Success vs Money
by Cameron on Jan.18, 2010, under Business
What drives you? Success or Money?
If we remove all other variables and just focus on these two motivators what would you choose? Success is my biggest motivator, and money is the byproduct of achievement. Self made money is created by success; however success cannot be created from just money.
Byproducts are evident everywhere you look. White Chocolate is a byproduct of brown chocolate, diesel fuel is a byproduct of unleaded fuel. The interesting thing is that the byproduct can in fact become more valued than the original. Fuel is a perfect example, Diesel is now more expensive per litre than Unleaded fuel, even though it was originally a byproduct of Unleaded.
The focus on the byproduct can easily distract people from their original goal. Similar to fuel, people that begin with a focus on success can sometimes inadvertently find that their focus shifts to the byproduct, money, thus making it the main driver. The problem with this is that money comes from success and not the other way around. Consequently your long term wealth goals can be hurt as you start to try to make a sale through poor customer service and heavy handed tactics, instead of the good customer service / relationship building gold that you used to offer.
It is important to step back every now and again and reflect. What came first, success or money? How did you get to where you currently are, or how do you intend to get to where you want to be? So many people have a goal to be successful, and sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward – a money focus may interrupt this decision and stop you from achieving real wealth because your goal is money not success.
This argument also relates to the value of self-made money vs. inherited money – people who make money, understand its value and know how they got it – through being successful! Inherited money is often used to buy success, and often it can be a bit harder to sustain. It’s the lotto winner that ends up in more debt 3 years after they won…
So next time you look at your career path, consider what’s important; consider your happiness and your drive. Focus on the feeling of winning and being successful and less on your earnings. If you focus your energy and attention on achieving success, chances are, one day you’ll look at your Maserati Quattroporte and go “Oh Shit! It actually happened…and I didn’t even realize it.”
January 19th, 2010 on 1:34 pm
Hey man, interesting post!
However I wonder about the notion of success as a motivator in business. When an athelete trains for the Olympics he is spurred to succeed by the need to discover what is possible, or a doctor is motivated to succeed by a sense of empathy.
What does the modern business person achieve through success other than personal wealth?
I’d imagine historically it would provide the basics in order to feed, clothe and educate your family. However in this age all of this is typically provided. Isn’t success in business today all about the icing or is there something I’m missing?
January 19th, 2010 on 7:18 pm
Deep Neil, very deep.
The argument boils down to the definition of success. Success has the ability to bring happiness and a sense of fulfillment.
An athletes ability to constantly strive to achieve a faster time is similar to a business persons ability to achieve greater targets and build a better brand – potentially find away to deliver better customer service and more competition in a market.
Where the better business people can feel success is in having an unbelievably awesome and happy team… An employee is not going to share their money around, however they can share their successes around and teach others to be successful. Business is the lifeblood of the economy, so many people have to be involved with it and those people are affected by successful people. A business person can push to see what is possible and also be driven by empathy – many of the most successful people end up giving all of their money away, begging the questions, “Does this make them more successful? By reducing the amount of money that they have.” I would like to think that this will bring immeasurable amounts of happiness to do so much good.
Without going on too much money has a number associated where as Success does not – there are many journal articles based on the fact that money can slow down creativity and stifle innovation, because it is a number – success however can come in every shape, size and frequency – not just the 15th of every month.
Looking forward to a response
January 19th, 2010 on 8:32 pm
Excellent reply.
I suppose that my skepticism boils down to a deep cynicism with regards to business dealings. An individual can deliver great customer service above and beyond what is typically reasonable, only to have his proposal shopped around to five other competitors. A manager can treat is team with a high level of respect and leadership only to have his authority undermined by a member of staff. There is a lack of certainty when it comes to business and in any situation when you deal with free thinking human beings. Unless money is an indicator how can you be truely sure that you are in fact successful?
In comparison other fields offer a more black and white approach to success. A doctor can either treat a disease, or not. A mathmatician can either solve an equation, or not. An athelete can achieve a personal best, or not.
So I suppose success in business is all about where you set the goal posts. Is it not possible that a mediocre manager with moderate goals can feel just as successful as a high performing manager with high goals?
Money is the score that defines success for business people. Once the money has been handed over it ceases to be useful from a success point of view, give it to charity, do whatever with it. The score has been set and it stands to be bettered.
Would you go to work, organize people, create excellent business relationships, increase profits for a corporate entity and gain some sort of success from that if you weren’t being rewarded monetarily?
Money is the score that makes business people feel successful
January 20th, 2010 on 4:14 pm
Very interesting but even though you touched on it briefly, I think you discount the factor that “Fun” can have.
I believe if you truly enjoy your chosen career and look forward to going to work that “Success” becomes a byproduct of “Fun”. This is due to the fact that you take more care/pride in your work and this leads to more “Success”.
I know people who have “Success” and “Money” but completely hate their lives. Where as 9/10 I enjoy going to work.
My two bits.
PS. I could think this way because I am neither “Successful” or have lots of “Money”