Recently I have been contemplating what makes some people successful and others unsuccessful. I am not merely talking about a person’s position within an organisation – If I were, then this would be a very shallow definition of success – After all, if it were merely wealth, position or honours, then success is based only on our external world and this would be purely superficial. If you do not agree with this statement then think about the following examples:

·          An individual is hired within a large company three tiers from the top in a well-respected position. Leveraging psychological testing, previous employment and the interview, the person is now known as passive and is clearly inexperienced to fulfil the role. They get hired because the person who hired them, their boss, intentionally chose this person, as they want to remain unaccountable. The boss is content on leaving the company running as is until their retirement, and especially on the executive pay packet they are receiving. They also need a fall guy too remain in such a cushy position if things ever went pear shaped prior to their planned ejection.

·          An individual finally becomes appointed an executive manager of a company at the expense of friends and family. They materially achieve everything above and beyond what they set out to acquire, but they are left feeling alienated with a greater sense of void within when not stressed at wits end.

Would you consider the above people successful? The first initially thinks they are successful, but soon realises they are in too deep and cannot control their surroundings – The job title no long matters when they realise they are just a pawn - The other reaches their potential at the cost of quality of life.

Obviously the above examples are missing something fundamental to be good examples of success. Looking closely at it, each exemplifies the success of something external – either the company or an external party - but where is the success for the individual. Taking these examples more personally, this post is about asking the question of what makes you a success?

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