I'm talking with a person about the early life of John Quincy Adams. I state that a key takeaway from JQA is a powerful memory from youth which stayed with him the rest of his life. That memory was witnessing–eye-witnessing and personally experiencing–the War of the American Revolution. It never left him. In a way, the war never stopped.

The person listening to me thought for a moment. Then, the person shared a story from a life still being lived; the person had lost father at age sixteen. The person never forgot, still lives it out on a daily basis.

A memory set deeply enough will cast a shadow for the rest of one's life. The shadow doesn't necessarily mean darkness. It absolutely means that the effect goes on and on and on.

The people who are your followers live in that shadow. So, I think it's good advice for your leadership to know the shadows, respect the shadows, understand the shadows.