“We don’t inherit history to preserve it. We inherit to extend it.”

I was thirteen during America’s Bicentennial in 1976.

Like many Americans, I remember the tall ships filling New York Harbor, the International Naval Review, fireworks that seemed larger than life, and the patriotic keepsakes that found their way into nearly every home. To a thirteen-year-old, two hundred years felt unimaginably old.

This summer, America celebrates its 250th birthday. The celebrations will look different. The aircraft carrier Nimitz returns to New York Harbor. The UFC event on the White House lawn set a new precedent.

Every generation celebrates in its own way, but anniversaries like this invite a larger question:

What have we inherited, and what will we leave behind?

Every Generation Gets a Different Assignment

During my Navy career, I sailed into ports throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East—Naples, Izmir, the Côte d’Azur, Haifa, Aqaba, Dubrovnik, Bahrain, and others, whose histories stretch back centuries before America existed.

One question I heard often was, “Where are your people from?” Those conversations reminded me that civilizations think differently when measured across centuries instead of quarterly earnings or election cycles.

America may be celebrating 250 years, but history teaches us that no nation or company thrives by accident. Every generation inherits unfinished work.

The Greatest Generation endured the Great Depression and World War II. My generation grew up under the shadow of the Cold War, practiced for the possibility of nuclear conflict, watched Vietnam unfold on the evening news, lived through Watergate, inflation, and economic uncertainty. Yet we also helped usher in the personal computer, the internet, and a transformation from a manufacturing economy to one driven increasingly by knowledge and technology.

Today’s generation inherits different challenges—housing affordability, artificial intelligence, cyber threats, terrorism, and a pace of technological change unlike anything before it.

The assignment has changed. The responsibility hasn’t.

History rarely gives any generation ideal conditions.
It gives every generation unfinished work.

Vision Before Precision

Looking back, very little of my own career unfolded according to plan.

At thirteen, I couldn’t have imagined commanding Navy ships, serving in Congress, founding Capitol Integration, teaching graduate students, writing books, or helping innovative companies navigate Washington.

I’ve watched many entrepreneurs build remarkable businesses over the past thirty years. Few arrived where they expected. Markets shifted. Technologies emerged. New opportunities appeared.

One leader I work with has nearly tripled his business in just a few years. His planning process is anything but polished. Every few months there’s a new framework, a refined roadmap, or a different way of communicating the vision. That’s not a weakness. It’s evidence of learning.

Vision should remain steady. Plans should evolve.

I’d rather lead an organization with a compelling vision and an imperfect roadmap than one with a flawless planning process and no ambition.

Imagination Fuels the Future

Bill Gates famously observed that we overestimate what we can accomplish in one year and underestimate what we can accomplish in ten. I’d add another observation: we often overestimate our ability to predict the future and underestimate our ability to prepare ourselves—and our organizations—to adapt to it.

People rarely rise to a budget. They often rise to a vision.

Strategy provides direction. Execution delivers results.

Imagination fuels the future.

The Strategic Imagination Review

Most leadership meetings begin with dashboards—revenue, pipeline, hiring, margins. All important. But I encourage leadership teams to add one standing agenda item: a Strategic Imagination Review.

Spend thirty minutes asking questions no spreadsheet can answer:

• What problem should disappear within our lifetime?
• What will our industry need that doesn’t exist today?
• What would we attempt if we truly believed success was possible?
• Are we merely growing a business, or building a legacy?
• If America celebrates its 300th birthday, what contribution do we hope this company made?

The Next Fifty Years

When I was thirteen, America’s Bicentennial felt like the celebration of a completed story. At sixty-three, America’s 250th feels more like the midpoint of one.

We cannot predict what America—or our companies—will look like in 2076. But we can build organizations that value curiosity over certainty, learning over complacency, and legacy over liquidity.

As leaders, one of our greatest responsibilities isn’t simply delivering results. It’s expanding the imagination of the people around us.

Ask one question that won’t appear on any dashboard:

What are we building today that our grandchildren will thank us for tomorrow?

Then give the conversation room to breathe. You may discover that the greatest untapped asset in your organization isn’t capital.

It’s the imagination’s of your teams.