How to create good luck

Be it to get a job, find a partner, or lead a company, is there a way to create good luck? How do we foster serendipity? That is what Professor Christian Busch, one of the most brilliant minds at New York University, wrote about in "The Serendipity Mindset."Looking back, I know that all my jobs and many of my happiest moments were driven by serendipity. Thus, I wanted to know what the “formula” is.

I don’t write book reviews. Rather, when I find a great book, I review the parts that were useful to me. That way readers are exposed to the content. In the first part of this article, I summarize 3 concepts I liked about this book. I also point out 11 other ideas, and show in parentheses the corresponding paragraph found in part two of this article.

How to create good luck

I. Tips to foster serendipity at meetings

Busch has numerous tips on how to manage meetings. I liked these:

1. Ask people to introduce themselves not with their job title but with things such as “What are you currently most excited about?”

2. When you meet someone, think about how you can contribute to their life and to whom you could introduce them.

3. When you run an event that is about connecting people, ask people to share 1) what they are currently most excited about, 2) their biggest challenge, and 3) their favorite serendipity story.

I also liked the idea of “having a hype person" to ease tough meetings (more below on 2.1), using a “dining in the dark” experience for group meetings (below 2.2) and how a L'Oréal executive drives serendipity (below 2.3), which leads to how to pick the location for Board meetings (below 2.4). 

II. Getting a job. Through Serendipity

How to respond to the “What do you do?” question

"What do you do?" This is the question most frequently asked when we meet someone new.

Busch begins quoting Ovid, “Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.” He then recommends increasing the number of “hooks” when responding to that question to at least four. It could be where we work, where we went to school, what our passion is, and what we enjoy doing. I've increased my number of hooks to 10 (see how below in 2.5).

The law of numbers

Over 75% of jobs are found through our network. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman points out that "we need to position ourselves for luck, to debunk the myth that some people are just in the right place at the right time." Busch goes on to say that “This is a numbers game, so be precise when sending Linkedin messages, and do it to as many people as possible.”

Many of my Linkedin connections, through an introduction, hired each other. Accepting invites from people with different backgrounds led me to a network in over 190 countries, and 100 million "Level 3" connections (see how to do it below on 2.6). For those of us who like numbers, Busch also explains how to use the Birthday Paradox.

Inspiring stories from people who got jobs

Be it how someone who was going to be a priest ended up first as CFO of Nestlé; or how someone who missed a train got a much better job, there are numerous inspiring stories in the book. I liked the ones about Unilever, BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz AG, Dyson, and Pret A Manger (below 2.7).

III. Good leaders foster serendipity. It’s good for business

How can leaders drive profitable growth by fostering serendipity? I liked the 8 stories about Mastercard, Procter & Gamble, Novo Nordisk, Medium, Haier, SEB, Turkcell, and TED (see below 2.8).

How can we reduce the time it takes to launch a product from 3 years to 3 weeks? Busch describes an interesting concept to achieve that (2.9 below).

I also found interesting his findings of Introverts who act as Extroverts (2.10 below) and why open offices drastically decrease productivity (2.11 below).

Conclusion

Buy the book. Take the “Busch serendipity score test” on page 300. There are 38 questions in it. Over the next 12 months, get better at it. Then, share with others how serendipity helped you get a job, find a partner, or lead a company. Already have a good story to inspire others? Please do so in the comments section below.

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Second part. Details

2.1. How to manage tough meetings

Busch describes an interesting concept used by Marlon Parker. He points out that “At Rlabs, members have a “hype person” with them, someone who during a tough meeting, echoes what they said, reinforcing their message without parroting it.”

The day I joined Tetra Pak, a Swedish company, my boss taught me two things about how to behave during meetings. He said:

1. Use “We” instead of “I”. He was a colorful leader, so he went on to point out that “I" is used by New York lawyers.

2. Don’t correct, in public, a colleague who makes an embarrassing mistake.

Twenty years later, as a professor at New York University, I teach my students both tips, emphasizing the "don't behave like a New Yorker" part.

