Redefining Success: How Culture Shapes Our Pursuit of Happiness with Lori Adams-Brown

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Welcome to the A World of Difference podcast. I'm Lori Adams-Brown and this is a podcast for those who are different and want to make a difference. Welcome back to A World of Difference, the podcast that celebrates humanity's unique differences and the impact that we can make together. I'm your host, Lori Adams Brown and today we're diving into something deeply personal and powerfully universal. Success.

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What does success really mean? I've been posting a bit on social media, been asking a few of you and would love to hear more of your thoughts even as this episode releases. But let's talk a little bit today about success and how it is perceived differently based on our own unique differences in our global cultures. And maybe in this generation where geopolitical events are causing many to ask the question, what does success look like for me? Honestly, if you ask 10 people from different cultures, industries and walks of life, you'll probably get 10 beautifully different answers.

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Some define success as wealth, power or influence. Others as peace of mind, deep relationships, or leaving a legacy here on this earth. And for me, success means living life according to my personal values, on my own terms and with the freedom to choose my own path while also making a difference in the world. You know this about me. That's why we have this podcast together here and many of you difference makers have expressed similar things to that and also really different things.

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Because the reality is we all bring our differences around the table and listen to one each other, one another here on this podcast. Because when we learn from each other, that even helps inform our own definitions of success that change over time. So let's explore how people from around the world and different sectors define success in their own words and and how that definition has evolved in business, culture and academia.

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So. So let's get after it. Go to loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot and sign up for Mastering the Career Pivot today. Because your next chapter, it's not going to write itself. A great South African leader that many of you know is Nelson Mandela, and he once said, money won't create success, the freedom to make it will.

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I'll repeat that. Money won't create success, but the freedom to make it will. Does that resonate? It certainly resonates with me. In Japan, the concept of ikigai combines passion, mission, vocation and profession all into one concept.

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It's about finding joy in life through purpose, not just through your external achievements. And from the business world, Richard Branson offers us this. Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or how the people they associate with. But in my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are. Does that resonate with you?

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True success being measured by how happy you are. We recently had the happiest countries in the world rated, and I happened to be in Denmark when Denmark was rated number two happiest country in the world. It has been rated number one many times. And all of you know how obsessed I've been this winter with their hookah culture in Denmark. So it was extremely, extremely cathartic and amazing for me to finally get there and see all their candles lit everywhere.

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To be, yes, in the cold, but to see all the coziness. Everything. I'd read about it in this book. As I was reading, many of you followed me as I posted on social media that I was in a ski resort area here in California, in Lake Tahoe. And I picked up this book in a little bookshop, the Little Book of Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Make Wieking, who's the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

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And I sat and read this book by the fireplace with a candle lit and a cozy blanket on a cold weekend. And it was just right after I had sort of become really obsessed with researching Hygge. And a lot of things he said were true in that book. I felt like I knew a lot about Denmark before I ever arrived. And there's a key to a lot of the ways they achieve happiness.

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They're teaching empathy in their schools. Their government is run into such a way as to take care of their people in a social democracy. And when I was living in Singapore, it was often rated number one, happiest country in Southeast Asia. It was number two in this year's ranking. I think Taiwan was number one, which also I recently visited just before I was in Denmark.

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But wherever I've been in the world, all the different cultures, success, happiness, all of these things are very diverse. And our personalities being raised in these different cultures form our ideas of what success looks like and our possibilities of pursuing happiness. A quote by Malala Yousafzai. If you don't know who she is, I think many of you do. She was a young woman in Pakistan who was shot and survived and is an activist and advocate around the world for women's rights.

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And just a true hero of many of us. Somalala's quote is around. This is, I don't want to be remembered as the girl who was shot. I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up. Love that quote.

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And she has a way of making really traumatic and difficult things simplified for us to understand and just very clear. And also some of. I heard one of her speeches the other day where she even used a bit of humor to give sort of this release in the audience of something that was very difficult. And sometimes humor can be the language of trauma, right? To help people work through that.

