More Than Money: Seeking the True Meaning of Business Success
Carlos Salum
Founder - Salum International Resources, Inc., Author, Keynote Speaker, TEDx Speaker and Mentor at LEAD Sports
When we examine the root causes of business success, its essence transcends profit margins, market dominance, or shareholder value. Much like enduring leadership influence, where connecting with deeper values drives transformative change, true business success is rooted in purpose, authenticity, and impact.
Let’s explore this concept through the lens of reflection and strategy, guided by the principles of enduring leadership influence and thought-provoking questions.
I use this process in my upcoming book From Fog to Focus to assist you in finding clarity to lead with purpose and direction:
1. Define Success Beyond Profit
True business success starts with defining what success means. Is it about scaling revenue, or is it about creating lasting change? Businesses thrive when they discover their underlying mission and pursue it passionately. Just as conscious capitalists elevate their mission to causes, purpose-driven leaders must infuse their vision with meaning that resonates beyond monetary goals.
This process asks What is your definition of business success?
Success is not just the what but the why. It’s also about the who and the how. Apple didn’t just sell computers; they sold a movement for creativity and productivity. It sold them to “those who want to change the world.” It added value through differentiation, simplicity and elegant design. Similarly, defining success involves aligning with a cause—something worth pursuing for its transformational impact.
So, we can ask an additional question: How does my solution redefine success for my audience?
2. Lead with Authenticity
Authenticity is the cornerstone of sustainable success. To connect genuinely with customers, employees, and stakeholders, you must believe in your vision and embody it. A successful leader doesn’t just push products or policies but shares a vision that aligns with their audience's needs and aspirations.
Reflecting on the question, What role do ethics play in your vision of success?, we understand that authenticity fosters trust and commitment.
This alignment builds a strong foundation where the business becomes a partner in its customers’ journeys. It’s no longer about transactions but shared values, turning customers into loyal ambassadors.
One of the biggest lessons I learned from Philip Kotler (the “father of modern marketing” who has taught at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University for over 50 years) when I attended his course in London, is the importance of closing the gap between the company and the customer, moving from “just the service” to concern, and from responsiveness to “partnership in profits” (which in some cases we can call friendship). I live by the motto "the Friendship of those serve is the foundation of our progress."
3. Elevate Your Mission as a Cause
Businesses that excel position themselves as enablers of positive change. They address challenges and elevate their offerings as vehicles for transformation.
This echoes the question What drives you to innovate in your field? Innovation isn’t just about new features—it’s about new possibilities.
Think about brands that inspire loyalty. They transcend their function to stand for something bigger: sustainability, empowerment, or creativity.
As Brand Ambassador of Enventys Partners, a product innovation company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with decades of success, I see how businesses that succeed use innovation strategically, positioning their products and services as tools for transformation while addressing societal challenges. Examples of strategic innovation include:
The success of these brands stems not just from solving problems but from sparking imagination and creating a better future.
4. Engage with Experiences
No one is truly converted to a vision without experiencing its power firsthand. This principle applies equally to products, services, and leadership. As inventors bring their products to life with energy and passion, business leaders must engage stakeholders by delivering transformative experiences.
Gothic cathedrals in Europe were designed to provide "the experience of Heaven" with space, sounds, sights, aromas and a performance focused on transfiguration for those who understood Latin and the many more who did not. The allegorical experience mediated belief.
Answering How do you stay inspired and motivated in challenging times? highlights the importance of staying connected to the essence of your work. Sharing that inspiration through impactful experiences inspires others to believe in the cause.
Working and traveling with Dennis van der Meer, the legendary “tennis teachers’ teacher” and founder of the PTR (Professional Tennis Registry) in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, I understood how to sell through experiences, starting with providing “instant success” on the tennis court. Our students would attend a week-long tennis clinic and return home ready to play, to become socially acceptable, and anxious to play with the new racquets and apparel they bought once we helped them realize the value of playing a global game for a lifetime.
So, we can ask an additional question: How does my product or service offer a transformative experience?
I was able to translate the concepts behind the tennis experiences into the corporate world (Swiss Private Banking, in particular) where I was given the opportunity to design and manage both large and exclusive events. Transforming through experiences became the essence of my work, which (as a produced playwright) I call theatre – a vehicle for inspiring ideas that can shift perspectives and behaviors.
5. Align with the Right People
Successful businesses focus their energy on the customers, partners, and employees who are eager to embrace a vision. By identifying those who align with the mission, leaders amplify their impact.
Harvard's Value-Profit Chain model highlights the connection between delivering exceptional value to customers and achieving long-term profitability. The framework emphasizes that:
The chain underscores that investing in employee engagement and creating customer value are essential strategies for sustainable business success. This virtuous cycle ensures that the organization's focus on value creation leads to enduring profit.
Internally, a company must sell its vision to its members. Reflecting on What is the most critical trait you look for in team members? reveals that fostering curiosity and adaptability creates a culture where visionaries thrive.
Externally, the company must sell its vision to its customers and the world. Considering the answer to Who are we, what do we do, for whom and why it matters? reveals the essence of the company’s brand and is the pathway to extraordinary relationship marketing (Why do they love us?).
