“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” -Jesus of Nazareth 

One of the problems with modern economics centers on what defines success. And that definition largely revolves around what gets measured, namely, productivity and profit. More production and profit equates to more success.

But there’s a problem here, and to get to that problem, we must first look at what an economy is and what success means.

An economy is a network of trade characterized by production, transaction, and consumption. And we trade because no individual, family, or group has all the things needed to achieve everything in life, so individuals, families, and groups enlist others for their products, services, or expertise. And to repay the contribution of those others, they are offered something in trade.

It’s something humans have done for ages and is critical to how we’ve been able to thrive. 

The key here, though, is that it’s not so much about profiting as it is providing … for the needs of all those involved. An economy, therefore, is really more about well-being, not wealth. 

What about success?

Success is about achievement or accomplishment of something or finding the solution to a problem. It’s about reaching goals and fixing things.

However, this is problematic. This view of success leaves out impact. There is no sense of who or what the accomplishments benefit. In my experience, when something has been achieved, rarely is it solely about the achiever. When a faucet gets fixed, it’s not just for the fixer; it’s for anyone who uses the faucet. When a sales target has been reached, it’s not just about the seller; it’s also about the buyers and the company. There is, even when it’s not overt, typically some influence on a greater good.

Now, with that thinking, we can improve the definition of success to the achievement or accomplishment of something or finding the solution to a problem that, by extension, has an impact on a greater good. And that greater good can be family, friends, the community, or even the world.

So, one could surmise that a successful economy is one that, through cooperation and contribution, solves problems and leads to a better life for all the participants in that economy.  

But modern economics has warped that. In today’s parlance, we equate a successful economy with gain instead of contribution, and we rarely include the impact. A business that makes a fortune with a product that makes people sick is counted as successful while a company that merely breaks even with a product that helps people is seen as unsuccessful. 

When a negative result is seen as successful while a beneficial result is not simply because it didn’t create a gain for itself, we have, it would seem, missed the point of an economy. 

But what if that changed? What if we redefined success? What if success became how much a business or individual contributes to improving well-being? Then what would we be trying to do? 

Instead of seeking to increase profits by creating more products or adding features no one really needs, we might be producing things that solve problems and improve life—something everyone needs. Our focus would be on people and planet, not bank accounts. 

And how does that begin? By measuring differently, by calculating how much we’ve helped the world rather than how much we’ve helped ourselves. 

That would be a healthy economy—a humane economy. One that adds to life rather than one that extracts from it. That’s the economy that we need. 

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