What is your top tip to be successful in life?
My top tip for being successful in life is simple: character outlasts achievement.
We live in a world that measures success by what can be counted, announced, awarded, or displayed. Titles, income, influence, publications, prizes, and recognition all have their place. Achievement matters. Good work matters. Excellence matters. But achievement by itself is not enough. We should aspire to become the kind of people who can be trusted with success.
I have often used the quote attributed to Billy Graham: “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” The point is not that wealth and health are unimportant. It is that success without character eventually hollows out. It may look impressive from the outside, but something essential has gone missing.
Australia has had many people whose lives remind us of this. This month, Australia mourned the death of Professor Richard Scolyer. His scientific achievements were extraordinary. Alongside Professor Georgina Long, he helped transform the treatment of melanoma and brought hope to patients who would once have had far fewer options. Jointly, they were acknowledged as 2024 Australians of the Year.
What moved people was not only the scale of his achievement. It was the character with which he carried it. When he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, he allowed even his own illness to become part of the search for better treatment. He used his diagnosis, his public voice, and his remaining time in the service of others. That is courage without self-pity, brilliance without vanity, and suffering turned outward in hope.
An Open Letter released on his death pays tribute tom his depth of character
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-08/professor-richard-scolyer-open-letter-death-cancer/106741140
Most of us will not transform cancer treatment or be remembered publicly. But the question remains: what kind of person are we becoming? Success is not only measured by what we build, earn, publish, win, or lead. It is measured by whether our achievements make us more generous, truthful, courageous, and useful. Achievement may open doors. Character determines what we do once we walk through them.
The Afterword 
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