The Meaning of Success!

Success is measured differently, by different people.  Success to a child may be learning to tie their shoelaces or earning their first dollar.  Success to an adult is much the same, the first job, first car, etc.  What I consider success may not be your standard.  So, how do you know when someone is successful?  Ask them – plain and simple. 

            Whatever is important to you, whatever matters most, if you are successful there, you are successful, period!

            Kevin O’Leary, capitalist, philanthropist and sometimes dragon, says money never lies.  Show him a way to make money and more likely than not, he’d say he was successful.  Professionally speaking, this appears to be what is important to him and his measure of success.  Personally speaking, would he consider himself successful?

            Someone working a 9-5 job that they really don’t like, but are good at, to provide for their family might not consider themselves successful; yet, where their family is concerned they may consider themselves very successful. Success for them is not measured in dollars and cents, but, in what those dollars and cents can allow them to do for or with their family.  The time they can spend with their family members.

            Perhaps this is why we never hear someone thank their absentee parent who earned big bucks, for providing the support they needed for their success.  But, we have all heard of stories where someone will thank their hard-working parents for the love and support that gave them the confidence to believe that anything was possible.  Or, communities that pull together to overcome disaster.  It’s a concept that is quite natural for some and totally alien for others.  Just like the overwhelming support community members will give one another during times of stress, there are always those who prefer to profit from it and will exploit situations to their own ends.            

            This is probably why service clubs, non profits and charities are so intriguing to me.  For the most part these are run by either volunteers or under-paid over-worked humanitarians who know that unless they get to the work, it won’t get done.  

            The types of individuals, who really give me cause to be thankful for everything I have, are the ones who will celebrate a breakfast program, mentoring a child, feeding a family, providing transportation for sick or elderly, ensuring that the expendable of our society are not expendable!  Giving voice to the weaker voices among us, shedding light on the dark recesses that polite society would rather forget, yes, these are the people who I think of as being truly successful.  They don’t work for the big pension, the golden handshake or the stock options.  They work for humanity. 

            There is a place for that in the corporate world as well.  We need to encourage our employees to serve on boards, volunteer for non profits, charities and the like and just to get things started, we should be paying them to do this.  It will not diminish your corporate standing, it will elevate it.  Why not consider a work/volunteer program.  You could pay someone to work for a non profit or charity for a few hours a month with the caveat that they volunteer the same number of hours.  Although this will not work for the ambitious corporate ladder climber, it will probably work just fine for the rank and file.  Given a chance, they may find that they are a good fit for the volunteer world and it will be a win/win situation.  If not, you will have exposed your employee to a different side of humanity and possibly changed their opinion on the meaning of success! 

            Good Journey!!!