This sentence sum up your entire post. When I was reading the sentence, I expected it to end “the need to survive.” A focus to make enough money to survive could hardly be deemed blameworthy as long as it does not involve depriving another person of his or her own need to survive (e.g., killing to appropriate another’s property). Success beyond survival, however, I take to be a desire rather than a need because success is for all intents and purposes unlimited. Maintaining a competitive focus as justified by a desire (rather than a need) seems less legitimate to me, and I suspect you would agree with me. I think by “need to succeed” you mean “need to survive”…and I suspect you would add “in the marketplace.” I would not be surprised if many people in business project their desire for “still more” onto their survival needs (as if the latter justified their competitive focus at the expense of ethics and compassion (I’m thinking of Karen Armstrong’s thesis here)in going on from what is necessary for survival. That is, I suspect a slippery slope is being taken advantage of in business.

Beautifully written, and I too would like to encourage the concepts of morality and integrity in all parts of life including business. Bob Hallock