Success Can be Dangerous
Mostly everyone desires to be successful in their endeavors. However, too much success too soon can be dangerous. Success has a tendency to make us complacent and lazy. When everything is going fine, we say, "Why change what is working for us?" This kind of thinking stops us from thinking new thoughts and trying new approaches. It is only when our jobs, departments, or ministries are threatened with irrelevancy and/or elimination that we are motivated to change and make improvements.
For example, in the mid-19th century, there was a burst of innovation in the sailing ship industry. This innovation happened when it became obvious that the steamship would dominate the commercial sailing ship. With this threat of elimination, the sailing ship reached its peak in efficiency. The challenge of steam forced the sailing ship to innovate and reduce the duration of the crossing of the Atlantic from five weeks in 1840 to three weeks in 1860. This speed innovation could have been made ten to twenty years earlier. It was only when it was threatened with elimination, did the sailing ship innovate, change and improve.
To remain successful, sometimes we have to threaten, oppose, and destroy the very things that enabled us to be successful to begin with.
Has success made you and your team complacent? How can you threaten, challenge, oppose or even destroy the very things that has made you successful in order to stay creative and relevant?
What do you think?
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Tags: Success
January 27th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Marvin, here’s another way that success can be dangerous. Yesterday Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, posted this sad comment on his facebook page: “I just heard about another author who’s gotten too big for his britches. I have seen precious few authors handle fame well.”