What Does Success Mean?
Success is a universal aspiration, a dream shared by many. We all seek to reach the pinnacle of our fields and achieve greatness in life.
Today’s rockstars include not only musicians, actors, and athletes, but also tech workers, business owners and entrepreneurs. The vast majority of people, however, will not reach this level of success, yet they still have the opportunity to live fulfilling and meaningful lives. How then do we define success?
Success, as defined by Oxford Languages, is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose”. A second definition is having achieved popularity, profit, or distinction.
I want to steer the conversation towards being successful in life. Many of our early ideas of becoming successful involved having a highly respected job, or making lots of money, and/or being famous. Some of that changes over time whether it it’s because obtaining those goals seems less likely so we give up on them or we have new experiences and learn new information that changes those old ideas of success.
Perhaps success in life means living a life according to one’s religious or spiritual values. Perhaps success becomes becoming a great parent. Maybe it becomes living a life of integrity. Maybe it means improving one’s community or the planet. Ultimately, the idea of being successful in life may indeed be subjective and fluid.
We’ll explore the multifaceted nature of success, how it can be measured both objectively and subjectively, and how different factors such as a company’s culture, work orientation, and goal mindset influence our perception of success.
What are Some Measures of Success?
Psychologist and professor Peter A. Heslin sought to define reliable ways to measure success. He focuses on two general ways to assess success: objective and subjective measures (Heslin, 2005). These two measures didn’t originate with Heslin though, they actually date back to at least 1934 by Edward Lee Thorndike (Thorndike, 1934) and 1937 discussed by Everett Hughes (Hughes, 1937).
Objective Measures of Success
You see, objective measures of success such as pay and job title seem like obvious indicators, but these things can be influenced by other factors such as the market or competition. For example, some jobs and industries simply pay more than others. The best custodian in a company isn’t getting paid the same amount as the best accountant. Also, sometimes there are only a limited number of positions in a field that pay high amounts or have esteemed titles. Are the people that are excluded from these positions less successful just because the opportunities are not available?
You can imagine a school teacher who may not get paid as much as a middle manager at a large corporation may feel more satisfied with her career owing to the impact she has had on others’ lives. Is her satisfaction not to be used as a measure of success because it’s not as an objective and quantifiable measure as salary?
When surveyed, workers often indicate factors such as work-life balance, purpose, and impact as important measures of success (Heslin, 2005). These criteria not being as quantifiable and objective.
Subjective Measures of Success
Unsurprisingly, identifying proper subjective measures of success is tricky. One commonly used measure is job or career satisfaction. In a nutshell, the most poignant example of why this is not a great measure alone is because someone could not be satisfied with his/her job, but most other people would consider themselves to be successful based on the access and prestige it brings.
Types of Subjective Career Success Criteria
Four types of subjective success criteria that are rather useful:
1. Objective/self-referent ex. The amount of money I make
2. Subjective/self-referent ex. Work-life balance
3. Objective/other referent ex. How much money I make in relation to my colleagues
4. Subjective/other-referent ex. How engaged I am in my work compared to my colleagues
A Company’s Culture Affects What Success Looks Like
Winner-Takes-All Market
People’s subjective success criteria are reflective of both the environment as well as the self. For example, in a competitive environment with few spots at the top, success may heavily lean on your performance in relation to others while in a non-restrictive environment, one may focus on objective goals. This is defined as a winner-takes-all market.
Frank and Cook argue that though there is a small chance of obtaining a “star” position such as CEO or pro-athlete (Frank, 2010). The allure of such positions attract many talented people to this path and away from other socially important careers such as teaching or social work. You see this often in Biology. Most undergrads majoring in Biology want to become medical doctors for the money and prestige, few start out thinking about becoming scientists, though seen as respectable, it’s not lauded as being financially bountiful as being a surgeon.
You’re likely to see people valuing markers of success that pit themselves in relation to others and objective measures when they work in take-all markets.
Kerr and Slocum studied market and clan cultures regarding business/organization cultures. Market cultures are more transactional (Kerr, 1987). I pay you to do job x. Symbols and status are not as important as performance, which is rewarded with large bonuses.
Clan Culture (“We’re a Family”)
Clan culture, however, promotes a more familial work environment. Cultivating a sense of belonging to the organization is emphasized more so than financial bonuses.
It’s interesting because there is a saying going around online these days that if your job says you are all family (clan) culture, leave that organization. They’ll expect you to tolerate a lot, while not being compensated adequately.
I wonder if anyone’s described a hybrid culture since or before the publication of this paper.
People in market cultures are more likely to value subjective and I would argue objective other-referent criteria like promotions, bonuses and awards, while those in clan cultures are more likely to value self-referent success criteria.
Work Orientation
How you view your job affects your success criteria as well. Sociologists and psychologists say there are three views people have of their work:
1. It’s a job that pays me money so I can do and buy the things I want
2. It’s a career that has meaning, status and prestige
3. It is a calling that makes the world a better place
Goal Orientation
Entity implicit theory vs incremental implicit theory. Fixed mindset vs growth mindset basically. Scholars found that those who exhibited a fixed mindset were more likely to focus on other-referent criteria while growth mindset people were more likely to focus on self-referent criteria. I don’t think the authors delve into which one is “better”, but we have definitely heard people say that having a growth mindset is more beneficial.
There are benefits to being self-referent, however. Sometimes you don’t know how much you can achieve until you see others achieve it. A popular example is that of the 4-minute mile. For years, no one could break that record, but once someone did, a slew of people did afterward.
Career Type
Career type affects subjective criteria. Those with linear careers ex. climbing the corporate ladder are more likely to use other-referent criteria while those with non-linear careers such as teachers and nurses tend to have self-referent criteria and value motives such as personal growth, creativity, and impact (Heslin, 2005).
Conclusion
So, how do you determine career success? Heslin basically recommends that measures of success should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Measures of success can be different based on gender, ethnicity, region, city, career field, lived experience, etc. It means different things to different people. For some, it may mean achieving financial success, while for others it may mean having a fulfilling career or making a difference in the world. There is no one right answer, and what matters most is that you define success for yourself and work towards achieving it.
To note though, of subjective measures that people frequently mention, career satisfaction, work-life balance, impact, and having made a difference seem to be the most prevalent.
If you are looking to be successful in life, there are a few things you can do. First, it is important to set goals for yourself. What do you want to achieve in life? Once you know what you want, you can start to develop a plan for how to get there.
Here are some additional tips for defining success for yourself:
Think about what is important to you. What are your values? What do you want to achieve in life?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing?
- What are your goals for the future? What do you want to achieve in the next year, 5 years, 10 years?
- Talk to people who are successful in areas that you are interested in. What advice do they have for you?
- Once you have a good understanding of what success means to you, you can start to develop a plan for how to achieve it.
References
Frank, R. H., & Cook, P. J. (1995). The winner-take-all society: How more and more Americans compete for fewer and bigger prizes, encouraging economic waste, income inequality, and an impoverished cultural life. New York: Free Press.
Heslin, P. A. (2005). Conceptualizing and Evaluating Career Success. Source: Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.270
Hughes, E. C. (1937). Institutional Office and the Person. American Journal of Sociology, 43(3), 404–413. https://doi.org/10.1086/217711
Kerr, J., & Slocum, J. (1987). Managing corporate cultures through reward systems. Academy of Management Executive, 1, 99-108.
