Priscilla Rice (0:00)

Episode number 895, intentional legacy.

Dr. Ivan Meisner (0:05)

You're listening to the official BNI Podcast with BNI founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with suggestions and insights into getting the most from your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.

Priscilla Rice (0:28)

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the chief visionary officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you?

Dr. Ivan Meisner (0:48)

I am doing fantastic. I just got back from Mexico, Puerto Vallarta area. I did a BNI event, I did a corporate connections event, which is a sister company to bni. And then I did my annual tlc, well, semi annual TLC meeting, the Transformational Leadership Council.

Priscilla Rice (1:06)

Wow.

Dr. Ivan Meisner (1:06)

It's a great week. Got a lot done.

Priscilla Rice (1:08)

And what do you have for us today?

Dr. Ivan Meisner (1:10)

I've got a, I think a fun story that I'm going to share. And this comes from my latest book, Infinite Legacy. And it's a book that I wrote with Greg Davies and Julian Lewis. And you can see it on the right side of the podcast where all the books are. And if you have a chance, check it out. You know, as we have just had the 40th anniversary of BNI started in 1985, I'm often asked about legacy and what I'd like to leave in life. And the question reminded me of a story of another businessman who almost left an accidental legacy instead of an intentional legacy. This is a long time ago, more than 100 years ago, sitting at a table in a cafe, the middle of the 19th century in Paris, a successful inventor, industrialist, millionaire, drink coffee and set about updating himself on the news and current affairs. And, you know, while we benefit from notifications on our phone and streaming news 24 hours a day, back then it was, you know, newspaper sitting there, you know, drinking coffee and reading the news. And so he turned the pages, scanning different items and got to the obituary section of the newspaper. And he was really shocked because the headline read, the merchant of Death is dead. And it was his name. It had his name. And, and he read the obit to make sure that, that it was really him and not somebody else with his name. And, you know, he thought maybe it was just sloppy journalism because his brother had passed away not long before that. And. But he Realized it wasn't. And he was shocked at what the world would say about him as a successful chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman. And he held 350 patents. And this back in the 1800s, he owned all those patents. And so the implication was clear the, the person who he had become rich as by finding ways to, to kill people faster. It, it actually said that in the obituary. This person has become rich by finding ways to kill people faster, more faster than ever before. And as often is the case, inventions with noble intentions can sometimes lead to, you know, multiple purposes of the invention. What he had invented was TNT or dynamite. And in order to, he did it to safely mine resources from mountains and to help with construction. And this well known story of mistaken reporting in the 1800s was the driving factor in his decision to change his legacy. So within a few years, he signed his last will and testament in Paris's Swedish Norwegian club. He was 62 years old then, and he decided to use some of his personal fortune to support and encourage the work of scientists and inventors from around the world. And this, this document described a project that was far more ambitious than anyone could have imagined. In a relatively short document, it had less than a thousand handwritten words. It laid out a plan to, to devote a huge amount of his personal fortune. In fact, it was the majority of his estate, which was valued at almost a quarter of a billion dollars in today's money. And he wanted to give them to these series of awards. These were awards were dedicated to those who during the preceding year conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The awards consisted initially of five prizes. The first three were the greatest discoveries or inventions in a field of medicine or chemistry or physics. The fourth was a standalone prize in the field of literature for the most outstanding work. And the final prize was awarded to the person who would have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations and the abolition of reduction of standing armies. And in 1968, a sixth prize was added in the field of economics. So despite paying out millions, multiple prizes annually, each with the current value of 1.1 million, so everyone who gets one of these prizes gets 1.1 million. The working fund, despite that, has grown to 570 million and is used to recognize and achieve, recognize some of the greatest achievements of humanity. So the man's name was Alfred Nobel. When you think of Nobel today, you don't think of dynamite. As a matter of fact, most people don't even know that he invented dynamite. But most people overwhelmingly know of the Nobel Prize prizes, including the Nobel Peace prize, which was one of those prizes. And so he went from having this accidental legacy, this legacy of the creation of something that was used for good but was also used to harm people, and decided that he wanted an intentional legacy. Now I tell you this story to demonstrate that no matter where you are in your journey, no matter how you are currently perceived by those around you, you have the power and the opportunity to create the legacy that you desire. He did this in his 60s. The notion of legacy is often entwined with ideas of wealth or historical impact. It's deeply philosophical and in in the book Infinite Legacy we paraphrase Jean Paul Sartre. I may have mentioned this in a my previous podcast on On Legacy we paraphrase Jean Par Sartre, who's a towering figure in existential philosophy. And he provided a compelling perspective on legacy through a poignant observation in his play no Exit. He said one always dies too soon or too late and yet their life is complete at that moment with a line drawn neatly under it. Ready for the summing up. You are your deeds in life and little more. It's your contributions in life that make a difference. I've talked a lot in my podcasts about how we all have people that are in our story. Someone has made a difference in our life. But the true legacy to leave is whose story are you? In whose life have you changed? Who have you helped in the world and during our lifetimes we all have the opportunity to create either an accidental legacy or an intentional legacy. Nobel realized that he was about to leave an accidental legacy, one that he didn't want. So instead he determined to leave an intentional one. It's one that we all recognize today. We may not have the type of wealth that Nobel had for his legacy, however we all have the power to make our own legacy. Intentional true legacy is not in the success of our endeavors, but in the impact that we've made on others. And I say leave an intentional legacy in the world by making a positive impact in the life of others before the line is drawn neatly under your life. Ready for the summing up.