How does one’s perception of success influence his decision?

In this ever-changing society, one’s decision is determined by one’s perception of success. However, the definition of success has evolved into many different ways. In general, our society is becoming one huge enterprise that is controlled by a puppeteer – the bureaucracy, where we man are the puppets who are slogging our lives away to help the economy flourish. Unknowingly, the blue and white-collar workers who are seeking for success have become economic puppets as they climb up the social ladder. Therefore, it is important today for one to succeed through pursuing happiness in what we do than conforming to what the society want us to be.

To be promoted or to fall behind is not only a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-esteem, where one tries to prove himself worthy in this competitive world. This constant need to prove that one is as good or better than one’s fellow competitor also creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness. Therefore, many problems have arisen, where businessmen become more ruthless in their business tactics and compromise the ethical and moral values. Therefore, resulting in a clash between business and ethics. An April 30, 2010, report by World Health Organisation issued a warning about the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry, where the companies’ main motivation was to make money than putting the patients welfare interest first. When a company develops a new formula or discover a new type of medicine, they usually do not wish to share it with other companies as they have spent a lot of money on the research and development of it and have not reap enough to cover their cost. This company will get a patent for their product, in order to prevent people from copying and selling the product. They tend to sell the product at a higher price, as the patent only usually last for fifty to a hundred years before it expires and their competitors starts selling the same product and driving the prices down. These leads to exploitation of consumers’ welfare as they act as a monopoly to raise price and profits, which may result in the poor not being able to afford this product even when they are sick. Patients may be use as guinea pigs in the process of research and development of the products too, in order to develop the best medicine. However, at times patients may be sacrificed as some problems may arise in the development of the medicine, resulting in the lost of precious life for the sake of money. Therefore, these companies who are hungry for success have sacrificed ethical and moral values, in order to boost their business revenue.

There are also enterprises such as McDonald who associates themselves with charity, as every happy meal bought, one cent is being donated to the McDonald’s Children Charity Fund in Singapore. However, it is still questionable, as it may also be a business strategy to gain recognition by the consumers that their business is also helping the less fortunate, in order to increase business profits.

In comparison, trying to succeed through pursuing happiness in what we do can make our road to success an easier one. An example would be Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, an English comedian and actor, who had attended Newcastle University and Oxford University and even attained degrees in electrical engineering. However, he was not interested in being an engineer but pursued his dream of becoming an actor and even made it into the 50 funniest actor in British comedy. By doing what he likes makes his work an enjoyable than mundane one. Therefore, it is important to succeed through the pursuit of happiness.

In conclusion, we should transform our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man are the full development of his potentialities.