The study seeks to understand what priorities Americans privately value and would be willing to make tradeoffs for in order to achieve professional success. Comparing that personal perspective with what Americans think most people uphold as emblematic of professional success suggests the degree to which social pressure acts as an impeding headwind or a supportive tailwind in those personal pursuits.
The study, conducted for Glenfiddich by the If-Then Co., finds Americans’ personal aspirations for professional success are characterized by a richness of relationships, strong community ties, and a focus on personal well-being. However, Americans simultaneously believe that most people in society characterize professional success as flatly equating to markers of money and status.
But the study also finds that Americans believe society devalues what matters most to then. So, Americans likely feel ” a heightened sense of social pressure to pursue professional goals they do not privately aspire to.”
The highest ranking 25% of attributes driving the personal definition of professional success skew to prioritize what lies beyond the workplace. These priorities are characterized by a richness of relationships, strong community ties, and a focus on personal well-being. Note the two foremost contributors to Americans’ personal definition of professional success: “Prioritizes quality time with family” (#1 personal) and “Is in a loving relationship” (#2 personal). Their outsized importance is reflected in their disproportionately large share of preference.
The highest ranking 25% of attributes driving the perceived societal definition of professional success cluster around markers of money and status. Just as there were two outsized contributors to the personal definition, there are two disproportionate contributors to the perceived societal definition. The respective SOPs of “Is famous” (#1 perceived societal) and “Earns enough to be extremely wealthy” (#2 perceived societal) are each accorded more than double the importance of even the third highest performing attribute in the perceived societal definition.
The study finds that when it comes to work itself, fulfillment and enjoyment are far more important than is genuinely believed.
Equally important to understanding what Americans prioritize in professional success is what they actively deprioritize. These bottom-ranking attributes represent what individuals are willing to forego — or what they believe most people in society are willing to forego — in pursuit of other ends.
The study finds that seven attributes appearing in the personal definition’s bottom performing 25% actually appear in the perceived societal definition’s highest performing 25%. Similarly, six attributes appearing in the perceived societal definition’s bottom performing 25% appear in the personal definition’s highest performing 25%.
It finds Americans actively deprioritize outward-facing markers of status (e.g., wealth, fame) as features of their personal definition of professional success. A full ten of the bottom-ranked fifteen attributes explicitly speak to material consumption and/or shows of elitism and comparative influence.
In releasing the study, Glenfiddich also introduced the Glenfiddich #Richest25, which spotlights 20 individuals from across the United States who broaden the definition of wealth by reimagining its true meaning. Glenfiddich opened up the final five spots for nominations by anyone via Glenfiddich.com/richest25.