The institution was here before you arrived,
and it will remain long after you have gone.
Its purpose is greater than any title,
its mission deeper than any ambition,
its journey longer than any single season of leadership.
You are not its owner.
You are merely its custodian.
Others came before you,
carrying the same responsibilities,
facing the same uncertainties,
leaving behind their labour, their wisdom,
their successes and their mistakes.
Others will come after you,
bringing new ideas, new energy,
and new answers to questions not yet asked.
No one owns the office.
No one owns the institution.
No one owns the future.
The office is only entrusted for a while,
borrowed for a season,
held in trust for those who will inherit it next.
Do not measure your worth by the chair you occupy,
nor your legacy by how long your name is remembered.
Measure it by whether the institution stands stronger,
whether the mission advances further,
whether those who follow inherit something better than what you received.
Let go of the desire to be indispensable.
Let go of the need for recognition.
Let go of the illusion that the institution revolves around you.
For strong institutions are not built by those who seek to own them,
but by those who serve them.
Not by those who cling to power,
but by those who prepare others to carry it.
Not by those who place themselves above the mission,
but by those who place the mission above themselves.
And when your season is over,
leave with gratitude,
leave with humility,
leave with peace.
For it was never about you.
It was always about the mission.
