5 Ways Your Current Success Can Ruin Your Future

Effectiveness. Success. Realizing your dreams.

Call it what you want, almost all leaders (and most people) dream of a better day.

A burning sense of mission drives most leaders.

But what happens when you begin to achieve it? What happens when you finally become even a little bit successful?

That’s when I think every leader has to wrestle down this reality:

The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success.

Consider this.

Every organization has a limited time in the sun. Even organizations with a timeless mission like the church ultimately realize what while the mission is timeless (the Church will always be around), your particular organization has a life cycle.

The Big 3 automakers had a stranglehold on the North American auto market for decades. In 1965, few would have foreseen how the global vehicle market would shift in the next 5 decades. Giants like IBM and Microsoft have also seem huge challenges that arose out of periods of unprecedented success.

Anyone remember that Netscape had a 90% market share of the internet browsing business in the 90s? Things change, quickly.

All of these companies were successful, but they remind us that the greatest enemy of your future success is your current success.

Unchecked, success can do at least five things:

1. Breed arrogance. 

When you’re successful, you’ll be tempted to think it was your hard work, strategy or sheer brilliance that got you there. Jim Collins, in How the Might Fall, masterfully shows that leaders who broker success over a long period show an astonishing humility. They realize things can go wrong. They realize that despite their hard work, they are fortunate to be in the position they’re in. They never rest on their laurels; they work hard to keep the mission advancing. Remain humble.

2. Make leaders lose their edge.

Hungry leaders have an edge to them. There’s a drive that pushes you and a desire to do better. Success can change that. You’re not as driven because, well, you don’t need to be. The best leaders stay curious, on mission and never lose their drive or edge.  Stay hungry.

3. Foster a culture of preservation. 

Let’s face it, most leaders—when they finally become successful—don’t want to lose it. So they stop taking risks. They try to shore up gains. They are unwilling to risk their current success to broker current success, which is often their undoing.  Keep innovating.

4. Promote managers at the expense of leaders.

Every organization needs both leaders and managers. Leaders tend to drive change and innovation. Managers manage what leaders build. When an organization becomes successful, managers can end up being promoted because, well, there’s a lot to be managed. Eventually that culture will drive your best leaders away. Reward leaders.

5. Suffocate vision. 

You used to dream about success. Your vision fuels those dreams. But when you become successful, what happens to your vision? That’s why you need a vision that’s bigger than your current reality. Fortunately, if you’re a church, that’s never a problem. The mission is bigger than all of us. The key is to keep it in front of you. In business, you want to create a vision no person or team could ever completely fulfill. Fuel vision.