Your Body of Work Is the Only Measure of Success

What is leadership success? Is it money? Promotions? Happiness? Raising a family? Changing the world, or advancing your industry or community?

This simple question has grown more complicated over the years, and it's more important than ever to answer it clearly. Careers are less linear. Titles change faster. Entire roles are being redesigned by AI. If you measure success by the markers of the past, you may find they no longer hold still long enough to count.

Here's my answer. Leadership success is measured by your complete body of work in life: nothing more, nothing less.

The Money-and-Power Myth

Historically, leadership success has been associated with money and power. The more you have, the more successful you are.

That's a false idea of success. How many people do you know who have money and power and are also happy, ethical and purposeful? There are some, but only a few.

I believe in free enterprise, and I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with earning well. But it's important to put it in perspective. There are a great many people who are successful and not wealthy. They see success through a lens that balances their professional, personal and spiritual lives.

Money can be made quickly and lost just as fast. Power lasts as long as the position does. Leadership success is different. It's earned, and its impact is timeless.

Every Decision Adds to Your Body of Work

The pandemic, and every disruption since, from war-driven supply shocks to sudden market swings, has taught the same lesson: greed, selfishness and short-sighted leadership aren't sustainable. Today's marketplace requires better judgment from leaders than ever.

Think of the hundreds of decisions a leader makes each day. Individually, most seem small. Together, they define a body of work.

Unsuccessful leaders make decisions without thinking through the consequences, or how those decisions will reverberate through their professional, personal and spiritual lives. Successful leaders stay conscious of their body of work and the purpose it serves.

That body of work is also more visible than ever. Your decisions, your words and the way you treated people now live online, where anyone, and any AI, can find them and summarize who you are. The record is being written whether you're paying attention or not.

Are you?

When the Title Becomes the Identity

Unfortunately, many leaders prefer to be what others want them to be rather than do the harder work of defining success for themselves. That's why so many leaders are financially well off yet disconnected from the people around them.

Some of the most powerful executives I've met are single-minded and shallow. They're insensitive, selfish and insecure. Their identity is their company and their title. They focus on salary, bonuses and recognition, and they believe they have all the answers. They claim to understand the bigger picture, yet they miss what matters most: the people who made them successful.

The risk of that kind of identity has never been greater. Titles are temporary. Restructurings, acquisitions and AI are redesigning roles at every level. When a leader's sense of self is built entirely on a position, losing the position means losing themselves. A body of work, on the other hand, goes with you.

Recalibrate What Success Means

Leaders must recalibrate their definition of success so it's based on the opportunities and advancement they create for others, not just for themselves.

Successful leadership happens organically when a leader focuses on the true impact of their actions. It shows up in the people they developed, the doors they opened, the problems they solved that outlasted them and the example they set when no one was watching.

A true leader stays mindful of personal and spiritual goals as well as professional ones. Their decisions at work reflect not only the kind of money they want to earn, but the kind of person they want to be.

Your journey starts with figuring out what matters most to you, then doing something every day to advance it. It's about making sure the body of work you're creating represents who you are and the outcomes you seek.

Audit Your Body of Work

Take a few minutes this week and ask yourself:

• If someone summarized my body of work today, what would it say? Is that what I want it to say?
• Whose success have I made possible in the last year?
• Which recent decision would I make differently if I thought about how it will look in ten years?
• If my title disappeared tomorrow, what would still define me?
• What is one thing I can do today that adds to the body of work I actually want to leave?

Money and power are outcomes. They can come and go. Your body of work is the one measure that keeps growing for as long as you keep building it, and the one that speaks for you long after you've left the room.

Want to explore these ideas further? Learn more about my work on leadership, identity and conviction at www.theglennllopis.com.