If success corrupts the character, it cannot be considered success. We need to redefine success in terms of our moral character. True success makes people of great character. The constant questions we need to ask ourselves to measure our success are:

Are we becoming people of integrity?
Are we people of principle?
Have we become more generous?
Do we practice love and compassion?

This must be the priority of successful leaders.
The great Mahatma Gandhi on things that will destroy leaders:

Politics without principle
Pleasure without conscience
Wealth without work
Knowledge without character
Business without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice

How true!

I am reminded of my voluntary work in mediating divorce couples. The story keeps repeating itself.

I was mediating between a multi-millionaire property developer husband and a high-flying banker wife. During the caucus session, the wife confided, “My husband always tells my son and me, ‘I work very hard. I am building all these empires for you.’ Now he has built the empires, but we are no more there to live in them!”

The common justification for making business our No. 1 and chief priority, “I am doing it for the family”, has left too many chief executives’ family-less.

How tragic! Certainly, success must be measured beyond economic terms. Perhaps, we need a different criterion to evaluate our ‘Businessman of the Year” award!

Bob Buford, a well-known cable television executive and owner, “It’s just like a tennis match. When I play, I play my best. I just do.”

Being our best is a two-edged sword. It can drive us to physical and emotional collapse. For convicted Michael Milken, he worked twenty-hour days and expected the same work schedule of his coworkers. He is commonly reported to be ruthless and intimidating of others in securing a deal.

There is no concept of temperance. The only motivational banner is “More!” For him, the desire for power is limitless, causing him to place no constraints on either his ambitions for growth or the means of achieving growth.[i]

It is important that our striving for excellence be tempered by character development and family commitment.

Excellence is finding alignment in “can, want, and should.” “Can” refers to our competence and talents. “Want” concerns our motivations and passion. “Should” applies to our values.

Becoming the best requires a constant commitment to developing our competency, discovering and rekindling our true passion, and shaping our core values. When our ‘can, want, and should’ are aligned, we will be most fulfilled.

Tom Jones of Epsilon defines success in three ways, “For me, in this company, my success would be to have left three legacies: One, someone to replace me so that the company is not at risk; two, a solid value system that will transcend both them and me in terms of what the company stands for; and three, economic soundness and stability.”[i] Success without successors is not success.