How should success be defined, and can anyone be successful?  Business consultant Rick Houcek responds with an affirmative yes, believing that everyone in the U.S. is created equally, but recognizing that conditions can be different and unequal.  Houcek makes the argument that if you grow up in an environment of poverty, crime and lack of parental/adult guidance, that does not mean you are destined to live in those conditions your entire life.  Those impediments make achieving success more difficult, but they do not eliminate the possibility of being successful.  Houcek points out there are millions of people who grew up in adverse conditions and succeed greatly.  Oprah and Ralph Lauren are two famous examples.  

What’s luck got to do with success?  Not a lot, claims Houcek.  Instead, he points to winning behaviors such as intense drive, life purpose, focused goals, plans of action, grit, determination, effort, overcoming obstacles, unjust criticism, persistence and on and on. As Thomas Jefferson noted, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” 

Winning behaviors are personal choices that have nothing to do with luck or birth.  There are millions of people who were born with advantages who lose them because they did not have to work for them or struggle.  That helps to explain why the percentage of third generation family businesses that remain viable is 12%, and that number falls to 3% when the business transitions to the fourth generation of family members. Once you become successful, continued success is not guaranteed.  It requires a continued commitment to the winning behaviors Houcek identified every day of the week, every month and every year.  Success can be fleeting, elusive and uncaring.  “Get sloppy and let your guard down – you’ll pay a price,” Houcek observes.  Success is never guaranteed.  

Most DPHA members run successful businesses, and part of the reason for their success involves an unbridled commitment to winning behaviors, including taking advantage of the industry’s most successful practices, keeping their fingers on the pulse of developments and having a network of peers who are industry leaders.  Do you need additional reasons to attend the DPHA Annual Conference in Seattle?