The Success Triad - How to Level Up in Anything
On the path to success, our own actions are only part of the equation. There are a host of other factors to consider, which led me to come up with a more complete framework. This Success Triad has three legs:
Incentives, Systems, and Accountability.
Incentives are your reasons for doing something. They are your “why”, the driving force behind your actions, the destination of where you want to be. If you’re a student, you’re studying in college to get a good job. If you’re a professional, you’re trying hard at your job to get promoted. You want that promotion to get paid more or to achieve something, which you use the additional income to travel the world or to start a family. The achievement itself might make you feel fulfilled and give you a societal status boost.
Systems are plans, processes and organizations that get you there. Curriculums, companies, workout programs, economies and even marriages are systems. They are literally the steps, norms, rules, and games that we participate in to get to our incentives in a particular manner. For a System to be effective, it needs to have:
Clear rules and objectives.
Performance-based rewards.
Opportunities to perform rather than sitting on the sidelines or hitchhiking on others’ work.
Most importantly, it needs to be proven to lead to success.
Accountability are people and mechanisms that keep you motivated and on track. Let’s call this “Buddy” (after Accountability Buddy) for simplicity’s sake and because our accountability often comes in the form of other people. For accountability to be effective, your Buddy needs to:
Understand the system and metrics. Otherwise how would your Buddy differentiate between good and bad performance?
Be aligned with your incentives. Why else would they care enough to keep tabs on you?
Be able to push you. Not everyone’s cut out to be a coach or can give constructive criticism that points out your weaknesses without crushing your spirit.
If you have all three: strong incentives, effective systems, and responsible accountability, then there’s a high likelihood for you to make progress and become successful in your field. While you might be able to make do with just two or even one leg, your growth won’t be nearly as quick or robust as if you had all three parts of the “triad”. Here are some examples of the framework in practice.
Standing on Three Legs
Let’s analyze how my friend Brian, a successful tech executive, found the perfect System and Accountability to progress his Incentives. Here’s the context I described in Constraints Make Us Stronger:
“Brian works at Baidu, the Google of China, as the only US-facing business developer. His Chinese was horrendous when he first joined the company 4 years ago. Given that Mandarin is widely used in the company, his first few months were so tough that he felt like crying after every meeting. In other words, this was a huge constraint of ability.
In this challenging environment, something peculiar happened. Because it was his responsibility to send out followup emails to all the stakeholders, he had to pay close attention to everything that was being said. As a result, he was by far the most engaged person during meetings. In hindsight, it was precisely his lack of Mandarin ability that made him into such a deep listener. Today, Brian is one of Baidu’s best business guys who’s able to identify exact customer pain points and is regularly recognized for his ability to recall all the important details from client calls.
Constraints also come in the form of ambitious goals that you’re held accountable to. Baidu is a heavily Steel company that emphasizes revenue generation above all else. This means that he couldn’t just be fluffy with his pitches, for he had to build actual businesses that made money. There was no where to hide either because his strict boss always made him personally accountable to these revenue goals and pushed him to thoroughly understand how the advertising tech industry worked rather than just selling a vision. This ultimately makes him a much more competent and sought after professional in his field, paving the way for career progression both within Baidu and else where when he is ready to move on.”
In this instance, Brian’s Incentives are salary, career progression, and to learn the Chinese language and culture to become an East and West bridge, which improves future job prospects. The System, his company, proved to be highly effective because of its foreign environment and intense focus on revenue. It’s a tough place to work at, but its clear goals and recognition of high performers makes Baidu a fair and transparent environment. His boss also turned out to be the perfect Accountability Buddy since 1) she understands the System and in fact sets the performance metrics, 2) her incentives are closely aligned with Brian’s, and 3) she calls him out on his BS, constantly pushing him to innovate and execute. This is important because he is naturally, in his own words, “naturally lazy”. Therefore, he’d be slacking off without the extra shove.
While it’s tempting to look for a high paying job at a less stressful company, but if growth is one of Brian’s main objectives, then he needs to consider how Baidu as a System has challenged him and kept him accountable, and look for something similar in his next job.
Our Triad also applies to side hustles. One of my friends wants to quit his day job to go full time into game design - that’s his Incentive. His Systems are various design frameworks and existing games that serve as inspiration. His Accountability Buddy is his brother who 1) understands the System (and actually co-designs it), 2) has the same goals, and 3) as his editor, whose job is to look for flaws and give constructive feedback. All three conditions of the Success Triad are met, so it’s no wonder he’s improving quickly while having fun at the same time.
Can we use the Triad to propel our hobbies to the next level? My partner Olivia uses the same strategy to win bodybuilding competitions on top of her already packed workload as the only marketer at a 1,000-person company. Her incentives are to become the peak physical version of herself and, in the process, become a champion and role model for others suffering from bipolar disorder. Her System is a strict 28-week regimen of dieting and lifting. To keep herself accountable, she has three coaches for diet, physical training and posing respectively. All three coaches are 1) professionals who know the System inside out, 2) incentivized to keep her on track because a) they’re paid and b) having a champion as their client is great for advertising their own practice, and 3) great at pushing her to the gym or making her think twice about eating that extra chicken wing.
Chicken or the Egg?
It’s rare for anyone to land on all three legs right from the start - if you did, seriously, let me know how you did it! For us mortals, there’s usually a sequence to building our Triad. The most logical approach is to begin with your Incentives, find the most efficient System to reach them, then get some Buddies to keep you accountable.
This isn’t always the case, however, since life is a process of discovery rather than a fully logical and transparent game like chess. Life is more like poker, says Poker champion Annie Duke, because luck plays a big role and we don’t know all the moves beforehand. This means sometimes we might stumble upon the right people, say a mastermind group of millionaires or spiritual guru, who inspire new Incentives in us with their success, which in turn encourages us to adopt their System and make those same people our mentors and Accountability Buddies.
It doesn’t matter which leg of the Triad you begin with as long as you’re mindful of what you’re lacking and intentionally improve your position over time.
Will it still be hard even when you’re standing on all three legs?
You bet!
Yet despite the day-to-day friction and occasional complaining sessions, everyone that I’ve applied this framework to is much happier and more fulfilled than if they were just idly sitting back watching TV. Growth itself is a powerful motivator to continue growing. This tells us that it’s not necessarily hardships that prevent us from reaching our ideal selves, but rather we’re missing a leg or two of the Triad, and therefore crippling ourselves on the path to success.
This sounds like something we could mind map 😉 Maybe I’ll come up with a template for doing Success Triad audits in a future video!
