Expectations were huge. They always were when he stood in front of the orchestra. With his 30 years of experience as a conductor, great expectations were part of his job, but this feeling was something special. He had rehearsed with the orchestra for several months and now it was time for the premiere of his self-composed symphony. This time his audience consisted primarily of royalties and celebrities, but that didn’t really matter. He was there for the sake of the music. Through music, he wanted to touch everyone who listened and make them feel the strong emotions that his music conveyed. The joy and sorrow that first transformed into tones and then back into joy and sorrow. To achieve this, he wanted each musician to take considerable responsibility for their part of the music and feel a tremendous pride in their joint success. And that was precisely what had been his focus for the past couple of months.
One of his biggest motivations was always the feeling of pride just after the final ending. He stands in front of the orchestra with his hands in the air, listening to the sound leaving the musicians instruments, echoing in the concert hall and finding its way right into the harts of the audience, leaving a footprint they will carry with them for a very long time. In this moment he knows that he has done just about everything he could to convey the emotions of the music. Now just waiting for the audience’s response. Another major driving force within himself is the joy of the musician’s success when they receive the audience’s response in applause, ovations and cheers. Then he realizes that they have succeeded in their joint mission – to leave a footprint with the audience that lasts for a very long time.
How many times have you sat together with friends and acquaintances who proudly talks of the profits in the company they work for? How proud they are to work in a company that has succeeded in raising the operating margin from 18 to 23 percent in the third quarter? Or that operating profit has increased by 20 percent in the past year?
Most people are not proud of operating profit or operating margins. They are proud to do something that really matters. Proud to leave a footprint – something of value. Proud to make life easier for someone by building a smart service, to teach their knowledge to the next generation or to take care of someone who is too sick to get out of bed or even to save the life of someone. Most of us do not need to work as a teacher or nurse to feel that way, but we still need something to be proud of. Some value that helps explain why you go to work every day. For some, money may be the value. But for most of us, money is only a hygiene factor and not a motivating factor that help us on the road to success. Low salary creates discontent, but high salary does not create motivation.
Often we associate success with boastfulness, ambition or other superficial things. For me success is all about leaving a footprint, in the same way as the conductor and the orchestra strives to leave a memory and a feeling with the audience that lasts for a very long time. Success is not something you have. Success is something you have had and can get again. Just as you can only see if someone is following your footprints after you have lift your feet. If you leave a footprint by conducting an orchestra in a full concert hall, save someone’s life, build a large business, have your own tea shop or make sure your children are well equipped in life – it is not essential. What kind of footprint that gives us meaning is up to each of us to understand for ourselves. It might not be easy, but no one said that being successful would be easy.