There is a point at which a business leader can say that they’re successful. Their business has everything it needs to compete, they’re able to pay a salary that minimizes turnover, key employees are incentivized to move the business forward, and the stakeholders are making the money they want. But what comes after that?
There was a study done a little more than a decade ago that asked whether money could buy happiness. That study, done by Princeton University, learned through a survey of some 450,000 people in the U.S. that there is a number — an annual income — after which the answer is no.
A person’s emotional well-being — the emotional quality of everyday experience, via joy, anger, sadness — no longer increases once someone earns $75,000 annually. There have been subsequent studies and changes in the number based on family or no family, and where the person lives, but the fundamental finding — that the correlation between money and happiness eventually plateaus — stands.
From my view, that means to find fulfillment, there’s something more important than success, something less fleeting and of far deeper value. That is significance.
Author and New York Times columnist David Brooks framed it another way when he described two sets of virtues: the resume virtues and the eulogy virtues. The former are skills you learn and bring to the marketplace to earn a living, to find material success. Eulogy virtues are those that are talked about at a person’s funeral — the character traits that survive beyond where the material can travel. The latter are the behaviors that help a person realize significance.
Whatever level of success you’ve managed to achieve, you have individual talents that were applied to achieve it. And it is through those same talents that you can make an impact beyond that professional success to realize significance. So, where can you start?
Many choose to make an impact at their company. These business leaders give their employees time off to volunteer at a charity of their choice, make donations to causes they find meaningful on behalf of the company, and give back to their communities. They’re finding ways to help employees become better people, and through that act, find ways to be better themselves.
You’ve learned your ‘how’: how to earn a living to provide for yourself and your family. Now it’s time to learn your ‘why’: Why are you here? What’s your purpose? What legacy are you leaving? What can you do to lift up those around you? You have an opportunity to make an impact with the gifts you possess. Whether or not you do so is up to you. ●
Fred Koury is President and CEO of Smart Business Network Inc.
