In 40 years, how many people will remember that Steve Jobs invented the iPhone (or the iPad, iPod and Macintosh for that matter)?
To that point, how many people today can name the principal inventor of television? (To save keystrokes on Google, the answer is Philo Farnsworth.)
L.A. psychologist and executive coach Dr. Andrew Thorn – author of best-selling book “Leading With Your Legacy in Mind” – posed these questions to business and philanthropic leaders at a recent event hosted by the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. Thorn’s context was differentiating between leaders’ legends and their legacies – the distinctions being quite notable.
As thought-provoking questions should, they set me wondering about the intercept between legend and legacy, as well as business and philanthropy as they relate to Los Angeles and the region’s future.
Los Angeles once was, but is no longer, a Fortune 500 headquarters city – that notion is a relic of the past. The information-age economy will increasingly continue to be dominated by digital, e-commerce and entertainment-content companies, many of them entrepreneurial startups. Look no further than our Silicon Beach for exciting company cases-in-point. And as the rate of change continues to intensify, so, too, will the pace at which wealth is created. Who could’ve imagined the number of millennial generation billionaires – the 20- and 30-somethings – spawned by innovation amid this new economy?
With technology and entertainment fortunes being minted at earlier ages than ever before, it will undoubtedly fall upon the next generation of L.A.’s own Medicis to play influential roles in shaping arts, cultural and social services programs in the decades to come. The public-sector “safety net” continues to fray. While it can never supplant government and other public funding, support from private sources will be more important than ever. An estimated $59 trillion of U.S. wealth is expected to pass between generations from now until 2061, according to a study by Boston College.
Fleeting fame
Our emerging business leaders need to recognize – early in their careers as they monetize their innovations – that their ultimate legacies will not be their “killer apps” or “disruptive technologies.” As Thorn posits, those will make them legends. But legend is fleeting – Philo Farnsworth evidences that point. Legacies will not be built upon the businesses they create but by embracing causes about which they’re passionate; by setting forth and devoting those same entrepreneurial gifts to making a difference in the future of Los Angeles and the lives of others.
For local exemplars – legendary business leaders who have squarely established a legacy – the next generation need not look far. Eli Broad is the only Angeleno to build two Fortune 500 companies: Kaufman & Broad (now KB Home) and SunAmerica (acquired by AIG). As formidable as those achievements are, Broad’s ultimate legacy will be his philanthropy and civic engagement. His eponymous funding of the arts – not to mention education, medical and scientific research – overshadows all his storied business achievements.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who partnered with this publication to establish the Innovation Awards that bear his name, is another leader who’s transformed his legend into what will be an enduring legacy. He also founded, built and ultimately sold two publicly traded companies, APP Pharmaceuticals and Abraxis BioScience. Professionally, Soon-Shiong’s scientific and therapeutic innovations have had profound impact on cancer treatment. But his ultimate legacy is secure with the billions of dollars he has committed to fund health care transformation and a health information superhighway, in addition to support for causes in his field of interest, including $100 million to replace the King/Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles.
On a daily basis, I have the privilege of meaningful interaction with local leaders in the professions and business, including entrepreneurs and heads of family-owned small and midsize companies that represent a microcosm of the L.A. regional economy. I can say with great certainty that it is not only leaders at the level of Broad and Soon-Shiong who think about cementing their legacies. In the course of my work, I hear regularly from business leaders who want to leave legacies of which their heirs will be proud. We are blessed locally with generous, charitable-minded individuals committed to making this world a better place, finding and sustaining causes and institutions they find deeply meaningful.
Effective philanthropy extends far beyond the megawealthy. Legacy begins with leadership and a desire to make a difference – and grows from there.
As the author-executive coach Thorn succinctly put it, “A leader is someone who endeavors to make life better for others.”
Baruch Littman is vice president of development at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, which manages more than $1 billion in charitable assets for local philanthropists. He recently was recipient of the 2015 Outstanding Professional of the Year award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, L.A. chapter.
