Business Opportunities Weblog

October 12, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 3 Comments

The New York Times:

HOW do the world’s highest achievers define success?

After interviewing 200 people worldwide “who have made a difference in their fields,” three authors conclude that “success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea or business model than it does with discovering what matters to us as individuals.”

In Rotman, the University of Toronto business school magazine, Jerry Porras, a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Stewart Emery and Mark Thompson, both management coaches, write that “extraordinary people, teams and organizations are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things that matter to them.”

The writers, co-authors of the book “Success Built to Last”, point out that the people they interviewed said, “When success just means wealth, fame and power it doesn’t last and it isn’t satisfying.”

Given the title of their book, it isn’t surprising that the authors refer to successful people as “builders.” “We learned,” they wrote, “that builders find lasting success when three essential elements come into alignment in their lives and work.”

The first element is meaning. “What you do must matter deeply to you,” they wrote.

The second is a “highly developed sense of accountability, audacity, passion and responsible optimism.”

And finally, they said, these successful people “find effective ways to take action.”

Photo by mikekorn.

In Ideas | 3 Comments
Tags: Strategy, Success