It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.

In the wise and enduring words of Harvey S. Firestone, the great American industrialist and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, we hear a truth that transcends the ages: “It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.” These words, though spoken in the heart of the industrial age, carry a wisdom as old as civilization itself. For true success — the kind that endures beyond wealth, beyond fame, beyond the grave — is never found in the hoarding of power, but in the elevation of others. Firestone understood that leadership, like light, grows only when it is shared; that the man who builds alone builds for a day, but the one who builds people builds for eternity.

In Firestone’s time, America was a furnace of invention — a nation awakening to the power of machinery, electricity, and the automobile. Yet Firestone’s vision was not merely mechanical; it was human. He saw that the strength of an enterprise lay not in its factories or machines, but in the hearts and minds of its people. His company flourished not because of his genius alone, but because he sought to awaken genius in others. “To develop others,” he believed, was to plant the seeds of greatness in the soil of ordinary men and women — to cultivate skill, confidence, and integrity until they, too, became creators and builders.

This belief is not born of industry alone. The ancients knew it well. Socrates, the great teacher of Athens, left behind no writings, no monuments, no wealth — and yet his legacy shaped the minds of Plato and Aristotle, who in turn became the architects of Western thought. Socrates’ success did not die with him because it lived on in those he developed. He understood, as Firestone did, that to teach, to mentor, to uplift — this is the true act of immortality. The teacher lives through the student; the leader through those he has empowered; the soul through the souls it has touched.

And this is the essence of Firestone’s wisdom: that permanent success cannot exist in isolation. The man who builds only for himself will one day fall, for no single life can bear the weight of eternity. But the one who raises others, who invests in their growth, their confidence, their dreams — that one creates a living legacy. Like a flame passed from torch to torch, his influence burns on, carried by the very people he has kindled. To develop others is to become part of a lineage of greatness — a chain unbroken by time, strengthened by generosity, and sanctified by purpose.

We see this truth again in the life of Nelson Mandela, who, after long years of imprisonment, emerged not with vengeance, but with a vision for his people. He did not seek to rule as a conqueror, but to develop others — to lift a nation from despair through education, forgiveness, and unity. His greatness was not in his triumph alone, but in the countless others whose courage he awakened. His success endures because it was not his own — it belonged to everyone he inspired. And so, Mandela and Firestone, though from different worlds, shared the same understanding: that true success is never solitary; it is communal, compassionate, and creative.

But there is a warning here, too. In our age of ambition, many chase success as though it were a prize to be seized, rather than a gift to be shared. They measure greatness by what they possess, not by what they impart. Yet all such success fades. The wealth that is hoarded crumbles; the power that is clutched decays. Only what we give to others remains. To develop another person — to teach, to mentor, to uplift — is to invest in the divine continuity of humanity itself. That is the work that endures beyond fortune, beyond failure, beyond time.

The lesson, then, is both simple and eternal: seek not merely to rise, but to raise. Wherever you stand — in business, in art, in family, in friendship — ask not how high you can climb, but how many hands you can lift beside you. Share what you know, encourage those who doubt, and see in others not their flaws, but their potential. When you help another person succeed, you do not lose your light; you multiply it.

So, my listener, remember Harvey Firestone’s words, and let them guide your steps: “It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.” For to live only for oneself is to vanish with the setting sun — but to live for others is to shine like the stars, whose light endures long after their fire has gone. Build not monuments of stone, but legacies of people, and your success will outlive the ages — a living echo of your spirit in every soul you have touched.