A Conversation on Success-Written By Carol Zizzo

As a leader, how do you define success? What is the one thing you pay attention to in order to achieve that success?

One of our company core values is learning, and one way I define successful leadership is that ongoing learning is taking place. Each year I choose a learning focus and explore a variety of ways I can begin to learn about it.

One year, I chose a seminar called Success: The Power of Context, offered by Landmark Education Corporation. As a result, I am now giving my attention to how I define success, how others define it, and mostly noticing how important most of us think it is. Amazon offers 122,864 books on success. Barnes & Noble lists 67,227.

I sometimes impede my own success because I fear that I won’t feel successful even when I am successful. I find myself either frantically trying to learn something in short order, or completely withdrawing and depending on others because I think I will never be successful in that area. This is when the joy of learning flies out the window and what blows in is fear of failure.

I recently came across a quote by Thomas John Watson, Sr.:

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success."

Thomas John Watson, Sr. was the president of IBM who took the company’s growth to international status. He became one of the richest men of his time and is often referred to as the greatest salesman of his era. He paid attention to doubling his failures! And, he paid attention to noticing what there was to learn from those failures.

Maybe your definition of success as a leader is focused on the people you lead, living the vision of your company, leaving the planet a better place, discovering a new product or process, or retiring before you are forty. Maybe it is making good use of what you gleaned from a great mentor. There is something you are paying attention to in your pursuit of success—what is it?

If you’re willing, we would love to see your posted response.