What questions are asked in a Legacy Interview?
The key to a meaningful Legacy Interview are the questions we ask to guide your loved one to share their experiences. Our questions have a sense of flow to them, but since each guest is unique, no two people get asked the exact same set of questions.
Before beginning a Legacy Interview we explain that it is easy to tell stories where everything went right, but the most valuable lessons often come from stories where you made a mistake or things didn’t go right. The stories of how you recovered provide insights and wisdom for future generations.
The Five Areas of Life
Our questions cover the entire lifespan by asking about the following five areas of life:
1. Ancestors & Childhood:
Here we discuss how your family came to live where they did. We discuss family relatives that should be remembered and the individual’s experiences as a child.
During this beginning segment we ask questions like:
Where is your family originally from? What prompted them to move?
What foods do you remember your mother/grandmother making?
What rules were your parents strict about?
When you had money as a child, what did you spend it on?
2. Career:
During the career section we discuss how you spent your working years. This could have been in a formal job, or as a homemaker. We encourage each guest to talk about their hopes, challenges and the sacrifices they made to provide for their family.
To capture stories about your career we ask questions like:
When you were young, what did you dream you would grow up to become?
How did you get your first big opportunity?
As you look back, were any supervisors particularly influential in either a positive or negative way?
In what ways were you active in your community? What was the value of that?
3. Marriage:
During the marriage section we talk about how you met your spouse, decided to get married and what you have learned about each other from being together for so long. This is often a very fun segment for couples because it gives them a chance to reflect on how decisions they made a long time ago impacted their lives.
Some questions we ask during this section include:
What first attracted you to your spouse?
How did your parents feel about your spouse before you met?
What was difficult about being married to you?
What is something you learned about your spouse after being married for decades?
What does it take to be a good husband/wife? What was the value of being married?
4. Parenting:
During this segment we discuss the role that raising children played in your life. We encourage parents to tell stories and use the names of their children and grandchildren. This segment is often the most surprising for the guest as they have rarely taken the time to reflect on what was usually a hectic part of their lives raising children, providing for the family and growing as a person.
Some of the questions we ask during the parenting section:
How did pregnancy go for you? What should future daughters know about the process of having a baby?
When did you first notice your children’s unique personality emerging?
Recall a time when your children did something that really upset you, but now you look back on and laugh about?
What values did you try to instill in your children?
5. Wisdom:
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
These are some questions we may ask during this deeply personal segment:
What does it mean to be successful?
What do you think happens when you die?
What should future generations know about money and debt?
What do you think the world will be like when your grandchildren are your age?
While the above list is not exhaustive, it reflects the sentiment and level of intimacy of a Legacy Interview. What is more difficult to describe are the follow up questions that invite deeper and more personal dialogue and storytelling.
Our Legacy Interview host asks questions in a way that creates a flowing conversation. Our guests describe how effortless it is to participate in a Legacy Interview because the questions are well thought out and feel comfortable to answer.
The most difficult part of conducting a Legacy Interview
We have discovered that the most difficult part of a Legacy Interview is making the time for it. Holidays and quick visits home are often too hectic. One of the biggest values we can offer you and your family is the quiet space and time to conduct a meaningful interview where there is no pressure and the goal gets accomplished.
