The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.

The remark frames “success” less as brilliance or luck than as diagnostic speed: the ability to detect weaknesses, inefficiencies, or changing conditions in one’s own enterprise before outsiders can exploit them. It implies that competitive advantage often comes from self-scrutiny—auditing processes, listening to customers, watching costs, and noticing early warning signs—rather than merely reacting to rivals. The quote also carries a moral about humility: the successful person assumes something may be “the matter” and actively looks for it, instead of defending the status quo. In modern terms, it anticipates ideas like continuous improvement, risk management, and leading indicators—finding problems early while they are still fixable.