When it comes to success in business, we often focus on the external things that we feel will lead us there. There are things like strategy, budgets, tactics, goals, an emphasis on service, etc. that can take the business in the right direction. And while all of these things are necessary for accomplishing a great deal of work and may even lead to financial success, it’s a wonder that we still find ourselves not quite as happy as we would have liked.

And there is a very good reason that we find ourselves unfulfilled despite our material success: Leaders often ignore the key relationships that they need for true success; the relationship to the self, to time, to money, to friendship and to the unknown.

How leaders relate to these five dynamics of life drives their intention and motivation, and thus the outcome of their actions.

Our identities, time, money, friendship, and the unknown can be related to from either trust or fear. And for the most part, we often don’t...