Building a legacy

About a week ago, I read a post on LinkedIn that started with the question: Does anyone remember Hewitt Associates? The post and accompanying article talked about whether companies---like Hewitt---with spirit, humanity and overall great cultures still exist. The question struck a chord for me and couldn’t have come at a more reflective time.

In my mind, I like to think the culture of great companies lives on through its people. As a leader, my greatest desire is to know that my leadership is making a difference, and my most hopeful ambition is to leave a legacy that lasts beyond my time.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently because I will be attending a memorial service for one of the people who, I believe, has had a significant impact on the company I’m privileged to lead—Alight Solutions. The ironic part is this person has never logged a single hour as an employee of the company, but the impact of his leadership is deeply rooted in the foundation of our company and in many of the people I entrust to lead our business today. When I read that question about Hewitt, I thought about Dale Gifford and all the times I have quietly thanked him for leaving an incredible legacy that makes Alight better and my job just a little easier. 

Dale spent 34 years at Hewitt Associates, and was the CEO from 1992 through his retirement in 2006. These 14 years were formative for the company as it cemented itself as a national leader in HR consulting and outsourcing, and went public in 2002. 

Most importantly, Dale’s character and values had an enormous impact on the company and the associates who worked for Hewitt during that time. He was a kind and thoughtful man who valued every associate he ever met. He believed that people mattered and he showed it in the simplest and most profound ways, by looking every person in the eye and never missing the opportunity to say hello, no matter what role someone had in the organization. 

Dale was keeping it real before keeping it real was one of our own values, and his purpose-centered leadership established a trust-based culture that made Hewitt Associates a great place to work for every associate.

When we launched Alight last year, we were very intentional about defining the kind of company we wanted to work for—and that didn’t mean deciding on whether to add a foosball table or a ping pong table—it meant identifying a set of values that would serve as the foundation on which we would build our entire culture. Many of those values were rooted in the legacy that Dale established at Hewitt Associates long before Alight was even imagined. 

Values like putting people first, bringing excellence to all you do, and being real are timeless. They are as critical today as they were then. While we are a different company today, our roots are clear. Dale’s legacy lives on through Alight and its people.