The Common Denominator of Success

Is it possible to derive a path to success by dissecting the actions and traits of those who have already achieved such success?

That is exactly what the article ‘The Common Denominator of Success’ attempts to do, and this blog will dive further into how this relates to you - in the realm of Business, Consulting, Coaching or Advisory.

What is The Common Denominator of Success?

The Common Denominator of Success is a piece of inspirational literature by Albert E.N. Gray. Originally written when Gray was working in sales development and as a sales instructor for the Prudential Insurance Company in 1940, it is now a timeless article widely shared in the insurance industry.

The principles found in The Common Denominator of Success are applicable to any individual or organization wanting to exceed mediocrity and achieve success. We find this particularly useful for Business Consultants, Coaches, and Advisors themselves - as well as for the companies and individuals they work with.

Success in a nutshell

The essence of the article is distilled by this single quote:

“The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do.”
- Albert E.N. Gray

The Department of Design at California State University Sacramento (CSUS) have their own adaptation of the Common Denominator of Success - for the purpose of informing their students what they need to know in order to achieve a high level of success in the context of their University Education in Graphic Design.

This interpretation updates and streamlines some of the languages and principles in a way that can be easily understood in 2022. It then categorizes the most important points into areas to focus one’s effort - which is most useful to implement the wisdom contained within the original text.

Main Points

The main points are categorised below:

Purpose
When Top [Performers] Slump
It’s Not Enough
Habit Is The Key

Purpose

The adaptation of Purpose is broken down into the following key areas:

You Have A Purpose
What Is One’s purpose?
Wants Or Needs?
Make Your Purpose Based Upon Wants

You can find the entire CSUS adaptation here.

The Common Denominator of Success in Business Consulting

Using the term Business Consulting, I am broadly covering the field of Business, Advice, Consulting and Coaching as they are intertwined in the world of high-performing Business Professionals. We will now look to draw comparisons between the original text, CSUS’s adaptation and the world of Business Consulting.

The formed habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do

“The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do.”

Interpretation

The things that others don’t like to do are the very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful Business Consultants, naturally don’t like to do. In other words, we’ve got to realize right from the start that success is something which is achieved by the minority of people and is therefore unnatural and is not achieved by following what we normally like and don't like, nor by being guided by natural preferences and prejudices.

Perhaps you have been discouraged by a feeling that you were born to dislike parts of your role, which successful Business Consultants do not. Perhaps you have wondered why it is that our Business ConsultX Network Members seem to like to do things that you don’t like to do. They don’t! And I think this is the most encouraging statement I have ever offered to a group of Business Consultants.

But if they don’t like to do these things, then why do they do them? Because successful Business Consultants do things they do not like to do, they are able to achieve their goals. They are not influenced by how they reach these goals, but rather by the results they can obtain. Successful Business Consultants are influenced by the desire for pleasing results. Others are influenced by the desire for pleasing methods and are inclined to be satisfied with such results as can be obtained by doing things they like to do.

Examples in the world of Business Consulting

There is a huge range of tasks in the role of being a Business Consultant - and the distastes vary from person to person. Here are common things that we hear and see as being what many don’t like to do but become the differentiators of success.

Discussing fees and payment
Networking
Talking to leads and prospective clients
Making group presentations
Asking for discovery meetings

After being in the network for over 4 years - I’ve talked to the top performers and can confirm that they don’t always like to do some of these things, but they do it anyway. They know it is simply part of the path to success.

Purpose

Why are successful Business Consultants able to do things they don’t like to do while others are not? Because successful Business Consultants have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don’t like to do.

Many thought leaders and philosophers have echoed a similar ethos. Simon Sinek tells us to “Start with Why” and Frederick Nietzsche famously stated “He who has a Why can endure any How.”

All of these quotes serve to remind us that we must have a strong underlying reason or purpose in order to drive us to out of our comfort zone and toward success.

When acquiring clients, it is pertinent to find out the purpose for the individual going into business. Often the original vision has been lost over the years, however a refocus and plan built around achieving the purpose will make for an incredibly compelling reason to sign up to your program.

When Top Performers Slump

Sometimes even our best Business Consultants get into a slump. When a person goes into a slump, it simply means he/she has reached a point at which, for the time being, the things he/she doesn’t like to do have become more important than the reasons for doing them.

In the same manner, you may find a client fall into such a slump - or you may have to pull them out of one. May I suggest you focus on, and talk less about production and the more you talk about purpose.

Habit Is The Key

Now let’s see why habit belongs so importantly in this common denominator for success.

People are creatures of habit. Every single qualification for success is acquired through habit. People form habits and habits form futures. If you do not deliberately form good habits, then unconsciously you will form bad ones. You are the kind of person you are because you have formed the habit of being that kind of person. The only way you can change is through habit.

Perhaps you have attended professional training or education in the past and have determined to do things that would make you successful or more successful only to find your decision or determination waning at just the time when it should be put into effect or practice.

Here’s the answer. Any resolution or decision you make is simply a promise to yourself, which isn’t worth a nickel unless you have formed the habit of making and keeping that promise. And you won’t form the habit of making it and keeping it unless you link it with a definite purpose that can be accomplished by keeping it right at the beginning. In other words, any resolution or decision you make today has to be made again tomorrow, and the next day and the next, and so on. This decision not only has to be made each day, but it has to be kept each day, for if you miss one day in the making or the keeping of it, you have to go back and begin all over again. But if you continue the process of making it each morning and keeping it each day, you will finally wake up some morning a different person in a different world, and you will wonder what has happened to you and the world you used to live in.

The New Common Denominator of Success

Published in 2005, the new, updated and expanded version of the original text has been turned into a 43-page ‘pamphlet’.

At the time of publishing this blog, it has a 4.3 star rating on goodreads.com and is available for the astonishingly low price of $2.50 from Amazon.

Whether you’re going to order a physical copy of the new edition, or want to browse through the shorter PDF – it will be a great investment of your time and attention.