10x Leaders: In pursuit of success really?

‘You’re not gonna be great again!’ He has no companion. He has to find that happiness within his life; that’s the thing that worries me. I don’t know if he can find that type of happiness.” Michael Jordan on his close friend Tiger Woods

 

Here is a great sportsman who at the age of 30 has won 10 major golf championships and 10 years later, at the age of 40, is struggling to find form. I am going out on a limb here and say that it’s not all over for Woods. Yes, age and his banged up body are against him. Well, look at Eden Hazard. In the 2014-15 season, he was by far Chelsea’s best player, winning the PFA Player of the Year and was once valued at 200 million pounds by his then manager Jose Mourinho. But in 2015-16, Hazard suffered a “dark” season with loss of form and injuries. But he’s turned it around, taking a cue from his interim manager Gus Hiddink “Try to play like a kid”. In other words, ‘Enjoy your football, Hazard!’

The common misperception that we learn from an average leader and that the path to happiness and fulfilment is through success and achievement, ie success is the cause and happiness is the effect. In fact the relationship is the other way around. 

10X leaders live their lives knowing that the discovery of meaning and fulfilment is the path to success. That the formula is the opposite, ie happiness is the cause while success is the end product. Happiness is the intersection between pleasure and meaning whether at work or at home. 

Research out of University of California, Riverside shows that happiness leads to better relationships, better marriages, higher income, better performance, higher levels of resilience, and better physical and mental health.

How do we leaders increase levels of happiness, and consequently success? The good news is that we have been discussing this for the last six months: Stay SHARP*. 

SHARP stands for Strengths, Health, Absorption, Relationship and Purpose. By practising SHARP, average leaders move into the peak performance zone of 10x leaders. Leaders feel energised, committed, passionate and find meaning in their daily lives. By the way, for those who are interested in finding out their strengths, visit the VIA character strengths.

SHARP enables you to enhance your potential as a leader and your chance of success. Success is not necessarily the number of accolades won. John Wooden, an English teacher who many consider the greatest basketball coach in the history of NCAA, offered this definition: “Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing that you made the effort to do the best of which you’re capable of. It’s about how the game is played.” 

To my readers, practice SHARP. Your employees, yourself and your organisations will reap benefit both in terms of happiness and success.

 

Suvit Chansrichawla is next-generation HR consultant under the brand Serendipity&Co, partner of the Curve Group in Thailand.

*SHARP model was developed by former Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar and his colleague Angus Ridgway ex-McKinsey head of leadership development.