadat Rahman did only last week…
“Charlie Rogers - Wouldn't have taken my first steps working professionally without this man. His work ethic, people-first attitude and willingness to challenge the status-quo of how you should live life inspire myself and everyone around him.”
If that’s not leaving a legacy, I’m not sure what is.
Summary
Legacy building can be a noble goal. But, it can also be an egocentric one. In it’s pursuit we must beware replacing the real, meaningful impact with self-serving vanity metrics that only satisfy our desire to feel important. To do so means staying focused on the only form of impact that matters - changing the lives of the people we interact with.
For in the end everything else is meaningless.