Sustainable Success

Success is a very important and basically misunderstood organizational concept.  Most people equate organizational success with revenues and profits or stockholder return.  This is a very narrow definition that will normally lead to long term failure. 

Defining success is a key governance function that is critical to long term survival.  Success is about the taking the long term view and defining the key factors that you must preserve to stay in business and thrive.  These factors are different for each organization.  There are some common threads however. 

The definition of success must begin with a sense of stewardship and caring for the organization.  Caring for an organization needs to be nurtured over many years to form a strong attachment to the organization where the survival of the organization is more important than personal gain and compensation or short term performance or stock price.  Outsiders cannot define success for an organization because they do not know the organization intimately and can not understand the real success factors that bind the people together to make the organization successful.  You must belong to the organization to deeply care for it and understand what makes it tick.  There must be a strong sense of ownership to achieve sustainable success.

The definition of success must also have some definition of happiness.  This concept was important enough to our founding fathers that happiness is a cornerstone of the declaration of independence.  In the United States, all people have the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Many studies have shown that happiness is not tied to wealth or money; it involves more personal and emotional factors.  Tying success and happiness together leads to many interesting and important questions.  What would make our workers, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and communities happy?  What does that mean for them and how can we help them achieve their goals of success and happiness?

Sustainable success combines two important concepts.  Adding sustainable to our definition of success means that we will last a long time and act in ways that will not threaten our survival.  Recent studies of organizations that have been in business for a very long time and are still thriving have shown that these organizations have some common traits.  Organizations that are successful long term: (sustainable organizations)

1.        Are sensitive to their environment

2.        Have excellent working relationships, strong  cultures and a sense of community

3.        Work their core business with excellent quality and conservative financing

4.        Are ideology driven with strong core values that drive the organization.

5.        Become learning organizations with a core purpose and a clear identity

6.        Encourage innovation with experimenters who are open to paradox and possibilities and visionaries who see the future

7.        Become stewards of their organization who are committed to the long term health of the organization and building the organization with home grown management.

While all seven criteria are important, the ideology and core values drive all decisions and are thus the key factor for achieving sustainable success.