Barry's Blog

Ambrose Bierce once observed, "Success is the one unpardonable sin against one's fellows." And Gore Vidal offered a similar observation when he remarked, "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail." Both of these statements make essentially the same point, that the measure of our success often involves our "winning" over others, having the "edge" over the competition. And while we may hear from some religious quarters the suggestion that success is bad (do I dare use the word, sin?), most would agree that success, whether it be measured by net worth, titles, or influence, while not sinful, should be tempered by healthy introspection.

A few years ago, Harvard Business Review, in an article, "Is Success Sin?", wrote: "During the run-up of the stock market in the 1990's, many Americans developed an almost religious belief in the power of business to deliver then to the promised land. Everywhere one looked...the gospel of success brought reports of fresh miracles wrought by technology, global trade, and the triumph of capitalist ideas. Some thought the manna would last forever...as the economy has cooled and companies have demonstrated their mortality, questions about meaning and value appear more relevant, even urgent." So how are we to properly manage success? Can business success truly deliver on the more fundamental questions of meaning, purpose, and significance?

To explore the complex territory of business success and some of the deeper, fundamental questions, Harvard Business Review's associate editor David Light interviewed Peter Gomes, professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University and the minister at Harvard's Memorial Church. Gomes is a nationally recognized preacher, and the author of The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. Gomes offers some significant insights to help us get a perspective on how to live out our lives spiritually, while at the same time pursuing success in business. According to Gomes, we must "get used to it," "get over it," and "get on with it." The following are some of his more significant observations from the Q & A session:

Q - "The tension between striving for worldly success and putting one's hope in things that are unseen is a perennial one, isn't it?"

A - "Yes, that's true, which is why I advise people to get used to it. That tension is not going to disappear, and there are no simple ways of resolving it. In this country in particular, we've always had a love-hate relationship with business and the success that can be derived from it. The relationship has grown increasingly from hate to love largely because business has been seen as democratic - it spreads its benefits broadly, and success in it is often viewed as a matter of merit, not just luck. And business has become the tie that not only binds the culture but defines it to a large degree...So business, and the great striving that accompanies it, will continue to be one of the most significant forces in American culture, but it will always struggle against people's need for a perspective that is beyond this world's. We all have to get used to that tension."

Q - "Then you might say that wealth is not a sin, but it is a problem."

A -"Exactly. And the next thing to do, once you've gotten used to this idea, is to get over it . Figure out what your wealth enables you to do other than provide you with a summer home and a sports car. And then do it. A good beginning step is to get over your fears about money, as well as your false expectations. One of the first things the wealthy discover is that there's never enough, and they develop a profound fear of losing what they've got. Worse yet, wealth can seduce people and persuade them to be satisfied with less than the ultimate, which is beyond this world. Wealth is only a manifestation of the penultimate: When you're gone, you don't take it with you."

"One might think that we would understand that basic fact after all the millennia and the moral fables and cautionary tales that appear in so many traditions. But on some level, we don't believe that we are going to die, and we don't believe that anything will ever separate us from our wealth. The profound denial of our mortality and the myth of wealth is a very dangerous combination. It creates the foolishness of this world, of which Saint Paul speaks so often."

"I don't exempt the middle class or the poor from these warnings about money. In a democratic world, where many people consider poverty a sign of failure and not just 'the way things are,' the poor are tempted to the sin of envy while the rich are tempted to the sin of greed. These are not burdens you want to carry on your back. That's why wealth is a problem for everyone, not just for those who have money: It's an obstacle that blocks the way to God, who does not always correspond to what we want and who is much harder to deal with than the god of wealth."

So how do we look at success? Could we be looking for success and achievement in business to fulfill some of the deeper desires and aspirations that we have? Can it possibly be true that the ultimate lies beyond this world?

For FinishingWell,

Barry Morrow