Dan Schneider

The Cornerstone to the Pursuit of Happiness
August 1, 2008

Remember when your motivations and perspectives were crystal clear? Then success happened. Congratulations! Sincerely, congratulations. You’ve been rewarded by the marketplace.

Now, there’s something to protect – that means estate and financial planning. Maybe it even means changing the business structure. To keep growing and increase market share (was that ever really one of the motivations and perspectives you thought about back when?), we need strategic planning to enhance business performance so that we can have leadership and management synergy and develop successors. Then there are always the family governance and family dynamics issues to consider.

Periodically, our perspectives on success change. One of our biggest challenges is keeping the notion of “I’ve arrived” from creeping into our attitudes and behaviors. In many ways, that notion is the seed of the entitlement we might begin to see in parents, children, siblings and others associated with the business or the family.

Back in the last half of the last century, Dylan (the singer) advised the youth of his generation that “you can have your cake and eat it too.” I don’t know if that’s the end game in your pursuit of happiness, but I do know that you have to have a cornerstone or a “home base” to launch that pursuit successfully. And, from what our elders have told us for generations, the things really important to happiness are probably going to change for most of us.

Here are a few tips on how to launch or reinvigorate your own pursuit of happiness. As always, they’re simple, they have value, and they take work and commitment.

1. Take care of the basics. Begin with understanding what and whom you really value.
2. Be open to redefining success in terms (relationships, personal satisfaction – achievement, money, recognition, market dominance) that are consistent with your values.
3. Keep your eyes on the prize (your definition of success).
4. Look for ways to make your family and associates successful on their terms.
5. Honor your commitments.
6. Celebrate successes every time they occur.
7. Remember that success is never certain and that failure is never final.
8. Pack and prepare for a long journey. The advantage of having you own business is that your game is measured over long time periods, not Wall Street earnings periods.
9. Stay humble.
10. Remember to pursue the right things.

And, as Shakespeare would have said, “There’s the rub.” The right things are going to be based on and driven by your values, not by wise business strategies. Strategies are relative and change. Values are absolute and timeless. If your pursuit of happiness is values driven, you’ll leave a legacy worthy of you.

Posted by Dan Schneider on August 1, 2008 | Comments (0)