Success and Growth

 Success is a personal expression used to describe how someone is doing at life. Some see material wealth as a sign of success, others see familial relationships as their measure of success. Its challenging to get too specific about the measurements of success because it can take so many forms. One business may be successful in some areas and completely unsuccessful in other areas. Lets take a look at some key factors for measuring success:

The first factor: Self-Satisfaction. Is this person living their purpose? Are they being authentic? Are they passionate? Do they enjoy doing their work or business activities? The most successful people are deeply self-satisfied. They have their needs met, they are inspired; they love what they do every day. This is a sign of success in my mind. A great example of this is Ray Anderson from Interface Carpet – he is an extremely self-satisfied man and is very successful in the eyes of many.

The second factor: Contribution to Greater Society. Does this product, service or business help meet the needs of society as a whole before, during and after its ‘life’? Is there value inherently present in this product or service? Are people living ‘better’, happier, more engaged lives because of this business being present in their lives? I think the impact on society, as a whole is an important factor when measuring success. If you can meet the needs of different populations and have a deep impact on improving the lives of others then one should be considered successful.

The third factor (last but not least): Sustainable Nature of the business, service or product in question. Can this product or business continue to exist and thrive under the current operation? Are finances, procurement, personnel and demand consistent? Any successful business has consistency and the ability to sustain its operations in the marketplace.

Accounting for “healthy growth” within each factor of success is an important consideration. If one is to be successful by contributing something useful to themselves and society as a whole then they need to reach people. Growth is a reflection of demand – more people wanting what you are providing means that you have a wider influence and impact on people’s lives.  What does it mean if a business, product or service is experiencing healthy or sustainable growth?

The best answer I can come up with pulls from Janine Benyus’s work in Biomimicry. She states, “We live in a competent universe. Learn from the genius of the planet & universe and ask how would nature solve this?” In relation to growth, I have observed that most babies need a lot of energy inputs and they grow relatively fast, usually leveling out after a period of time into adulthood. Upon stabilizing their growth, most organisms tend to then ready themselves for reproduction. The relationship between animals and their offspring has a wide range of variations much like that of parent companies and their subsidiaries. At a certain point, growth begins to transition into a decomposition process whereby our material make up transforms itself into a new composition. This new composition allows for the process of organism growth to start again ‘anew’. So if businesses were to look to nature for tips on sustainable growth, one could say this is a rough guide. If the factors of success are present and growth has measurable stability in its process then I feel like you could say that that company is successful overall.