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She just really has a way with words and her Actions especially, are absolutely match up with the words that she shares in indigenous cultures, like many I've learned through from through powwows.com and if you haven't heard that episode, go back and listen to that one where I interview the leader of powwows.com who's also a podcast host. But in indigenous cultures, and in my own time living in Indonesia, I would say success is often communal. It's not about what you achieve, but what we achieve together. So when we think about it like that, instead of an individualistic success and we think about a collectivist success, I'd really be interested to hearing your thoughts around that from the different cultures around the world. You know, for myself, living on three continents and speaking six languages has taught me that success isn't static.

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It's actually deeply contextual, depending on where I've been, what country I've been living in, what industry I've been working in, and the situations around me here now, in Silicon Valley, success often looks like innovation and entrepreneurship and hustle. But I know many really innovative brains and innovative organizations and groups of people that spur us on to think of the new and best greater thing, and it is very inspiring and how we can live this life in a better way. I know a lot of entrepreneurs here in Silicon Valley, a lot of people with portfolio careers who are wearing multiple hats. I've been in Costa Rica when I lived there as a child, and many of you have visited there. It's a great destination to visit.

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I visited. Or as I was living in Costa Rica, going to international school there. And in my elementary school time, I experienced Pura Vida, which is this Costa Rican concept in their culture that values slowing down, savoring connection, and appreciating the moment. And I feel like as a child, that was instilled in me to just be with the person I'm with, to enjoy the beach, to savor the. The food and the dinner and the coffee, and just be in the moment with the people that you're with.

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That truly is Pura Vida, which literally translated, means pure life. When I was working in tsunami relief in Indonesia, success was measured not in accolades, but in lives touched, communities rebuilt, and hope restored. So when I say that success to me means living by my values, it's because I've seen what happens when we don't. I've walked with leaders burned out from chasing someone else's definition of success, and that is just not serving anyone. I've coached teams who thought they made it only to feel empty.

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And I've seen people truly thrive when they live in alignment with their purpose. So how do researchers and business thinkers define success? Well, let's take a look. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, known for his theory of disruptive innovation, once posed a more personal question in his famous commencement speech, how will you measure your life? Christensen encouraged students to define success not just by income or promotion, but by relationships, integrity and impact.

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Even asking, how many people will say they were better off because you were in their life? I'll repeat that question. How many people will say they were better off because you were in their life? Academic research increasingly supports this values based view. In a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, researchers found that purpose and autonomy, not money, were the biggest predictors of life satisfaction.

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And when we look at Gallup's research, they define five key elements of well being that contribute to holistic career, social, financial, physical, and community well being. That's career, social, financial, physical, and community well being. Interestingly, financial well being was not the strongest predictor of happiness. It was having meaningful work and close relationships. In leadership development, we talk a lot about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.

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So like internal motivation or external motivation. So intrinsic motivators are things like titles, bonuses and recognition and those can actually work in the short term. But it's the intrinsic motivation, your purpose, your why, your deeply held values that sustains you over time and leads to true success. This is the reason Simon Sinek's Start with why has resonated across industries. And if you haven't seen his big TED Talk around that or read his book or followed any of his videos and writing, I do encourage you to follow Simon Sinek.

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I was telling somebody about him the other day when I was in Chicago at a talent development conference. Very helpful. Some of the things he's talked about around trust builders and organizations versus high performers have been extremely helpful for me and conversations I've been able to have as I've been advising our president and where I have conversations with other CEOs here in Silicon Valley and I can advise them on talent development strategies. Having a trust builder in your organization, hands down every day of the week is way of higher value than a high performer. High performance can be worked on, but trust building is something you want to have somebody brought in with or that has that from the beginning because if you have a trust builder, they're going to continue to help your organization grow.

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But somebody who erodes trust can really hurt an organization. But Simon Sinek's work, start with why has been very transformative for many people. And I'm interested and curious. What is your why? Let's think about starting there.

