There Is No Success Mantra

I recently achieved great success with one client by following a specific process. Encouraged by this success, I applied the same approach with another client, expecting similar results, and I was not disappointed. I thought I had a success formula that I could use with all clients. However, I encountered difficulties attempting the same strategy with a third client. Things went south.

What happened with the third client?

Looking back, I realize I had succumbed to the trap of intellectual arrogance, naively assuming that what had previously led to success would guarantee similar results in every comparable situation. I thought I knew best and I failed to acknowledge and appreciate the evident disparities in the customer’s circumstances and the team dynamics compared to my earlier clients. Consequently, the very thing that got me success became a reason for failure because I used a cookie-cutter approach without considering the unique merits of the third client’s individual situation.

This is a common pattern that many of us encounter. After achieving success, we often fall into the trap of repeating the same methods, assuming they will consistently yield positive outcomes. We start believing the imaginary idea of a success mantra, thinking it will always work. Our very success becomes an impediment to change.

No matter how successful one is, what is essential is a balanced dose of skepticism – the ability to question and not take any situation for granted, combined with generous dollops of humility – the willingness to acknowledge that we don’t know it all and that there is always something valuable to learn from every situation, and something different and better we can do.