Measures of Success

It is natural to introspect over and attempt to measure the success quotient of one's life. The answers are however difficult to discover and fathom and the issue in someways remains a quest into the complex and enigmatic. Success, in simple terms, is defined as the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted, and to that extent assumes the evidence of definitive goals, and those being achieved solely through individual merit. In real life, this is hardly the case.

Recently, as part of an animated discussion on India's progress and 8% GDP growth, a dear friend remarked that everybody is much better off nowadays...the standard of living has gone up...almost everybody is earning more and is far more successful. Of course, my dear friend was referring to the rising middle class and beyond, and the ones below and poorer may have perhaps escaped his otherwise astute observations. One was reminded of Oscar Wilde, who said, "Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result." After all, would the middle class (which by some estimates will form 50% of India by 2020) be shining today but for the economic liberalisation post the 1990's. So, does this imply that success happens and is not necessarily an achievement? Or  if you are a pacifist, perhaps a middle path, a coming together of individual and the universe, is a more tenable and palatable approach. Nevertheless, the niggling issue of the right way to measure success, irrespective of factors or causes, continues to play truant.

While in corporate life, one learns, sometimes the hard way, that as you get closer to the top, the factor of perception easily usurps the dominant position of individual and team merit. Success starts to play catch me if you can, and the empowering factors for merit start to wither and withdraw, at the altar of myriad perceptions. Paulo Coelho's recent observation that what others think of you is none of your business, may appear somewhat puerile and lacking pragmatism. A Steve Jobs may get away with his hard-nosed approach, but the same may not apply for people inching up the pyramid, with the steady aim of a good life. Is one successful if perceptions are well-managed or is it otherwise? Does a desire to manage perceptions border on dishonesty or is that convenient pontification? These are difficult questions no doubt and the views of corporate mandarins will vary dramatically depending on the rung they occupy.

Roosevelt's proposition that the prize of life is in doing work that is worth doing, implying the measure of success may be resident in the meaningfulness, relevance and significance of pursuits that one has embarked and traversed in life, may find greater acceptance with people seeking self actualisation and fulfilment. For the others, who arguably represent the majority, this proposition maybe patronising and to be discarded with appropriate disdain.

A far more facile and comprehensive approach may have been defined by the great industrialist and billionaire, Ratan Tata who famously said that the measure of success is in having a good night's sleep. Extending that argument as a statistic, in a bid to convert the philosphical to more scientific rationalising but with the concomitant risk of rendering it simplistic, one could postulate that people who sleep peacefully for 350 or more days in a year, every year, may rightfully consider themselves wildly successful in life. Or did Mr Tata mean that whatever you do or aim to do or not do, don't lose sleep over it!

Well, if we cant figure this conundrum, lets just sleep tight.