The Clifton Review

The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.

While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.

“Measurement Of My Success—How I Share Money”

By P.J. Malone

“My measurement of my success was not about how much money I made. I never really measured my success that way. I measure my success on what I could do and how I could share it.” Peter Nygard

It makes sense, doesn’t it? It makes sense that fashion mogul Peter Nygard strongly believes that the measure of his success is how much he shares his money.

This explains why he has donated 22 million dollars to cancer over the years. It explains why he has donated millions of dollars to various causes in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. It also explains why he has returned to the country of his birth, Finland and donated to the veteran causes there.

By his measurement, based on the millions of dollars Nygard has donated around the world he is pretty successful.

It is really interesting to note his perspective on money. For those of us who have never been there, never made millions of dollars, it is a bit difficult for us to compute the idea of giving away millions.

Nevertheless, Peter Nygard’s views on money and success are admirable.

For example, when he was twenty-six years old, he once told a reporter who wanted to know if he was aiming to become a millionaire by age thirty, “I don’t think about becoming a millionaire. I just think about doing a better job the next day.”

When asked about his next level goal in terms of the amount of millions he wanted to make, Nygard said, “The number itself is not so magical. Even the billion-dollar number is not that much different to us than when we were at $100 million. It’s just the next level.”

Additionally, he has said the following.

“For me, it was never about the toys. It’s about being the best. When I was at Eaton’s and I had to sweep the floors, I was going to be the best at it. All those toys came as a consequence. I never envisioned the plane, the boat, an island paradise. That was never important to me because I didn’t come from that lifestyle. I came from a little coal shack with an outhouse and no running water. For me, it was always about being the best at everything that I do.”

What does this tell us about Peter Nygard? It tells us where his focus is. He is focused on always being the best and that has brought about his success in terms of the millions that he has made.

However, to achieve the level of success that he has, obviously it’s not as simple as ‘being the best’. Nygard is quite strategic about it. He has said, “I’m going to find the guy who knows the most about it, who is the best at it, and be better than him.”

Now that approach will definitely take you to the summit of any endeavour. In addition to that approach though, Nygard has several characteristics that serve to give him an advantage over others without these characteristics.

Peter Nygard believes that nothing is impossible, that grit and determination will get you to your goal, that if 16-hour days are required, that’s what you do.

In everything he does he is the perfectionist because he wants to be the best; so he is always focused on continuous improvement. Nygard is also detail oriented and pays attention to the minute details of every single thing he works on.

Because of these attributes, his approach, and his attitude toward everything he does and achieves, it appears that financial success will always be inevitable.

And because of his kind-heartedness, success—in terms of his measurement of how much he shares his money—will always be ten-fold.