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823. Success Isn't the Finish Line: What Are You Doing With What You've Built? · Daily Influence

• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, everybody, Brian Smith here with the I&Dames series and your daily influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we spend a lot of time talking about success building the business, growing our careers, reaching our goals and becoming financially secure, developing our teams and finally getting to that place that we have been working towards.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what happens when we get here?
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: because success isn't the finish line.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I would argue that success creates an entirely new set of responsibilities.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, once you've built something, whether that's a business, a career, a reputation, a body of knowledge,
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: our financial resources, or simply just decades of experience, the questions begin to change.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: It isn't just what can I accomplish.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It becomes what am I going to do with what I have accomplished.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today, I'm going to talk about the responsibility that comes with success and why what we do with what we've built may ultimately matter more than building it in the first place.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we pursue a goal, we usually are focused on the obvious outcome, build the company, get the promotion, increase revenue.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: earn that degree, you know, develop our expertise, create financial security.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But along the way, we accumulate things.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: We weren't necessarily, measuring, we gained experience for relationships, knowledge, perspective, credibility, maturity, access to things, and more resources, and whether we recognize it or not, our influence.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's important because influences and something that suddenly appears when you become successful, we're always influencing the people and environments around us.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Positively, negatively, even differently.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Success simply gives that influence a larger platform.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: More people may listen to you.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: More people may depend upon you and your decisions.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: You may have access to opportunities
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your resources may allow you to solve problems that once seemed impossible.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So reaching a certain level of succession only causes us to ask, what else can I achieve?
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: We should also ask, what do I have now that I didn't have before?
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And how am I using it?
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's where success starts becoming something larger than the achievement.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing wrong with achievement.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe we should set goals.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe we should build things.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe we should personate growth and create opportunities for ourselves.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our families, our team members and our organizations.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: but achievement is primarily about what we accomplish.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Contribution asks what our accomplishments make possible for others.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those are two very different questions and you can build an incredibly successful company and still create a terrible place to work.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can become financially successful without ever using those resources to create opportunity for anyone else.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can spend decades developing knowledge and experience and then keep all of it to yourself.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you can hold a position of leadership without developing another leader behind you.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why success by itself doesn't tell us very much about our influence.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: What matters is what happens because of it.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: are people developing because you're there?
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you creating opportunities?
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you teaching what you've learned?
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you making your organization stronger?
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then you've found it.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are you helping other people avoid some of the mistakes you end up making?
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's when achievement begins becoming contribution.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's one of the most important transitions we make as leaders.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is a point in our lives and careers
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: we measure it.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Another dollar and other clients, another title, another accomplishment, another business.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: There will always be another mountain to climb and overcome, but eventually I think we have to ask a different question.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's some bives my involvement?
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: For a business owner, maybe that's the organization you built and the people you prepared to lead it.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: For an experienced professional, maybe it's mentoring someone who is 10 or 20 years behind you.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: For a leader, maybe it's created an environment where people are allowed to grow beyond you.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And for any of us, it can simply be sharing our experience, our resources, our relationships, or our time in ways that create opportunity for someone else.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is where responsible influence becomes so important.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because if I recognize that my decisions create ripples, then I also have to recognize that greater success gives me ability to create larger ripples, even wayders.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: The objective shouldn't be to make everything dependent upon me.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: It should be to build people, systems, knowledge, and opportunities that continue creating positive influence, whether I'm standing in the room or not.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's when what we've built becomes bigger than us.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: So here's what I want you to think about today.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't just ask yourself what you're trying to achieve next.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take inventory of what you've already built.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: What experience do you have?
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: What relationships have you developed?
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: What knowledge have you accumulated?
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: What resources do you control?
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: What influence have you earned?
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then ask yourself one more question.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: What am I doing with it?
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the real measure of success begins when we take what we've built and use it to build something in someone else.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember your influence is already creating ripples.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: The responsibility is deciding what kind of ripples you're going to create with everything you've worked so hard to build.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, find your influence, be your influence and build your influence.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for joining us today.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great day.