As a business leader, it is vital that you define success in your business and community so that it lifts the greatest capability of everyone to the forefront in enabling the business, and everyone working with it, to achieve their potential. You need champions of success throughout your business to make this a reality.
Active Knowledge Question:
What defines a successful person in your business?
Success – The Enabler
Success is fuel, an enabler and a renewable resource. It enables you to bring your full potential to the forefront in everything you do in life and to reap the joys that come with it.
Success comes from within and is not given to you by others. It is earned through hard work, not chance, and is your reward for the thought and effort you put in.
Every business leader should want everyone in their business to be successful as it can only lift the performance of their business to a level they never thought possible. And every individual should seek a life of enduring success because of the fulfilment that it will bring to their life.
But few in business or in life achieve the outcomes that are possible because they do not recognise how to make such success real. In fact, they set themselves up for failure in many instances.
Defining Success – Default Setting
As an individual working within a business, the default setting for success is promotion. You are seen as successful because you were promoted and gained more money, more opportunities for future promotions and more authority. It is society’s default setting for success premised in wealth, power and position.
It is a pyramid structure for success where only a few can attain such success as the places are limited, and it is all about getting ahead of everyone else.
Many thrive on this definition of success and the style of competition that it brings about. But it typically seeds conflict, self-interest and politics. And while this may be the default setting for businesses lead by a profit-first motive, it does little to lift those business’s real potential to the forefront. The potential profits they thrive for are forfeited to a model that undermines competitiveness rather than lifting it up.
It is because this default definition of success seeks to limit the number of people who can be successful that it fails businesses and individuals. Bear in mind the competitiveness of any business is determined by the combined effort and talent of every person working within and with that business. If only a few can be successful, what does that do for everyone else?
An Enabling Definition Of Success
Within yourself and within your business, you want a definition, a mental model, of success that enables and lifts potential and participation to the forefront. Remember the starting point for success is attitude, and the following is a view of success that will provide a foundation for the right attitude.
Success is never about a destination; it’s all about the journey. Enjoy every moment of the journey and each key milestone as you reach and pass them. This journey never ends. No matter where you may be on your journey, there is always another step, another leg and even, perhaps, another journey.
I believe that within every person, there is a natural potential for great success that is unique to them. Who is to say that what you find joy in, where your natural areas of success lie, is not as worthy and worthwhile as something our wealth-driven society cherishes?
Great success lies in identifying that uniqueness and exploring the journey of stretching and leveraging your unique gifts for all you can. We must always remember that our journey is and will be unique. An while we can look to others for examples and guidance, they are not you and therefore what works for them may or may not, work for you.
Your dreams, your imagination, your willingness to play and explore what is possible will form a fertile soil in which your passions can grow. Give yourself permission to explore for yourself where your passions lie, and through this, you will discover your path to success.
So what is success? Success is the journey you allow yourself to take where you discover and lift to the fullest your potential – the things you enjoy doing and what you are really good at. From this journey, progress and achievement will emerge in which you will find fulfilment, satisfaction and joy.
Success is reflected through happiness; a satisfaction in what you have achieved. I know that can sound ‘corny’, but it is the essence of success.
Imagine the power that would be unleashed in your business, if everyone who worked there actually had a happy life and enjoyed the role they played in your business.
Creating the environment in which ‘happiness’ can be a cultural trait in your business rests in the workings of the elements of your competitive engine. If I had to identify the key elements of the engine that ‘move the happiness dial’, they would be:
- A righteous purpose for the existence of your business. One where there is a real customer need through which everyone working within and with your business can feel real pride.
- Worthy leadership that builds trust and engagement and recognises that leadership is responsibility, not authority.
- A reward programme that feeds the needs of its people – including belonging, contribution, achievement, growth and self-worth for everyone.
Champions Of Success
Successful people can have a profound effect on your business.
Bearing in mind that successful people will likely exist at every level of your business, and we are not just referring to those people who have achieved leadership positions in your business. Success is far wider than that internal view.
A successful person can be a light within your business because they:
- Do not rely on others for their identity.
- Are open and strong and provide leadership.
- Understand the power of words and apply them accordingly.
- Adopt habits to reinforce their success.
- Grow and connect with other successful people.
- Are confident but never prideful or arrogant.
Successful people have an invaluable and critical leadership role as they:
- Develop other people’s ability to be successful.
- Connect people with the business’s purpose and goals at the individual, team, corporate and community level.
- Lead by example and create a culture of success through being successful themselves.
You want to grow successful people in your business at all levels, and that success should not be defined by wealth, power and position. Such a view of success limits success to a handful of people within any business and undermines competitiveness. You must establish a view and practice of success that empowers every person to bring their best to work every day. Look to your competitive engine to deliver this outcome.
An entirely new level of performance.
Want to become a part of the Entrepreneurs+ Community and learn how to make your business competitively fit? Join now.
All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
