Redefining Prosperity

What If Success Was Measured by How Little People Lacked?

An Onam reflection on abundance, ambition and the world we are building

Every year, Onam arrives with its familiar beauty.

The colours of the pookalam. The generosity of the sadya. Homes filling with family and conversation. Traditions returning to life.

But somewhere behind all that celebration is a story that has always fascinated me.

The story of Mahabali.

I grew up hearing about a king whose reign was remembered not because he accumulated extraordinary wealth, conquered the most territory or built the biggest kingdom.

He was remembered because his people prospered.

There was a sense of equality.

There was dignity.

There was abundance.

People felt cared for.

And centuries later, people still celebrate his return.

That made me think.

What kind of success makes people want you to come back?

We live in a world obsessed with MORE

More revenue...More followers..More customers...More productivity...More recognition...More market share...More growth.

More........

I work in the world of sales, where growth naturally matters. Businesses cannot survive without it. People need ambition. Organizations need performance. Progress needs aspiration.

I believe deeply in all of that.

But perhaps Onam gives us permission to ask a slightly uncomfortable question:

When does MORE become ENOUGH?

And more importantly:

Who gets to experience the abundance we create?

A company can have its best financial year while its people are exhausted. A salesperson can exceed target while losing the trust of customers. A leader can build an enormously successful organization while creating a culture people cannot wait to leave. A country can become wealthier while sections of society feel increasingly left behind. A person can accumulate everything they once wanted and still wonder why something feels missing.

Perhaps prosperity and accumulation were never the same thing.

The Mahabali paradox

There is something else about the story that I find particularly interesting.

Mahabali was powerful.

Successful.

Loved.

And yet the story ultimately confronts him with something every successful person eventually encounters:

ego.

Vamana asks him for three paces of land.

It appears insignificant. Mahabali agrees.

Then Vamana expands, covering the earth and heavens with two steps.

There is nowhere left for the third.

Mahabali offers his own head.

Whether we read this story literally, spiritually or metaphorically, there is something deeply human in that moment.

A man who possessed almost everything finally had to surrender himself.

Perhaps that is why the story has survived for generations.

Because success tests us in ways failure never can.

Failure asks:

Can you get back up?

Success asks:

Can you remain grounded when you no longer have to?

That second question may be harder.

I see a parallel in business

The higher people rise, the easier it becomes to become surrounded by agreement.

People hesitate to challenge the CEO.

Customers become numbers on dashboards.

Employees become resources.

Relationships become networks.

Conversations become transactions.

And gradually, without intending to, leaders can become further removed from the very people who helped create their success.

Perhaps leadership isn't demonstrated by how many people report to you.

Maybe it is revealed by how people feel around you when they have nothing to offer you.

Can they disagree?

Can they tell you something isn't working?

Can they admit a mistake?

Can they challenge your thinking?

Can they succeed without making you feel threatened?

Can they grow beyond you?

These questions rarely appear on a leadership dashboard.

Yet they may tell us more about leadership than many KPIs do.

And then there is the sadya...

Perhaps I am reading too much into a meal.

But I love what the Onam sadya represents. So many flavours coexist on one banana leaf.

Sweet.

Sour.

Spicy.

Mild.

Crunchy.

Soft.

Nothing needs to become something else to belong.

There is something beautiful about that.

We spend so much of organizational life trying to make people conform.

Think alike.

Communicate alike.

Work alike.

Lead alike.

Even sell alike.

Yet perhaps the strongest teams resemble a sadya more than a perfectly standardized recipe.

Different strengths.

Different perspectives.

Different personalities.

Different experiences.

Belonging without sameness.

That is a form of abundance too.

So this Onam, I am thinking differently about prosperity.

Not:

How much have I accumulated?

But:

What have I enabled?

Not:

How successful have I become?

But:

Who became more successful because I was part of their journey?

Not:

How many people know my name?

But:

How do people feel when they encounter it?

Not:

How much more do I need?

But perhaps, occasionally:

What is already enough?

For me, that may be one of the most beautiful messages hidden inside Onam.

We will continue to Aspire, Build, Sell, Lead, Grow, Create.

There is nothing wrong with wanting more from life.

But perhaps real prosperity begins when our growth creates abundance beyond ourselves.

And maybe the legacy worth building is not one where people remember how much we achieved.

It is one where, in some small way, people were better because we were there.

That is a definition of success worth returning to.

Happy Onam.