The real spelling of success

How do you spell success? S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Right? I disagree. Unless of course you can show me a man who made it all by himself with no input from anyone.

Show me a self-made man and I will show you the poster-boy of a miserable existence. Humanity is so inextricably linked together that for anyone to significantly succeed, he must make significant connections and contribution to others. In my part of the world, success is signposted by luxury vehicles, real estate, a bank account with a stupefying credit balance, vacations in exotic places and other accoutrements of the inordinate acquisition instinct. As good as these things are, they, on their own, don’t give anyone a legacy. Immortality is not just about not dying; it is about living on in the minds of people whose lives we have touched in a significant way. If you doubt it, listen carefully to what people are saying when you have the occasion to attend the funeral of a materially endowed man.

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When Princess Diana died on 31st August 1997, the whole world literally stood still. Understandable, right? After all she had been a member of the British royal family, having been once married to Charles, the Prince of Wales in a fairy-tale wedding that got the whole world talking for a long time. A few days afterwards, on the 5th of September, a nun who lived a significant part of her life among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta India also died. Her name? Mother Theresa. One would have expected that the death of Diana a few days earlier would totally eclipse the news of the demise of the “poor” nun. But no, the whole world reverberated with the news and practically stood still at the burial of both women. What was the common denominator apart from both of them being female? It was their impact on people. Both of them had left indelible prints in the hearts of many people. If there was a problem that Princess Diana had with the British royal family and which eventually broke up her marriage, it was her penchant for mixing with ordinary people outside the royal family!

Real success is spelt P.E.O.P.L.E. Wherever you see a truly successful person, you are looking at someone who has connected with people’s pains. Compassion is a natural connector to people and their resources. Every human being you meet, no matter how highly placed he is, has a yawning gap, a secret pain or need in his life. Whoever is able to help him solve that problem or heal that pain will have unfettered access to his heart and by extension, his resources. Enterprise succeeds when you are able to ‘productify’ your idea to solve a human problem. How many witches can gang up against a Dangote to make him poor? No matter their number, as long as people continue to use sugar, cement, flour and the essential goods that people need and use on a regular basis, and his companies continue to produce them, it would be impossible to make him poor. Or how many diviners can stop the wealth of Bill Gates because they don’t like his face? For as long as human beings use personal computers that run on the Microsoft operating system, they cast their spells in vain!

A surgeon who is constantly on top of his game will be in universal demand. A man will succeed who is able to connect his expertise with the needs of people. In a similar vein, success is guaranteed when anyone is able to employ the expertise of others in purposeful and meaningful ways. Highly successful people don’t become so because of how much they are able to do but by how much they are able to get done! They get things done, not by dint of personal effort, but by their ability to engage people with skills that they lack. Sometimes, even when they have the skill for a task, they choose to employ others so that they can free up time to do other important things. By doing this, they achieve more.

One of the hallmarks of successful people is their ability to organize people towards a collective goal. Rallying people of different backgrounds and sundry interests around a common objective is definitely not a walk in the park. Consequently, those who are able to successfully pull it off will always excel in whatever they do.

If what you do can give people pleasure, your success is unstoppable! One of the greatest pursuits of humanity is happiness. Most of our investments and acquisitions revolve around that singular quest. Even a movie has been made with the title “The Pursuit of Happyness”. The whole idea of customer satisfaction is borne out of the need to make those who do business with us happy. Zappos, an online fashion store, continues to make soar-away profits because it clearly states that the delivery of happiness is its reason for being in business, fashion just being a platform for accomplishing that. Even if they sometimes crack irritating jokes, comedians who know their game continue to perform to the applause of satisfied audiences. Whoever can make others laugh and relaxed will get ahead in life. This is the only reason why people with a high degree of emotional intelligence, even when they only have the minimum academic requirements for the job, will always rise faster on the career ladder than those who only parade a high IQ with intimidating academic credentials!

In a collective dilemma, people need direction. At such critical times, a vacuum is created that not just everyone can fill. Whoever is able to step up to the plate, accept responsibility for charting and navigating the pathway out of the logjam is looked upon as the leader. Success is never far from the man who can accept responsibility for leadership when most people in the collective would balk at the idea. Nelson Mandela didn’t become great because he had a lot of money. But he stepped in to fill the leadership vacuum at a critical time in the history of South Africa, a cause for which he sacrificed his freedom for twenty-seven years, rejecting several offers to compromise his position and get early freedom.

Effective communication is the forte of successful people. Inspired by the strength of their convictions, they do not lack the capacity to express their vision to others in a way that their audience is inspired to buy into it. When they turn the vision into a product or service, the persuasiveness of the message they build around it makes people want to patronize it. When it is a cause, the enthusiasm in their language makes people want to rally round the cause.

The next time someone asks you for the secret or the hallmark of true success, forget about the luxury cars, the landed properties, the fat bank account. Don’t think of fame or the accolades of men, even though these may be rewards of success. Simply look them in the face and give this one word as your answer, PEOPLE!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!