2.2 Team building activities to foster serendipity

Do team-building activities work? We discuss that every Christmas with a former Procter & Gamble colleague of mine who does that for a living. From the book, I learned about

"Ojos Que Sienten founder Gina Badenoch, uses a “dining in the dark” experience. In a dark room, blind waiters guide guests to their seats at the table and the participants sit next to people they have never met before. Because the diners cannot see each other, their conversation is different from what non–visually impaired people are used to: Being together in the dark can help to develop a connection without our usual judgments based on factors such as physical appearance."

 2.3 How a L'Oréal executive drives serendipity

“At L'Oréal, a Chief Ethics Officer (another kind of CEO)—Emmanuel Lulin—helps integrate values by traveling to every corporate location around the world”, Busch writes.

2.4 How to pick a location for Board Meetings

When I started my career at Procter & Gamble, I learned that Ed Artzt, the CEO, would tour the kitchen of consumers in Moscow. I loved the concept. Since then, I traveled to 193 countries to do that. At global companies, we frequently discuss whether we should hold Board meetings in foreign locations. I’ve been able to persuade the Board to hold more meetings abroad. As a result, products were launched, factories were built, and talented colleagues promoted. The “serendipity results” have been fabulous.

2.5 "Tell me about yourself". How to increase the number of “Hooks”

A couple of years ago, I was a speaker at a conference about AI in China and noticed that they had used an older employer on my Bio. I felt uncomfortable but noticed that the speaker next to me was also quoted as working at a previous CPG company. He explained that they did that because attendees wouldn’t know what “PE” (Private Equity) is. That inspired me to rephrase how I respond to the “What do you do question”. This is how I increase the number of hooks to 10:

I am a VP Finance, Global Controller & CFO (3). Worked at P&G, Tetra Pak, Nivea, and now PE (4). Education is my passion (1), thus I also teach at NYU (1). I love to travel. Been to 193 countries (1).

Of course, I adapt what I say to my audience. In Germany, I replace Nivea with Beiersdorf, and outside New York, I refer to Private Equity instead of PE.

2.6 The law of numbers, and getting a job through Linkedin

When someone trying to get a job asks me to help with a LinkedIn introduction, I always do. Many got the job. Why? An introduction helps Hiring managers filter out hundreds of applications received. Through serendipity, the law of numbers is more effective.

Someone with 500 Linkedin contacts typically has 200 Level 2 contacts and 100 Level 3 contacts. That’s a total of 10 million contacts. The number of contacts decreases at subsequent levels because we are all "pulling from the same bucket”. To fix that, we need contacts from different “buckets” (industries, interests, countries). In my case, having Linkedin contacts in over 190 countries led me to over 2 million Level 2 contacts and 100 million Level 3 contacts (my list is public).

Even vague connections work for serendipity. I was embarrassed that I don’t remember well most of my Level 1 connections. Until I read about Dunbar’s number (more here). In all cases, for all my connections I helped get a job, I didn’t know my other connection well. But they got the job. Linkedin Founder Reid Hoffman was right. LinkedIn is about “positioning for luck.”

2.7 Inspiring stories. From people who got jobs

Unilever's former CEO Paul Polman describes how earlier on his life he had envisioned becoming a doctor or a priest. To note, before that, Polman was CFO at Nestlé.

BMW Group Aral Krugel explains the importance of feeling meaningful at work

 Dyson PR expert Shaa Wasmund MBE relates how she got to manage the launch of Dyson’s vacuum cleaners by first meeting Chris Eubank, a boxing world champion who hired her to manage his PR despite the fact she had no previous experience in boxing.

Waqas Baggia at Mercedes-Benz AG relates how he got a better job by providing exceptional customer service; and before that how he fostered serendipity in the way he responded to someone reaching to him through Linkedin.

Pret A Manger Evelina Dzimanaviciute, about when to quit, and how focus and serendipity produce results.

Danielle Cohen Henriquez on when to quit, missing a train, and more. She was the inspiration for the "missing a train" picture I added to the cover to this article. Last week, I missed the train. Thanks to that, I met someone exceptional.

2.8 Foster serendipity. It’s good for business

Below are my favorite 8 stories about how leaders can drive profitable growth by fostering serendipity.