I enjoy facilitating Change and Culture Transformation processes for corporate teams. Witnessing team members participate in the creation of their workplace, their performance behavior, their team cohesiveness and the outcome of their drive is thrilling. As when I talk to a talented, young athlete, I address their future, their fully realized potential, as if it's happening today. Their plan is the result of future-casting their success.
It's fascinating to for me see how the creation of their growth strategy leads to Breakthrough and, over time, to enduring success. This is possible because their leaders deeply understand the Value-Profit Chain and they consciously (and skillfully) manage conversations that lead to commitment - rather than "managing people."
6. Balance Vision with Execution
Balancing big-picture vision with actionable goals defines sustainable success. Leaders must navigate short-term gains while keeping an eye on long-term aspirations.
Asking How do you balance short-term gains with long-term goals? challenges us to consider how every decision contributes to the broader cause.
True success comes from harmonizing ambition with strategy. It’s not just about achieving milestones but creating enduring systems that amplify the mission.
After founding my consulting company, my first client was a successful metals broker in London, England. I managed a tennis club that functioned under his Charitable Trust. The mission was to teach tennis for free to thousands of children every month in Hampshire County and follow a meticulous process to identify talents that could join a Development Academy. His mandate was “Don’t worry about the money. Let’s do our absolute best.”
On my second year, he wanted to go to Roland Garros in Paris, so I organized the trip. Sitting on the plane, he got a phone call. It was bad news. The market’s volatility had generated a loss of 8 million pounds in a few hours. For about ten minutes, he calmly told his employee what to do and ended the phone call. He turned to me and said: “No worries. I just told him to take the long view. We’ll make the money back in four months. Let’s go enjoy some tennis.” Vision meets execution.
He knew about long-term goals: he did not go to college and his first job was to serve coffee around the trading table of a brokerage company. He watched the action, asked questions and learned. One day, a trader got sick, and he asked to sit at his position. His first trades were a success, so he persuaded the owner to let him trade – and he continued learning. A few years later, he owned the company and later became one of the largest metal brokers in the world. He loved tennis, now that he could afford it, and he wanted to give opportunities to less fortunate kids, so they could gradually live in the Breakthrough mindset, as he did.
7. Build Resilience Through Leadership
Resilience, the capacity to navigate setbacks and adapt to change, shapes the journey of every successful business. As Viktor Frankl noted in Man’s Search for Meaning, humans need a compelling vision of the future to thrive. The vision pulls us forward and motivates us to navigate obstacles, as we become flexible, adaptable, versatile and creative to move from survival to achievement.
Much like effective leadership, which thrives on trust and connection, resilience in teams is built on authentic relationships and a shared sense of purpose.
Responding to How do you approach failure and setbacks?, great leaders embrace challenges as opportunities for growth.
When teams are united by a common cause, setbacks become stepping stones rather than barriers. Leaders inspire resilience by demonstrating vulnerability and adaptability. They remind team members why the started in the first place, why their work matters and why they haven’t quit yet.
Peak Performance Training, Mental Toughness and Resilience have been the core topics of my work in professional sports and the corporate world. What connects peak performers in sports and business is their love for the challenge: they keep fighting for what’s right, for their goals and for fulfilling their meaningful achievements despite all kinds of obstacles and opposition. They constantly learn and adapt. They might run out of time, but they will never beat themselves. They love the challenge because challenges help them grow. Leaders who understand this core principle creates schools of thought, not just successful outcomes.
8. Leave a Legacy
The ultimate measure of success lies in the legacy you leave behind. Business leaders who focus on their impact on society and the people they serve create lasting significance.
Reflecting on What is your vision for the legacy you’d like to leave in your field?, the answer lies in uplifting others and fostering progress.
Like iconic leaders championing revolutionary ideas, successful businesses become forces for good, shaping industries and inspiring communities. The legacies of these business leaders transcended their business success, emphasizing their broader contributions to society and the world:
Success is a Journey of Contribution
True business success is not a destination, but an ongoing journey fueled by purpose, authenticity, and resilience. As scholar Joseph Campbell stated, "the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are,” emphasizing authenticity and purpose as the foundation for both personal fulfillment and business success.
Campbell's quote suggests that business success transcends superficial metrics like profit margins or market dominance, focusing instead on deeper values such as purpose and impact, aligning their actions with a larger purpose that resonates with people.
Much like the power and art of leadership influence, business success lies in creating meaningful change. It’s about building trust, inspiring innovation, and leaving behind a legacy that echoes beyond the boardroom. As a Leaderhip Performance Strategist, that's where I find my sweet spot of satisfaction: I know who I am and how I can contribute to those committed to uphold leadership excellence.
What will your next success story be?
Contact me and I'll be glad assist you in defining it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this edition.
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"Bruce Fritch may be the most insightful executive coach in the world — and he is far more than that!" — COO, global professional services firm
1dInsightful
Senior Manager at (USTA) United States Tennis Association
3dThanks, Carlos. It's another outstanding read.
Co-Founder, Chairman & CMO at SportsEdTV • Chairman & CSO at Crosscourt Advisors • Advisor to brands, c-suite leaders, entrepreneurs and investors • U.S. Patent Holder • How can I help you?
3dWell said Carlos Salum. Money is great, but it’s a byproduct of much more.