What is success? It's an age old question that seems to be getting increasingly debated. The sports world of today expects immediate championship caliber results - but that discredits all the successes it takes to get to that point.
The overarching theme that has taken the sports world, and really society in general, is that if you're not winning then you're failing. We sell quicker than we can check the price tag. Whether it be student-athletes taking off to the transfer portal for the third straight year or team owners flipping house after one season.
Development is missing from today's world. I don't mean people don't develop at all, or that development isn't preached to and practiced by athletes. Anyone who has done anything with coaching knows that development is absolutely integral. As the internet grew, so did the need to know how you feel right away, and eventually the need to immediately perform arose - killing off the commitment to improving through development.
With that, teams and their fans expect a brand new system and a brand new group of people to be champions by the end of day one. Frankly, in my eyes anyone who values and allows for the time that it takes to develop and the time it takes a team to mesh together is more successful than the typical person.
You should adhere to what I'll call the Green Bay Packers strategy. Be a bench player or be a team that slowly improves before coming of age and performing at a quality level. Even with that development period, it'll take a little time to hit your stride.
The ability to exude that is a success in my eyes.
As for end results, so many people are not willing to accept being just a good and competitive team. People don't find a runner up or semifinal appearance as a success, despite being better than 95% of the playing field. People don't find the value in using every step up the staircase before finally getting to the top. And you know what? If the best you can/will ever do is finish second, fine. I'd rather be a consistent competitor who wins a lot of games than an absolute roller coaster of awful with sprinkles of good.