Success Redefined!

 

I started watching a Netflix series yesterday where a young girl moves to Paris for her job and is shunned because people are afraid she will make them work harder. They were happier with their pace of work. The conversation then goes around work versus life only to find out that for her work was her whole life.

When I was growing up, one of my aunts was settled in London. She was held in high esteem by the entire family. Therefore the impression on my young mind was a trip to la-la land was important to gain credence in people’s eyes or to be successful.

There is a lot of small stuff that creates an impression on a child’s mind on a definition of what is success or definition. The reason I write blogs and a series is not just to talk about an issue at hand. My larger purpose is to somewhere connect a single variable with the larger scheme of things.

I wanted to see how lifestyle and success parameter from culture to culture and also time to time impact on an individual’s well-being and how individual’s definitions of success when combined together defines a cultural mindset.

Dr Aparna Dwivedi, Dean, Tams Arohan Media School feels that success has often been associated with numbers. Percentage marks, sales target, Six Sigma, 5 point rating of employee performance all are examples of a number-based assessment system. Numbers generate competition and provide clarity in understanding.

She is absolutely right. Not just individuals but even countries, politics and society at large is working on number system. We see someone going for number one, we thrive to be just like them. 

One of my first tasks in HR was to develop an organization’s performance management process. They had an Adhoc performance appraisal system but we tried to make it more comprehensive and slightly exhaustive. It was a 100 people organization and we tried to tell people to understand the logic behind each of those number. Our intent as a consulting team was that a 3 or a good should not mean one thing for one person or manager and another for a different manager. The managers were reluctant to learn the logic behind numbers. They were content with the number rating thing. It suited them.

Since then I have developed an aversion towards numbers as an indicator of success. Even when my kids came back from school with a sullen face sporting a paper with lesser marks, my message to them was, marks are not good or bad, marks are more or less. Aim for one more than your past performance and if your effort is top-notch, it will not matter.

Numbers are often a byproduct of consistency and determination. My son who is in class IX has a better hang of it when he says, success to me is the completion of a task. According to him, if he starts something and finishes it and that is a success for him. I can come up with 100 more things to add to it but I like it for now. It is his definition and he knows that to be successful, he needs to finish what he started. Sounds like a plan.

Through the week we will look at other indicators of success that can be used to define a robust indicator of a person’s growth. Till then look at this quote as a prerequisite for success

To succeed in life you need two things: Ignorance and Confidence. Mark Twain. 

What are your thoughts? 

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