I remember having sushi with a great entrepreneur friend of mine who’d just sold his business and put a couple million in the bank.
He was sharing dreams of his next big venture, something massive, something that would become a household name.
‘Why’ I questioned sincerely.
Because I haven’t done anything truly huge yet, he told me, and I really want to do something big, like Ebay.
Is this success?
The other day I was flipping through Forbes magazine and stumbled upon on what could have been an “intended” picture of success.
A man wearing,
- a $342 t shirt
- a $125 belt
- a $297 pear of jeans
- a $150 pair of sandals
‘Wearing pay checks like necklaces and bracelets‘ -Brett Dennen
Is this success?
And what about high powered politicians & Hollywood super stars, with everything in the world that money could ever hope to buy, dancing daily across the front page in scandal after scandal.
Is this success?
I love the story of Napoleon Hill asking Andrew Carnegie to what he attributed his success.
As the story goes ‘the canny old scott with a merry twinkle in his eye queried back’
‘Young man, what do you mean by success? You have reference to my money, have you not?’
‘Yes,’ young Napoleon replied.
‘Oh, well if money is what you mean by success then that’s easy to explain…’
But what did Mr. Carnegie mean when he implied there might be something to success not adequately contained in words like fame, luxury, power and fortune?
A clue might be given in Mr. Carnegie’s later council to Napoleon that,
“Not everyone should set up a goal to become a millionaire because for some, it would cost too much.”
Cost too much of what?
Perhaps too much of what the essence of success really is.
As Jack Johnson sings,
“Look at all those fancy clothes,
But these could keep us warm just like those.
And what about your soul? Is it cold?
Is it straight from the mold, and ready to be sold?
And cars and phones and diamond rings,
Bling, bling, because those are only removable things.
And what about your mind? Does it shine?
Are there things that concern you, more than your time?”
And some lines I penned a while back…
The man makes millions, he’s a hero on stage,
and loved by countless strangers the world over,
…he remains visitor to his own home,
A stranger to his wife and children,
A guest in his own house.
The ones who love him the most,
know him the least.
The ones who know him the least,
get most of his attention.
What is this crazy world we’re living in?
Of course there’s nothing inherently wrong with fame, fortune and luxuries of life as surely, each can play a worthy role in one’s experience of success.
Let’s just not forget that a jigsaw puzzle with only 1 or 2 pieces, is really not much of a puzzle.
Gaping holes left open, don’t make much of a picture.
It seems to me that now more than ever, what the world needs is for leaders to re discover the lost essence of success.
To remember that in our pursuit of higher sales and fatter bottom dollars, that perhaps there are some things in life that should be kept off the store shelves and firmly remain “Not for sale.”
Thankfully, the greatest treasures can never be lost for good.
They remain always and ever present ready to be re-discovered by those inspired to pick up the shovel & dig.