We Need To Redefine Success
Why do we keep celebrating Pyrrhic victories?
Pyrrhic victory is defined as “a victory that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it.” In the context of this essay, I’d like to discuss those shallow victories that only benefit the top 1% stakeholders, while creating too many losses for the remaining 99% of the participants.
Basically, I’m talking about the situations where businesses lean on their staff asking them to sacrifice a lot just so that the top guy (or, top few guys) could grab the lion’s share of the materialized profits. Yes, the enterprise manages to squeeze a lot of money out of the cornered market, but at what cost?
When (rather, if) someone complains how this approach (winning the profit shares at all cost) is unfair and inhumane, and is damaging not only to the swindled customers but is also damaging for the employed staff, they get a stock response: “Well, seeing how harsh current market conditions are, you should be happy to still have a job. Now stop complaining and go back to work!”
I once worked for a high tech startup and heard the top guy describe our business model like this: “Guys, let’s get real here: we are in the business of tricking our paying customers to switch to the self-serve model, whereby they will use our app to do all the heavy lifting — all the paperwork and all the workflow. That sneaky switcheroo will enable us to summarily fire our administrative staff, while simultaneously rising the subscription prices!”
Devious (or, as Donald Trump would most likely say, “smart”). But there it is — business 101. How to swindle your paying customers and trick them into performing the services you claim you are selling to them. And of course, people are naive, people are well meaning (“there is a sucker born every minute”, as the old adage goes), so they will gladly step into that dog poo.
On the other hand, it is the employees who are being squeezed to go the extra mile, to work overtime, to sacrifice their evenings, weekends, to never take well earned vacation days, to even log in to work when sick. Why? Just so that the top brass can get their enormous bonuses. All that under the ruse of “we care”.
Isn’t it time we break that ugly spell? If that’s how we as a society define success, we’re really crazy to accept to live like that. Rather than measure success by only one criterion — how much did the profit margins grow relative to the last quarter, or relative to the last year — we must switch to measuring success by how well is the business, its employees, and its customers, thriving. How is the business operation improving the lives of its staff, and of its customers?
If we manage to do that, the result will be much a more sustainable society where mindless, mad rush for continuous dramatic growth is replaced by the sustainable and enjoyable engagement with coworkers, stakeholders, customers, and anyone else who’s involved.
Redefined success will enable a healthier society where every member is able to enjoy their capabilities while contributing to the overall prosperity.