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iQuestions Faculty, Pat Gelsinger 
 
 
Question: 
 
What is the difference between success and significance? Which is 
more important? 
 
Answer:  
 
The idea of success verses significance, and which is more important?  
 
When I think about those two, I think about success as how people will 
measure you today: “Oh, he’s a vice president. Wow.” I think about 
significance as how people will measure you in the future: “Will the 
things you have done really last?”  
 
Which is more important? Clearly, significance—to make an impact on 
the lives of people that will last for years or decades to come. Those 
are the things that really matter. 
 
For me, when I began my career, I was so focused on success, I was 
loving my job, I was getting promoted—you know, all this positive 
feedback in the workplace. I was so focused on success. And then I 
started to realize that I couldn’t be more successful without also 
addressing relationships. What are relationships about? They are about 
people, changing people’s lives, impacting them, and having 
relationships that will carry on for years, decades, or even into 
eternity. 
 
Which is more important? Significance.  
 
Which is more induce-ive? Success. 
 
 
 
It’s hard to keep the two in balance, but significance is far more 
important for the future.  
Gelsinger -2- 
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