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And when you start with your why and you figure out what your why is, then you can kind of know what success looks like for you. If we don't start with our values and our purpose, we risk achieving all the wrong goals and hustling and pursuing with a lot of time and effort and blood and sweat and tears and maybe agonizing late nights to work for a success that isn't really our own version or definition of it. So let's go global again for a minute. In Scandinavian cultures, which I just mentioned, I was in Denmark, success is closely linked, linked to balance and sustainability. Work life balance isn't an afterthought.

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It's part of the success equation. And not that work life complete balance is really achievable, but that you're looking for just happiness in both realms where there's. You're able to show up as person of well being in those different spaces that are important to you. In India, traditional values emphasize more of a collective success and how your family, your community, and your spiritual practice actually thrive as a part of that success. In African Ubuntu philosophy, the idea is am because we are, I am because we are.

00:14:07
Success is interdependent, built through community, well being and shared resilience. Even here in the United States, we're seeing a bit of a cultural shift. So the Great Resignation, which has now kind of formed into the Great Reshuffle not long ago and the rise of digital nomads, are indicators that people are rejecting outdated definitions of success. They're saying, I want more freedom, more fulfillment and more flexibility. I really love seeing that because it's a movement toward defining success on your own terms.

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So here's my question for you. What does success look like in your culture, in your story, in this season of your life? It's okay if it changes and it's okay if it doesn't look like the highlight reels on Instagram or LinkedIn. And it's okay if it doesn't fit someone else's expectations too, because your definition of success is valid. And that's arguably the most important one, because it's your life.

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We get this one wild and meaningful life to do what we want to do with it, to make our own choices. We're in the driver's seat of our life and we get to say what success looks like for us and make decisions that lead us toward that success. You're allowed to say My success is peace of mind. My success is raising kind humans. My success is launching a social enterprise.

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My success is healing from trauma. For me, it's living by my values, on my own terms, with the freedom to choose my own path and helping others to do the same. Because when we live in alignment with our purpose, we don't just survive, we make a difference. I leave you with this quote by the great Maya Angelou. Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

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That's the kind of success I'm after. And I believe it's the kind of success that changes the world one life at a time. If this episode spoke to you, would you share it with five friends who are redefining success in their own life? Maybe they're in a career pivot. Maybe you want to recommend the master your career pivot course.

00:16:12
That's@loriadamsbrown.com careerpivot or maybe it's just somebody that you want to talk with about this conversation because you're realizing you've been following someone else's success for you and it's time that you sat down and figured out what your why is. And sometimes the best person to figure that out with you are those that you really care about. Your loved ones, your friends, your family. Those that know you best. So send this episode to five people that you think would want to hear it and have a little conversation with each other about what success looks like for each of you.

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And I'd love to hear what you came out with. I'd also love to hear your thoughts about how you define success. So tag me on Instagram oreadamsbrown or join the conversation at our World of Difference community on Patreon. If you go to patreon.com aworldo difference, you'll find us there. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss one of these episodes where we are having conversations to help us be more authentic as leaders all around the world in different industries making a difference.

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So subscribe today and let's keep making a world of difference by living out our own definitions of success together. I'm Laurie Adams Brown and I'll see you in the next episode. Before we go, I just want to take a moment to thank thank you. Yes, you. The fact that you're here, tuning in, leaning into these conversations and doing the hard and beautiful work of making a difference in this world, it means everything to me in this episode.

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If it spoke to you, if it brought you healing, hope, or even just a new perspective. I'd love for you to help us spread the word. Subscribe to the podcast, leave us a review, and share this episode with someone you think might need to hear it. Your support helps this community grow and also helps us to keep having these important conversations. You are such a vital part of this journey.

00:17:58
And every time you listen, every time you share, you remind me of why we do this. Because you are out there making a difference in your own beautiful, messy, and imperfect way. And that that matters more than you know. So thank you for being here, thank you for showing up, and thank you for making the world a little brighter, a little kinder, and a little more whole. Until next time, take care of yourself and keep making a difference.

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