"We’ve Become Experts at Studying Success. Perhaps We Should Study Who Profits From It."

We celebrate the athlete, the singer, the actor. But who are we not talking about enough?

I was speaking to a business owner the other day. During our conversation, he mentioned they were looking at signing a well-known sports person as their brand ambassador. It wasn’t the sports person that caught my attention. It was the business decision behind it.

So, I started asking questions. “Why this person?” “Why spend that kind of money?” “What do you expect to get back from it?” The more we spoke, the more I realised something. No business spends millions of dollars just because they like someone. They do it because they believe that investment will bring back a much bigger return.

When I got home that evening, I found myself telling my kids about the conversation. Like most parents, I often talk to them about successful people. Athletes. Musicians. Actors. People who have worked incredibly hard to achieve what they have. But as I was talking to my kids, I found myself thinking about the business owner who was writing the cheque.

Who built the company that can afford to invest millions into someone else’s brand? Who built the business that makes this possible? Who saw an opportunity that most people never even think about?

I’m a big fan of Shark Tank, and over the years I’ve noticed more and more celebrities becoming business owners and investors. They first became famous because of what they were good at. But it seems many of them have realised that the real opportunity isn’t just in what they do. It’s in what they own.

Maybe that’s the lesson we don’t talk about enough. As parents, we naturally encourage our children to dream about becoming the athlete, the singer, the actor. But maybe we should also encourage them to become curious about the people behind those success stories.

Because while the spotlight shines brightest on the star… The biggest opportunities often belong to the people who built it, own it and know how to grow it.

We’ve become experts at studying success. Perhaps we should spend more time studying who profits from success.

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