The Greatness Guide (3) by Robin Sharma

Nothing fails like success:

Richard Carrion, the CEO of Puerto Rico’s top bank, once
shared a line with me that I’ll never forget: “Robin, nothing
fails like success.” Powerful thought. You, as well as your organi-
zation, are most vulnerable when you are most successful. Suc-
cess actually breeds complacency, ineffi ciency and—worst of
all—arrogance. When people and businesses get really success-
ful, they often fall in love with themselves. They stop innovating,
working hard, taking risks and begin to rest on their laurels.
They go on the defensive, spending their energy protecting
their success rather than staying true to the very things that got
them to the top. Whenever I share this point with a roomful of
CEOs, every single one of them nods in agreement. Please let
me give you a real-world example from my own life.
This past weekend, I took my kids to our favorite Italian
restaurant. The food is incredible there. The best bresaola out-
side of Italy. Heavenly pasta. Super foamy lattes that make me
want to give up my job and become a barista. But the service at
this place is bad. Bad, bad, bad (like it is at most places). Why?
Because the place is always full. And because they are doing so
well, they’ve taken the lines out front for granted. And guess
what? It’s the beginning of their end.
I love taking pictures. My dad taught me to record the
journey of my life with photos. So I generally carry a little cam-
era around with me. I asked our server if she would snap a pic-
ture of my children and me as we dug into our spaghetti. “I
don’t have time” was the curt reply. Unbelievable. Too busy to
take fi ve seconds to keep a customer happy. Too busy to help
out a little. Too busy to show some humanity.
The more successful you and your
organization become, the more humble and devoted
to your customers you need to be.
“Nothing fails like success.” Richard Carrion gets it. So
does David Neeleman, the CEO of JetBlue, who observed:
“When you’re making money and good margins, you tend to
get sloppy.” Many CEOs don’t. The more successful you and
your organization become, the more humble and devoted to
your customers you need to be. The more committed to effi -
ciency and relentless improvement you need to be. The faster
you need to play. The more value you need to add. Because the
moment you stop doing the very things that got you to the top
of the mountain is the very moment you begin the slide down
to the valley.