Recently I gave some talks to high school kids. It got me thinking about what it takes to be successful in business. Assuming hard work and good health and no crushing personal or personality problems, here’s the weightings I would give to the various other success factors.
30% Brains (including talent)
30% Luck (being in the right place at the right time)
20% Looks (including hair, height, weight, gender and ethnicity)
20% Reputation of the school you attended
The way to interpret the weightings is to recognize that if you don’t have one of those elements working for you, you’d better try to maximize the ones you do have. For example, if you went to a lousy school, you probably need to be extra smart or beautiful or lucky to compensate. BOCTAOE.
I would argue that you can also maximize your luck by trying lots of different things, as opposed to grinding along forever in some endeavor that has no upside potential. In other words, you trade risk and comfort for luck. Optimism also influences what appears to be luck because it increases your field of perception, so you better notice opportunities. (See a book called The Luck Factor for the science behind that.)
You can also optimize your personal appearance by staying fit and dressing well and having stylish hair (or a stylish shaved head). And obviously you can optimize your brain by continued education and exposure to lots of new ideas.
I ignored office politics and “who you know” because those fold under brains and luck. There are a few oddball qualities I couldn’t fit into any category, such as the people who have amazing voices that naturally command attention. So I ignored them.
How’s that square with your experience?