Life, Work, Success and Happiness According to Richard Branson

: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 15 November 2012; Hits: 4921

What’s the best measurement for success? Happiness, says Richard Branson

“How happy are you? How much has your company grossed this quarter?

Which question is more important to you? If you are more concerned about the latter, then one suspects the answer to the former is not going to be very positive.

With this in mind, I was delighted to hear the Bhutanese have introduced a Minister for Happiness.

This Himalayan kingdom has a new measurement of national prosperity too – “gross national happiness”. By focussing on people’s well-being rather than economic productivity, there is likely to be a knock-on effect for business too. After all, a happy workforce makes for a more successful and productive team.

Success and money can contribute to happiness, but happiness itself is another thing altogether. Words like ‘family’, ‘friends’, ‘love’ and ‘laughter’ have a lot more to do with happiness than words like ‘gross’, ‘capital’ and ‘revenue’.

Money is a by-product of bigger, more meaningful goals such as passion, fun and wisdom. As I’ve said before, have fun, do good, and the money will come.”

To this, I say, Thank you, Sir Richard. May your words and wise advice be noted by Business Schools and MBA Programmes around the world! I am sure, if they had, then, perhaps our world would have been a better, kinder, and more harmonious place.

In support of Sir Richard’s remarks, as I had noted before: “From the dawn of our creation, our ultimate desire has been to find happiness. This desire is in the nature of things; it is common to all of us, at all times, and in all places. Nature, the material of the universe, is modified by us to create wealth so that this desire may be satisfied.

Today, at the dawn of the Third Millennium, our civilisation has scored its greatest successes in the material sciences. Our glory is the willing application of these achievements to daily life; they have brought us enormous benefits. However, in our understanding of the forces governing the relationships between people in society we have shown little aptitude. So tragic is this failure that we have turned the masterpieces of the material sciences into engines of destruction which threaten to annihilate the civilisation which produced them.

This is the challenge of our time: we must either find the way of truth in the government of our relationships one with another, or succumb to the results of our ignorance.”

Today, more than ever, wealth and power have become our conventional measures of success. We live in a world that makes people value themselves more and more singularly by their career highs and financial prowess.

These driven people see their lives flash by in fast living and fast cars, and most fail to realise they are missing the point of life. Is it more important to be highly “successful”, or to be a respected colleague and a valued friend, and a loving parent whose children grow up in a secure environment in which they know they are valued and treasured?

This is why I was so happy to read what Richard Branson has said: