Success
Dr. Adizes has a broader definition for success than what we may be comfortable with. The style we are most familiar with falls in line with the statement given by Earl Nightingale, founder of the Nightingale/Conant empire, "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal."
Dr. Adizes says that success can be laying around letting lint collect in your bellybutton, which is implying the idea of attaining freedom.
"Is equal to the Function Of"
I would be just as happy to leave out the function and let it simply equate to the ratio which follows. But it is there and probably for good reason. Both of the variables that follow are quite based on function as you will see...
External "Marketing"
"Marketing" here, is in quotations, because this doesn't entail what we think marketing is, but it has everything to do with it. External marketing is your getting down to business. It has to do with your ability and opportunity. It's the active building of the business and everything that entails business, from beginning to end. It's what you do outside your business.
What opportunities are out there? What can you do to create opportunity? How capable are you in finding and implementing them? It's what you bring into the business. How do you integrate yourself within the environment in which you are operating?
Internal "Marketing"
Once again in quotations. This is the marketing you present to yourself, which has effect on external marketing. This is the "inside of you" selling you do. It's the blood, sweat and tears that you do in the development of your business. It's what you do inside your business.
"We have a fixed amount of energy." says Adizes. We are not perpetual motion machines and can only do so much. This is very important.
Internal marketing deals with mutual trust and respect.
How the Formula Works
In simple terms,
You have that mutual trust and respect. Your team faces you, and each other, do what needs to be done for the business and all energy is expended towards the external marketing part of the ratio and success is high.
If you are missing one or both of these, your business is poorly managed and more energy goes into the internal part of the ratio, giving less energy to external marketing, and success is low, or doesn't exist, depending on how bad the trust and respect levels are.
The doctor is careful to note that these factors are only few of many and is "the edge of the iceberg."