Luck – is it the only factor for success??
All of us have heard many successful people attributing “Luck” as an important factor in success. But more important question – “Is LUCK” the only factor in defining success.??
What is luck anyway? By definition luck is “good chance” or “fortune”. So let’s examine some of the attributes of luck. Luck is a combination of time, place and action. This is to say you have to be in the “right” place,at the “right” time doing the “right” action. So it is this combination of getting all things “Right” makes success.
Let’s take the example of InfoSys. They were in the right place at the right time doing all the right things. But aren’t there enough companies in the same field in same city exactly doing the same stuff? Why only info sys raced ahead of others?? Was it some unknown element or was it a secret ingredient “LUCK” which made all the difference.
In silicon valley we have seen so many search engines before and after google’s birth. All were in the valley,, doing exactly similar stuff, with same search engines (almost’ with all due respect to google). But where are altavista, info seek, etc…? Is it plain old luck??
In every field we keep seeing this enormous disparity of “luck” favoring extra ordinarily in favor of the successful prodigal sons. We all know Vinod Kambli and people like him who are extremely talented. But still success still eludes them. Al Gore almost won the election…….just almost.
Luck in my view is that 1% in 100% of success. But it is that make or break 1% which will make u successful or NOT. At times you feel you are so close ….almost 99% over…..yet that 1% defines whether you attain your goal or not.
So does this mean luck alone decides what is success?. Not really – let’s say Narayanamurthy was born in Somalia instead of Mysore and started a company called infosys….what would have happened? Or imagine Steve jobs born in Syria (his biological father is a Syrian – Abdul fattah) and had created a company called apple in Syria, would have been the king of tech field? What are the odds of success. Or if Manmohan Singh’s family had continued to stay in Pakistan? Very tough set of questions.
So it has to be right place…..right time and doing the right things along with the “secret” sauce called luck will make success.
Is it by birth are you lucky? Not really…..in all walks of life, we know many people who have failed miserably multiple times before getting full success. It means the old saying “Fortune favors the prepared” must be right.
So you actually will not know if you are ready for luck. It’s an accidental event. There is a story about mr. KP Singh of DLF that it was an accidental event in which he met Rajiv Gandhi which inspired him to create DLF and buy lands in a village at throw away prices – the village is Gurgaon:-)
This leads to the next question how do we get lucky?
Will try to answer that in my next article.
