Focus on Significance and Success Will Follow

As I travel the country, I often have a multitude of young and mid-career professionals approach me and ask how I became a chief at such a young age. They are naturally focused on achieving success and, in our society, success is measured by what we achieve. Psychologists and sociologists have written about the stages of human life and the stages of human psycho-social development as postulated by Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget - just to name a few. The key in all of these models is that most humans reach a point in their life where they deem themselves successful because they have what “they” want and, instead, pivot to wanting to be significant. When we are successful, we have added value to ourselves, but when we become significant, we have added value to others.

It's easy to confuse significance with success and vice versa. I know it happened to me for many years of my career. I had come from humble beginnings, but had natural athletic talent that led me to a brief career in pro baseball. Then I came home and married my high school sweetheart, had two healthy twin sons, and an enviable career. By anyone’s measure, I was successful. Then one day, it dawned on me that success wasn’t all that life was about. As a father, husband, and chief of police, it was about the legacy I was leaving for my family. What value was I adding to their lives? Trust me, when you consider your role as a leader in those terms, it takes on a completely different meaning. You see, each of us is leaving a legacy every day with every encounter we have. Realizing this at any age will give you a much more thoughtful approach to how to deal with others.

Both success and significance take time, effort, and commitment. When you begin by focusing on the value you are adding both to yourself and to others, you will be significant, which in turn will make it much easier to become successful. When you commit to pursuing significance, it will push you out of your comfort zone; you will have to do things differently. You will see the world differently and you will find yourself seeking to pursue objectives that are bigger than yourself. That’s a tough thing to do in a world of instant gratification. When you pursue significance, you plant seeds for the people with whom you encounter that may not grow until long past the time you are in their world.

To help you fully understand the difference between success and significance, I want to talk about some key areas where you will see your mindset shift when you focus on being significant:

• Discipline: Significant people are disciplined people. They no longer need the “feeling” that motivation requires to accomplish their goals. They set routines and stick with them. They understand that putting in the time (and the pain) means they will achieve their goals. They have transcended the natural tendency to “negotiate” with themselves through listening to their self-talk to a level where they are talking to themselves. There is no negotiating with yourself when things get tough as a significant person.
• Intentional: John Maxwell once said, “Success can last a lifetime; significance can last several.” That pretty much nails it. When you focus on being significant, you value your time as you know it is the most precious commodity we have. Significant leaders invest their time wisely knowing that by valuing their time and being intentional with it, they can accomplish anything. Successful people can be and are intentional, but it is often short-lived or steeping in the need for motivation to be so for a specific project or goal.
• Focus: Successful people ask, “How can I add value to myself and my team?” But significant people ask, “How can I add value to others?” The focus is on sharing your knowledge, talent, and time so as to help others become the best they can be. Our company motto on our journals reads "Learn it. Live it. Give it." as a reminder to our students that every single one of them has knowledge and information to share with others through their personal actions and their mentoring of others.
• Serving Others: When you pursue significance, you commit to serving others. Your focus on growing future leaders, be it in your own home or within your workplace, is what matters. Creating connection with them so that you learn about their values and motivations enables significant leaders to have a lasting and positive impact.
• Rewards: The rewards of being significant are many. When you commit to turning your talents to the benefit of others, you will find that the influence you have is tremendous. Your opinion matters to those who find you significant. It also grows you. Perhaps the greatest reward is the self-realization that you have created value for another person. Success can be short-lived, but significance will last as long as the youngest person you influence is alive.

I will close with a couple of final thoughts. When you decide to pursue being significant, you make a commitment to look outside of yourself. You focus on helping others learn from your mistakes and successes. You share hard-won knowledge with an understanding that you are providing a foundation of knowledge to another, which will enable them to grow beyond your wildest expectations. Being significant isn’t easy; it requires a complete mindset shift focused on what you possess that could help another. However, when this occurs and you focus on being significant, success will most assuredly follow.

Have a great rest of the week! 

And always remember to #BeSignificant.

- Dean