Success

What is success?  In my experience, people immediately answer with money and power.  But the definition of success may be changing as the recent economic downturn reveals how greed and power have not lead to sustainable business results or happiness.  

"Success is waking up and doing what you love and working long hours and feeling blessed you get to work them, feeling like the luckiest guy on earth that you get to do your job," according to John Wood who left his position as a director of business development at Microsoft to found Room to Read, an award-winning international education organization.  By our culture's standard, John was probably "successful" at Microsoft - making lots of money and in positions of power and authority.  But now,  under his leadership, more than 1.7 million children in the developing world now have access to enhanced educational opportunities. Room to Read to date has opened 725 schools and 7,000 bilingual libraries, and funded more than 7,000 scholarships for girls. Wood wrote a book called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. He doesn't mention money or power in his definition of success.

In a class I teach called Mapping Your Success, we define success as the ability to set and achieve your personal and professional goals, whatever they may be. 

In the wake of the New Year, how do you define success?