Championship NBA Coach Pat Riley described the corrosive effect of success. In his book “Showtime,” Riley unveiled “the disease of more” and argued that “success is often the first step toward disaster.”
According to Riley, after the 1980 Lakers won the championship, everyone shifted into a more selfish mode:
“They had sublimated their respective games to win as a group; now they wanted to reap the rewards as individuals, even if those rewards meant having to spend way too much time at Jack Nicholson’s house. Everyone wanted more money, playing time and recognition. Eventually they lost perspective and stopped doing the little things that make teams win and keep winning, eventually imploding in the first round of the postseason. So much for defending the title.”
You don’t have to win an NBA Championship to be successful. The disease of more can strike any of us, especially in an affluent and competitive culture like ours.
I can definitely feel the pull toward more.
And it isn’t just about greed. It’s about what happens after a win. When the internal story shifts from stewardship to entitlement, from mission to reward, from we to me… you’re at risk. It’s a quick path to wrecking your business alignment.
The Disease of More Affects Business Alignment
Here’s how the disease of more tends to show up through the lens of the 7 D’s:
- Destiny. The vision gets diluted by shiny opportunities. The question shifts from “What are we building?” to “What else can we add?”
- DNA. Your culture shifts into a transactional mode. Team members (that includes you) want more credit, more status, more “my lane,” and less shared sacrifice.
- Decisions. Small tradeoffs get rationalized. Short-term convenience beats long-term integrity.
- Data. Scoreboards get distorted. Vanity metrics replace meaningful health metrics.
- Design. Roles and incentives drift toward individual optimization instead of shared outcomes.
- Delegation. Control tightens and blame spreads. Leaders either hoard the big stuff or offload the hard stuff.
- Delight. The little things are the first to go. Craft, care, follow-through, responsiveness, and human warmth suffer.
It sneaks up on you. It’ll show up dressed as ambition, strategy, and growth.
A Cure for the Disease of More
Here’s one prescription for the “disease of more” that you probably won’t read about in any business book.
Have you ever seen a grown man grateful?
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a grown man express deep, heart-felt gratitude. I was 10 years old and it shook me. That wasn’t normal in my world. Grown men didn’t express real, authentic gratitude. My friend Ron was different. He was GRATEFUL.
Not only for the big things, but all the little things too and for people. He would express this at every turn, whether thanking you for a kindness or the gratitude he felt while enjoying a beautiful vista on a hike, or gratitude for the granola we were eating on that hike.
He would regularly pull over while we were driving, to point out something amazing and express awe, wonder, and gratitude like two bald eagles flying at sunset, or a snow-peaked mountain in the distance.
Gratitude in Business
Think of “thankful” as a feeling, and “gratitude” as an action. You express gratitude. You give gratitude.
People who are “ungrateful” are often called “ingrates.”
Gratitude changes both the giver and the receiver (it’s infectious!). Gratitude never runs out (there’s an endless supply available!). Gratitude automatically puts us in a posture of humility. Gratitude gives us clarity – around what’s most important, and about what we have. Gratitude is a muscle we can exercise just like any other muscle. Gratitude can become an ingrained habit. Gratitude takes practice.
And here’s the part I love: gratitude is one of the fastest ways to realign the 7 D’s without turning your life into a self-improvement project.
- It restores Destiny by re-centering what matters.
- It strengthens DNA by making honor and appreciation normal.
- It improves Decisions by pulling you out of scarcity and impulse.
- It upgrades Delegation because grateful leaders trust people more—and control less.
- It deepens Delight because you start noticing (and reinforcing) the “little things” again.
How to Harness the Power of Gratitude in Your Business (and Your Life)
- Write thank-you notes (handwritten). This develops a “gratitude radar.” You start seeing contributions you would have blown past.
- Thank the chef. If you enjoy a meal (home or restaurant) tell the person who made it. Simple. Human.
- Start meetings with a Gratitude Moment. We do this in most team meetings and 1:1’s. It centers people fast and changes the tone of the whole room.
- Bookend the day with gratitude. On my best days I thank God for life when I wake up. For years our family has ended the day with “a thankful.” Each person shares one gratitude from the day.
The Disease of More is No Match for Gratitude
Gratitude is never done, and we can be endlessly creative about what we’re grateful for. For example, this guy A.J. Jacobs sat down one morning to enjoy a nice cup of his favorite hot coffee.
He started thinking and realized that the cup of coffee he was drinking came as a result of many people working hard and diligently.
- There was the person who grew the coffee and supplied the seeds to the farmer.
- There was the delivery person, the roaster, and the individual who made the burlap sacks for transport.
- There was the barista and the person who made the coffee machine.
In all, Jacobs found over 1,000 different roles would have been responsible for him enjoying that cup of morning joe. He felt thankful, but he didn’t stop there. He decided to try to personally express his gratitude to each individual in that chain. He did that and wrote a book about it called Thanks a Thousand.
You don’t have to write a book about it, but look for opportunities to be more grateful in your life and your business.
Where might you begin to strengthen your gratitude muscles, begin to develop habits of gratitude, and start spreading the infectious joy that gratitude brings to us and those around us?
