The Success Lie. Janelle Bruland

      Foreword

      Utah State University held an inauguration event for the launch of the Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center, a student-focused center housed within the University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. I had the opportunity to attend the event, along with my mother, siblings, and other family members. Others in attendance included a wide range of business, community, and academic leaders, as well as students and others. The purpose of this new center is to focus on and develop “principle-centered leaders,” drawing upon the teachings and insights of my father. “Principle-centered leadership” is a concept prevalent throughout his work, and the mission Utah State University has undertaken with this initiative truly does honor his legacy.

      I was invited to speak at the inauguration, and as you can imagine, I spent a great deal of time pondering my father’s life and work. In the process of this preparation, one vital concept continued to rise to the top of my thoughts. The desired outcome of Stephen R. Covey’s work was about one main thing: contribution.

      I believe that idea of contribution is foundational to this very personal book.

      I met Janelle Bruland when I was speaking on The Speed of Trust at an industry conference several months before writing this foreword. She came up to me after my presentation and told me about the book she was working on. She shared that over the course of her work and life, she had met many individuals who had achieved success only to find it wanting.

      While people have many different definitions for what “success” really means to them, if life is a continuum or progression, most tend to place success at the peak. It’s the target, the place to get to. When we achieve a measure of that success we tend to feel great joy and satisfaction; when we feel that success slipping away, we often experience frustration, disappointment, and even despair. While this perception of success is certainly useful, as it can draw us forward, it’s also incomplete.

      One of the things I shared in my remarks at the inauguration event was a model I’ve seen my father reference many times. He would talk about how we progress in our lives through different stages. For many, the accepted map for the progression of life shows that we begin in “Survival,” and from there, progress to “Stability,” with the next level being “Success.” This isn’t necessarily inaccurate, nor is it a bad thing, as it can be motivating, but as those who achieve success ultimately find out, it is simply incomplete. There is a 4th stage, which provides meaning and augments the value of all the others. It is “Significance.” The more complete way to look at the progression is that we go from survival to stability, to success, to a life of significance.

      If significance is your destination, rather than just success, it changes the way you experience every other stage of life. In the same way that you can experience moments or degrees of success, regardless of where you might be now, you can also experience significance all along the way. The difference is that while success is typically about you, significance is all about others.

      My work on trust has made this very real for me. I believe that it’s trust that makes our world go ‘round, and my personal mission is to be a catalyst, along with many others, in helping to bring about a global renaissance of trust. This mission, for me, would be real significance. If my focus were on success, I might measure my progress, or my value, in terms of how many books I’ve sold, or how many people I’ve spoken to. While those things are helpful, they would be insufficient incentives to sustain the kind of effort, commitment and preparation demanded by the level of contribution I’m seeking to make. They are also insufficient to overcome the kinds of adversity and challenges that I have both experienced and have yet to encounter in the years to come.

      To that point, one of my very favorite parts of this book was a powerful and deeply personal story Janelle shares about overcoming crushing adversity. I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that she didn’t overcome it by focusing on what success would look like for her if she did. Frankly, I don’t think that would have been enough. Rather, I would submit that the source of her great strength grew out of a concern for others, who were dependent on her, and trusted her. She had to come through because of a commitment she had to something greater than herself.

      Another theme I love that runs through this book is the idea that we are not bound to a pre-defined track in order to achieve the kind of life we’d like to have. While this might seem obvious as we go day to day, it’s deceptively easy to find ourselves doing what Janelle calls “living on automatic” and getting stuck in paths others lay out for us. The reality is that we are all free to choose our own path. In this book, Janelle walks us through hers, and how she has found and continued to live a life of significance. I found many of the things she shared to be relatable and to align with principles I believe in.

      In my experience, significance, contribution, and trust are inseparable. Trust is the foundation of all of our relationships and interactions with other people. It is in those connections where we find that, if we’ve worked to deliberately develop our own credibility, we are in a position to have an extraordinary impact on the lives of others – to lead a life of meaningful and significant contribution.

      I am confident you will find Janelle’s book to be helpful to you on that journey.

      Stephen M.R. Covey

      The New York Times and # 1 Wall Street Journal best-selling author of The Speed of Trust