Luck

Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

- Seneca

In the past year, for some reason, the topic of luck keeps coming up. I have wanted to write about it for some time, but just haven't been able to get it to come out right (see Writer's Block). My reticence in writing about luck is based on the strong opinions that people tend to have about serendipity, the hand of providence, fate, etc. This can quickly digress into strongly-held beliefs about free will vs. predestination in religion and philosophy that I have no interest or ability to parse. That's not what this is about, or at least not the context in which I have been thinking about luck. My interest in this topic is related the the life of a leader and the role of luck in our careers and in the workplace. More on point, an article by author Morgan Housel (Lucky vs. Repeatable) and another by HBR (Your Career Needs a Little Luck ) seemed to do a better job of setting a framework for this discussion. What's repeatable in terms of emulating the success of other leaders? How can you keep an open mind and embrace change as a source of career opportunities? What is the role of your social networks and relationships in creating or cultivating luck in your career? When opportunity knocks, how can you be prepared to answer?

Let me start with a personal story to illustrate this that should be relatable. What was the luckiest day of your life? For me, without a doubt, it's the day I met my wife. She certainly tells me frequently how lucky I am! But in all seriousness, it changed my life irrevocably; there was a before and after her. Was it random chance that we were both at the same party at a hotel in May of 1999? Perhaps. But if you look deeper, there were some important associations that made our connection less improbable. We were both born and raised in Ohio by OSU alum parents. We were graduate/professional students at OSU, living in the same city, and showing up every day to the same medical center campus. My wife's father and brother were well-known physician leaders and OSU alums, who knew physicians and OSU alums that knew me (that's how we were introduced). We both had just left long term relationships where we learned what we didn't want, and we were open-minded to new opportunities. We quickly learned that we were both chemistry majors in college and bonded (ha! pun intended) over our mutual love of science, the liberal arts, and Buckeye football. These were NOT random associations, but rather networks of people, places, and things that tied us together. I was open minded to the possibilities, and took action to explore an interesting opportunity when it presented itself.

I still consider myself incredibly fortunate, and believe me, anyone who has met my wife thinks I am lucky for sure. But does my luck seem a bit less random now? That's the elusive context of luck that interests me. Luck is often much less related to chance than it appears. In researching this topic, I came across many quotes by famous and successful artists, athletes, and business leaders that said something similar to the quote by the stoic philosopher Seneca above. These high-achievers fervently believe that you can choose to be lucky. But how? Is it a product of preparation, an optimistic mindset, and seizing a rare opportunity when it presents? Rather than leaving our careers to random chance, how can we cultivate a mindset and act in a manner like this that makes us "lucky" at work? To try to start to tease out wisdom here, I decided to read the book, How Luck Happens by Janice Kaplan and Barnaby Marsh.? This book helped me better understand how we can shift our perspective on what we can control and what we can’t.? I have mentioned before, I sometimes struggle to look at the world optimistically (see Positive Pessimism). But our mindset clearly matters, and the book reinforced to me that our responses to events, our outlook on an uncertain future, and how we chose to respond when challenged are more under our control than we often think. As the book points out based on a number of conversations with influential thinkers and leaders, we are in charge of our actions and how we choose to respond to events. Full stop.

How do we stop focusing and worrying about the things we don't control, and spend our time and energy on what we do? In the words of Rudyard Kipling, how can we "meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same" (IF)? How can we cultivate a mindset that helps unleash our luck, or at least helps us better capitalize on timely opportunities? This is easier said than done. There is more to learn here, but I am still working through another book to gain additional perspective. I hope to share more with you on this topic, but for now will close with a great quote from this current book that is stirringly optimistic and hopeful about how to lead a lucky life...

• We can’t control everything in life, but we can control more than we think.? We choose our opportunities, our outlook, and our general life pathways.? At the end of the day, what is life except the people we love and the experiences we share with them?? We build a lucky life through the joy we find for ourselves and others.? We learn to treat triumph and disaster the same and make luck from whatever is in front of us.? Luck is not a moment in time but the lifetime of moments we make.