Leadership Echoes

The best leaders leave behind a voice that echoes long after they’re gone. This is a story about influence, legacy, and the unlikely place I learned what's possible when leadership echoes.

Confession: My knowledge of sports is limited.

Deeper confession: So is my interest.

Yet somehow, I have become the mother of a club soccer player and the wife of a beloved former coach. So, what do you do when you spend half your waking hours for 10 months out of every year watching a sport you’re just not that into?

I stay engaged by trying to learn something while I cheer from the sidelines. And while I’m still not 100% sure what offside¹ is, I have had a few powerful a-ha leadership moments over the years, including the story I want to share now.

Last spring, we arrived early to a tournament and found ourselves waiting at the field for my son’s game to start. This is what happens when you’re married to a former coach who insists that you always be an hour early to the field.

While I grumbled about having to stand around in the cold, my husband was excited to see that his former team was playing. It’s been three years since he quit coaching soccer and joined me on the sidelines, where he made it his mission to improve my knowledge of the game (groan..). He is still adjusting to his new role as sideline parent and hasn’t fully taken off his coaching hat. He still claims his former players as his own, something I hadn’t given much thought to until this particular day.

The game was tied, and the tension was high. Leaning over the fence from the sideline, my husband yelled to one of his former players on the field. I was startled to see the boy immediately turn his head and make eye contact with his former coach.

“I need you to put one on net for me,” my husband told him with confident authority. The boy nodded his head and trotted off. Less than a minute later, he did exactly that and won the game.

“See,” my husband said, grinning at me, “Still my team.”

I was stunned.

What just happened there? How had the boy heard him over all of the noise on the field? And how was he able to do exactly as his former coach said in the moment when it mattered most? Was this some kind of soccer voodoo that a non-sports ball fan like myself failed to grasp?

Then it hit me. Leadership Echoes.

The Influence and Legacy of a Good Leader

When a leader makes an impact on a team member, their voice carries. For my husband and his former player, his voice carried across a loud field at a crucial moment in the game. After years of playing for him, the boy was hardwired to hear his former coach when it counted. It didn’t matter that three years had passed. He heard that familiar voice and scored the game-winning goal.

Remarkable. Yet, that’s the influence and the legacy of a good leader.

It isn’t often that our former leaders pop up like that in real life. Instead, we carry that leader’s voice inside of us. If we pay attention when it counts, we’ll hear them whisper the words we need to hear long after they are gone from our daily lives. Their coaching and impact continue to shape what we do, who we are, and how we show up.

Whose Voice Do You Hear?

I hear from a number of past leaders who’ve shaped and molded me over the years. They’re like my internal board of directors, and they pop up depending on the situation I’m facing.

Sometimes it’s Gary reminding me to be cautious of overplaying a strength.

Sometimes it’s Mark who tells me to use the core values as my guide when I’m facing a tough decision.

Sometimes it’s Rich who assures me that chance favors the prepared.

Sometimes it’s Rozanne and Bridget (who don’t even know each other in real life) pushing me to use my voice even when it’s uncomfortable because I have something meaningful to say that others need to hear.

And sometimes, it’s so many more leaders I’ve had the honor of learning from in my life. I’m grateful for their impact and how they shaped my thinking during the time we had together, but even more, I am thankful I can still access their impact when I need it most.

Their leadership echoes.

What Will Your Leadership Echo?

It’s one thing to be attuned to the echoes in your own head, but what about the influence you have on others? What will your leadership echo?

Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:

• What do I want people to remember about working with me?

• When I’m no longer in the room, what do I hope they hear me saying?

• What kind of mindset, values, or habits am I reinforcing through my actions and words?

• Am I showing up in ways that build confidence, clarity, or courage in others?

• Whose growth am I investing in right now, and how might they describe my impact?

• What message or belief am I unintentionally amplifying through my silence or inaction?

• If someone faced a defining moment tomorrow, would my voice help guide them through it?

As leaders, we have the chance to have the same remarkable effect my husband did on his former player. The way we show up, the words we speak, and the belief we build in others become a voice they carry with them. When their game is on the line, our influence can guide their next move. That is the lasting power of a leadership echo.

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1. Offside Explained:

SportingNews.com’s explanation: a player is offside if they are in the attacking half and closer to the opposing team's goal-line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.

My husband’s explanation for soccer newbies: when the whistle blows for no reason.

My explanation, courtesy of Glennon Doyle: it’s not for us to understand.