Webster’s Dictionary defines success as the “attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.” What a grand way to describe a personal achievement! It’s unfortunate, however, when leaders and others conclude a sense of accomplishment according to monetary or hierarchy standards only to remain unfulfilled.
Instead of pandering to the status quo, it seems that leaders should redefine themselves by their own standards of success. For instance, have you improved conditions or circumstances during your leadership tenure? Have you completed your term or service in good standing? Sure, these considerations and others might be a benchmark to use. However, I’d like to think that history has smiled on leaders providing them a well-lit path to success.
Here are some helpful resources to help leaders define success:
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
– David Brinkley
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position someone has reached in life as by the obstacles that he has overcome.”
– Booker T. Washington
“To laugh often and love much
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And to endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To give of one’s self,
To leave the world a bit better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch,
Or a redeemed social condition,
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung exultation,
To know that even ONE life has breathed easier because you have live.
This is to have succeeded.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
