Source: Jensen R/Pexels

What success looks like

When you think of a successful person, what comes to your mind? Most of us immediately focus on outward appearances or tangible outputs, such as money, fame, mansions, followers, or fortune. The focus is on what we’ve accomplished or achieved. People commonly list goals such as “I’ll be happy when I finally get promoted” or “I will have financial success when I have $1 million in the bank.”

These are attainment-oriented goals that many of us might pursue. People, by and large, tend to gauge their success with a yardstick for some reason. Dr. Lawrence Samuels, a notable authority in this area, contends that Americans, in particular, tend to define success in these outer-directed terms rather than inner-directed ones and that this model of outward-focused measures has been a failure in many respects.¹ I would agree.

So, what about those intrinsic factors? Things like an internal reward for a job well done, simple pleasure or enjoyment of the activity, or just a positive relationship with a co-worker or friend. These are all really important but are often not weighted equally by people. Is it because these are more difficult to quantify or measure, or are the comparisons between us and others just too universal? Instagram and social media apps do not help. Clearly, the psychology of success is complex.

Business Success

Success in business is equally complicated. Getting ahead in the organization often results in higher pay and prestige and leads me to the question I often ask aspiring leaders: What are you willing to do to get the life you desire? Would you do what it really takes if you understood in advance what that might entail?

It doesn’t matter what your profession might be—you could work in academics, healthcare, non-profits, or a corporation—there is a fairly universal attitude in our culture to find ways to increase salary and rank within the organizational ladder—in short, to gain more influence, power, and resources. We seem to over-value or emphasize these outward measures of success, and often, the pursuit of these leads to our inability to focus on our “why” or what really matters.

Are you willing to give up the places you grew up in, live thousands of miles from your family, and possibly destroy yourself? And what if you did all this, and it all crumbled?

Carlos Ghosn

Source: Apple TV

The Story of Carlos Ghosn

This brings me to the story of Carlos Ghosn. Last month, I dove into the story of this former business executive who lived a life of ostentatious wealth and abundance. And, as they sometimes do when lines are crossed, his lifetime achievements came crashing down years later.

I interviewed the Emmy award-winning documentarian, James Jones^2,3. Mr. Jones has directed several excellent investigative documentaries, including Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes. I wanted to hear first-hand what he learned from his one-on-one interviews and insights gained while making his latest docuseries called Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn. This show is now streaming on Apple TV+.

For those of you who aren’t aware of Carlos Ghosn, he was a powerhouse of a corporate executive. He was chief executive officer (CEO) at Michelin, Renault, Nissan, and then later a conglomerate involving Mitsubishi as well. He was seen as a legend at one time in Japan and Asia despite being of both Lebanese origin and Brazilian upbringing. He navigated the complex cultural and environmental challenges of international business and somehow worked his way to the top of multiple giant corporations, earning him front-page stories on Forbes and Fortune and hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses through the years.

But what was most dramatic about his story is not his rise but his descent. From an outward perspective, it appears he let his ego and greed take over in his search for greater amounts of wealth and power, which then turned into corruption and crime. Similar to others like Harvey Weinstein or Ken Lay at Enron, he could not allow the justice system to play out, so he staged a dramatic escape in a box to return back to his homeland, where he is living basically in exile while the international police still try to work to get him back to Japan for sentencing.

The story is dramatic and strange. Watch it and see what you think. The director, James Jones, said this of the story that unfolds and his motive for uncovering the truth: “It appealed to me on two levels; it has that Hollywood heist, escape-movie feel and has an extraordinary kind of thriller, narrative.” Director James Jones said that with the Carlos Ghosn story, the central question viewers will think about is whether he is actually a victim or villain.

Insights From How Titans Fall

We have a lot to learn about human behavior and decision-making from stories where the pursuit of ambition and achievement crosses healthy thresholds. Some of you may remember the line from the 1987 movie Wall Street, where Gordon Gecko, a corporate raider and investor (beautifully portrayed by Michael Douglas), proclaims that “greed [sic] is good. Greed is right; greed works.”⁵ Gecko also ultimately met his demise and ended up in prison for insider trading and fraud. This is all too common.

This is not to say that the relentless pursuit of wealth (greed) or an inflated sense of your worth or value (ego) is inherently bad. But there seems to be a point at which the pursuit of externally measured forms of success like wealth or notoriety can cross healthy boundaries. How you perceive how others perceive you is damaging.

Although perceptions help us organize and interpret information, they are highly deceptive. Yes, there has to be energy, desire, and motivation to get ahead in business; that is true. But go too far, and you might lose yourself and what you are striving for. The challenge is figuring out what the limits are in our ability to pursue success and make healthy choices.

Strategies for Measuring Your Success

This all leads me back to how to define success. I would recommend when you think of your personal success, you think about your purpose, permanence (and not just temporary measures of success), and process (the journey). These are the three P’s of success: purpose, permanence, and process. If you can isolate the values and the purpose that the activities bring, not the result of the activities themselves, you can feel gratitude even when the outward signs of success aren’t there. Instead of saying you’ll be happy when you finish the book, be happy sitting with your book in front of a fireplace. Instead of being happy when you’re rich, be happy that you are pursuing your dreams and making some money doing it!

• The journey or process evokes feelings and emotions, and this is much more important than the tangible outcomes. Try to re-orient your thoughts to the process whenever you get caught comparing outcomes to others.
• Search for the value and the meaning in your life, and remember business success outcomes are only a small portion of your overall purpose.
• Look for ways to move beyond extrinsic measures of success.
• Don’t let greed or ego consume you, as this will be your eventual downfall.

When we can gauge success without the yardsticks of money in the bank or hierarchies, we allow for less emotional misrepresentation of our perceived success. Learn the lessons of corporate titans who have risen and fallen. Enjoy the journey!