I saw an advert tonight about a tooth fairy advertising on TV and her business went through the roof. I see amazon trying to expand their business in to grocery delivery. It got me thinking about the definition of success.
A company that isn’t growing is stagnating, it isn’t considered a good investment. Yes there are arguments about economic growth improving our lives, but actually economic growth can be through different means, the means we favour at the moment channel the benefits of growth to those at the pointy end of the company systems.
There was a guy called Don that used to work for me. He had four brothers that were directors in major multi-nationals. But he was a low level in the organisation and refused to be promoted. He liked his life. He liked his cricket, and he would often have the head of the organisation visit him to chat about scores. His idea of success was not to progress, but to be content.
Then it struck me about the Brexit argument. Both sides were arguing that their way was the best way to do better. There was an assumption that the country needed to do better, to improve over all. But the UK is already in the top 30 countries based on GDP per capita. Why are we focusing on getting more money? Maybe it would be better to focus on how we use the money? Why is it that in a country that is in the top 30 there are so many needing to use foodbanks?