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga on how "he put out the goal of helping 500 million consumers and 40 million small merchants get into the financial system." That is the serendipitous way I met Professor Busch. He commented on it at an NYU conference, and I shared during a break the program I set up as CFO to open bank accounts for factory workers.

Haier CEO Zhang Ruiming, on how his team noticed Chinese farmers were using Haier’s washing machines to clean their potatoes and launched a product for it.

Medium CEO Evan Williams, co-founder of #Twitter and #Blogger, on how they almost run out of money.

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Sorensen on becoming CEO of the year. Busch writes “Lars acknowledged the temptation to pretend everything is mapped out because then management looks smart. But that’s not the way it works." He continues, “In a company like Novo Nordisk—which is very regulated, hierarchical, and process-driven — it's necessary to capture a lot of information that needs to be structured for a drug to be approved."

How Nathaniel Whittemore organized a TEDxVolcano in 36 hours.

SEB CEO Johan Torgeby, on how he is “increasingly behaving like a tech investor and placing bets less on Excel sheets and more on belief.” SEB is a Swedish bank. As a retail customer, I can attest to how easy it was to do business with them.

Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor, on how when serving 5 billion people things often happen in unplanned ways.

In addition to “Which country you liked best?”, another question I am frequently asked is “Which company did you like best?”

P&G has world-class processes. I learned OGSM twenty years ago and I still use it. Nivea has fewer processes. That enables them to move faster to the market. Tetra Pak uses “core values”. My colorful boss, whom I mentioned above, printed them out on a business card so we could carry them on a wallet.

For Emerging Markets, that works best. That is what Turkcell former CEO Kaan Terzioglu believes. He says:

“In an emerging market setting, the unexpected happens all the time”. Busch goes on to point out that “When there was serious violence in 2016 following an attempted coup d’état in Turkey, Kaan Terzioglu made the internet free for a month so that people were able to communicate without worrying about bills.”

2.9 Accelerating Product Launches. From 3 years to 3 weeks.

It takes 12-36 months to launch a product at global companies. 3 weeks at a startup.

At a global company, first, you got to get on the agenda for the monthly Global Product Launches Meeting. (Tips: I ask all the challenging questions before the meeting. Be nice to Assistants, they can get you on the agenda). On the big day, some Committee members will have reservations. You will have to come back next month.

In PE, we invest in small businesses. I am grateful to have learned how things work there. In one case, we spoke first to the CMO and then to the CEO on Friday. The CEO told us it was ok to proceed on Saturday. The project was launched 3 weeks later. It got a 77% market share (it took 3 years to get a 33% share at large companies).

There are two things I learned from the book which I will start using right away:

Rapid prototyping. One way to accelerate product launches is to use a “Refine, Try, Repeat” process. Busch says: “the attitude creates a different dynamic. In a rapid prototyping mindset, each iteration of the prototype is seen not as a “failure,” but as a necessary step in the process”. In other words, by designing a “good enough” process, the implementation cost is reduced. Most importantly, continuous improvement feedback is easily implemented.

Project funeral. Busch says, “Experiment with a project funeral, for example with regard to a recent project of yours that you felt had lots of potential but did not work out”. In my opinion, the key is to be a role model. If we do it, our team members will follow. I am already planning a funeral for 1-2 projects I led.

2.10 Introverts behaving as Extroverts

I am an Introvert. And I have the Myers-Brigg to prove it. Well, the test says that I am an extrovert too. Busch explains how some of us, Introverts, behave as Extroverts at work. He then explains how “ Susan Cain in her brilliant book Quiet, tells the story of a Canadian professor who lectured at Harvard and was thought by his students to be highly extroverted. However, after lectures he would hide in the bathroom, so he didn’t have to talk to anyone.”

2.11 Open offices decrease productivity

Busch explains,

“Experiments that compared the outcomes of programmers—some outperforming others by a factor of ten in terms of outcomes—showed surprising results. The most successful programmers worked for companies that gave their employees control over their physical environments, freedom from interruption, personal space, and privacy. This also explains why open-plan offices for makers such as researchers is often a terrible idea.

Buy the book. Share with others how serendipity helped you get a job, find a partner, or lead a company. Already have a good story to inspire others? Please do so below.