Short-Term Success

“In 2002, General Motors determined to boost its share of the US automobile market to 29 percent, a position the company hadn’t held since 1999. The company was obsessed with the number. It offered crazy purchase incentives, such as zero-interest loans, to drive sales. Executives even started wearing lapel pins with the number 29 to keep the goal front and center. But they missed it. Why? GM blamed the competition, especially from South Korea. ‘If the competition would just play a little fairer, we could do it,’ one executive complained. But analysts said GM became so focused on the goal, the company undercut its own business to attain it. Because of reckless decisions made in pursuit of their goal, the company ended up bankrupt several years later and dependent on federal bailout dollars just to survive” (Michael Hyatt, Your Best Year Ever [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018], 158). Don’t chase short-term success. It will often short-circuit your goals in life.