Success: What Is It?
How should success be measured? Can it even be measured?
Most of us teach our children not to worship what psychologist and philosopher William James called the bitch goddess of success. Yet we also push them to excel. Are we schizophrenic?
Success in the marketplace is legitimate. It has to do with service to consumers. It does not have to do with looking out for number one: me.
The question of service raises the question of resources. How can anyone be of service, long term, if he runs out of resources? The answer of the non-profit organization is "raise more money through donations." For a business, the answer is "become more efficient."
The free market rewards efficient service with net income. The producer who serves consumers effectively generates income that enables him to continue to serve.
By putting the consumer first, the producer adopts a mindset favorable to economic success.
He who serves in order to get rich has cause and effect backwards. He who serves well and gets rich as a result has correctly understood economic cause and effect on a free market.
I have covered this in greater detail in my manuscript, Success.