The Success Crisis: Why Misunderstanding Success is Destroying our Young Adults

Everyone loves to beat on the current young generation for their lack of work ethic and say they will never be “successful.” This is odd when you consider that the entire formal education system and culture is designed to and optimized to make people successful. What if learning to thrive – defined as owning your purpose, serving others through healthy relationships, and living with resilience – was far more important than becoming successful, defined as being rich, famous, and/or powerful? What if becoming successful actually runs directly against what is necessary to thrive? What if the happiness of success comes at the cost of the joy of thriving? What would we need to understand and do to equip our children to thrive instead of equipping them to be successful?