Welcome to the third issue of In Pursuit of Quality. I'm grateful for your time, your attention, and your willingness to share whatever resonates with you.
Today's focus is on what we're talking about when we talk about success. It's about the fuzzy notion of the "American Dream."
Those of us who grew up in the United States—and maybe those who didn't—have likely heard someone refer to this elusive dream. I had, but until recently I couldn't tell you where it came from or what it really meant.
James Truslow Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America, where he suggested that central to this country's founding is the idea that anyone can pursue their own personal definition of success. This ideal has lived on for nearly 100 years, representing the hopes and aspirations of many Americans.
But as the think tank Populace points out, the American Dream has come to mean that any person—regardless of background or social class—can achieve financial success.1 This casts success solely as a Quantity argument. Yet it's a distorted version of what Adams originally meant when he wrote about it:
The American Dream … has not been a dream of merely material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been much more than that. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class.
This version resonates with me because it's not just about more stuff, Quantity. Adams shares the spotlight with better human outcomes, Quality, by suggesting that we all have the freedom to determine our personal goals and to pursue them according to our individual abilities.
So, here we are nearing the end of 2023. What do we think of the American Dream now? How do we define our own success? And what do we think success means to other people?
Populace recently released a research report called Misunderstanding the American Dream that's surprising as much as it is illuminating. They interviewed over 3,000 respondents using a private opinion survey to reveal what Americans prioritize most—and least—in a successful life. And, crucially, what they believe about other people's priorities. The findings are universally interesting, even if you don't call the U.S. home.
I'll focus here on a few key results that point to why we should all be in hot pursuit of Quality, not just Quantity.
Collective Illusions.
"Collective illusions" occur when most people in a group go along with an idea that they don't personally agree with because they incorrectly believe that most other people in the group agree with it. These illusions are far more widespread than you'd think. Populace tested 61 attributes related to success and the American Dream, and they found that more than half had a gap of at least 20 ranks between how Americans prioritize them and how they think most other Americans prioritize those same attributes.
This figure highlights the top ten attributes that we believe other people think are important (Perceived Societal; the bluish bars). The results are compared with how we personally rank those same attributes (Personal; the red bars). Yes, you're reading that right: "Is rich" ranks 45—out of 61 attributes—personally, yet we think other Americans rank wealth as the single most important indicator of success! Owning a lot of luxury items is at the dead bottom of what success means to us. But we think others view it as the second-best component of success.
So, we are flat out wrong about how most other Americans define success. We believe other people care about being rich, famous, educated, and popular on social media. But none of those things are personally important to us.
We thoughtlessly pursue Quantity (because we think we're supposed to), but what we really want is Quality.
Character > Status.
If it's not about being rich and famous, what actually does matter to us? Turns out that when defining personal success, Americans overwhelmingly emphasize character over status.
In these figures, the Standardized SOP values on the right indicate how much higher or lower each attribute is ranked compared to the average attribute. For example, having a purpose in life has a share of preference around 1, highlighting that we prioritize it roughly a full standard deviation higher than the average success attribute.
The key thing to take away here is social standing matters far less than the kind of person we are. We think other Americans prioritize Quantity—status, influence, fame—when what we truly all want is Quality—purpose, ethics, authenticity, kindness.
In many cases we're chasing what we think matters to other people, not what matters to us. But we have a choice not to do that. What truly matters to you? Are your beliefs reflected in how you live and work?
Our opportunity is to live for the Quality we're looking for, not the shallow Quantity that's been heralded as "success" for far too long.
Connection Matters.
Fostering connection and building community are core to my personal values. Turns out, I'm not alone. We really care about other people. But collective illusions lead us to think that other Americans don't care that much at all.
Doing work that has a positive impact on other people, becoming a parent, and being someone who is enjoyable to be around, all rank in the top-ten (#1, #4, #7, respectively) of what's personally important to us. Yet each of these rank in the bottom half of what we believe other Americans think (#32, #37, #38, respectively). This seems crazy to me. We personally have regard for others, but we (incorrectly) believe that most other people don't.
I'm bummed by this! Why do we systematically undervalue the importance of doing work that positively impacts others? Collective illusions are at play here. We care so much about Quantity—because we think other Americans care about it—that we underestimate the power of pursuing Quality outcomes.
This all feels like a huge missed opportunity. We can choose to go after the things that really matter to us in life. And guess what? Other people want Quality, too, even if we don't think other people do. We can make choices aligned to our subjective values, not for perceived societal status.
And maybe this is how we start to reclaim the intended notion of the American Dream—no matter who you are, no matter where you call home.
Which leads me to a final question: What's going on here?!
Why do we think other people care more about material Quantity than we do? I have a few hypotheses. But I'm even more curious to hear what you think.
With warmth, gratitude, and respect.
Full disclosure: I’m currently a consultant for Populace.
Excellent article! In college I studied the works of Michel Foucault, who argues (less quantitatively) that much of the development of American standards and traditions were similarly driven by perceptions of quantity that were out-of-touch with reality; one aspect he captures well that is more about quality is the sense of safety and aversion of fears (which you addressed in an earlier article). Fun to think about these concepts again, and in the quantitative terms you share here.
Love the quantitative analysis of what we perceive vs what we actually believe. I binged watched The Fall of the House of Usher which is a fantastic illustration of the Pursuit of the American Dream and the deals and consequences we are willing to wager to get what we think is valuable. The story always ends the same because we are not collectively minded (externally) about the power structures we reinforce everyday.