Striving and Arriving

Make yourself at home… You’ve arrived!

Many of the senior leaders that I’ve coached have achieved success well beyond what most professionals could ever reasonably expect. These executives surpassed their former peers and classmates, not to mention their friends and family. Yet all too many remain fixated on the next job or a bigger role. So why is that so many of these prominent business leaders fail to recognize that they’ve arrived?

By “arrived” I mean that they have attained financial security, respect, influence, and control over outcomes. With all of this in tow, I am always surprised that many executives still do not possess a sense of professional satisfaction.  While I certainly admire ambition and drive, sometimes I ask myself, “when will they stop striving?”

My guess is that many of these folks never stopped to imagine what success would look like before they achieved it.  A mountain climber can see the top of a peak, and a child remembers that dessert follows dinner. But success in business is somewhat subjective, and if you don’t visualize what it looks like in advance, it can be difficult to recognize.  Yet it’s critically important for executives to know when to let their foot off the gas in order to devote energy to other important aspects of life like family, health, and fun.

- Renee -