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"You don’t obtain connections by being lucky, for instance, you obtain them because you want them and work hard at it."- I have to disagree. You have little con

"You don’t obtain connections by being lucky, for instance, you obtain them because you want them and work hard at it."- I have to disagree. You have little control who comes into your life outside your 1st and maybe 2nd degree of separation. You have almost no control over who will be assigned your freshman dormmate, your instructors, or even your boss. You can't work hard to be put in the same dorm as mark zuckerberg. That is just plain flat out luck. However, smart people are attracted to other smart people and that is why smart people tend to "Create" their own luck. They dont posses any special ability, per say, other than a desirable trait that others like them want to exalt.

TAForObvReasons 8y ago
The luck really starts with your parents and grandparents, as their financial status generally determines your early social network. http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ discussed some of Gates' early advantages, like having a trust fund to fall back on if risks don't pan out.
- blackflame7000 8y ago
  But that excludes countless counterexamples with people being born with nothing and becoming self-made millionaires. Again that's not luck its a product of work.
  - TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
    And that excludes even more countless examples of those who work hard and fail. There are vastly more of the latter than the former. Work - if it’s the right kind of work - can only ever increase your odds. It can never guarantee success. What’s needed is hard data about the relative influence of market fit, hours worked, personality, network and wealth of origin, and so on.
    - BkBlue 8y ago
      Analysis paralysis is arguably as dangerous as survivorship bias. Of course winning the genetic lottery bestows tremendous advantage. And of course luck is a huge variable. But the intersection of luck, preparation, and willingness is serendipity. And every successful entrepreneur has that in spades in the end, regardless of where they started. Sure that sounds like another empty platitude, but the fact of the matter is there is no formula or one simple trick.
      - civilitty 8y ago
        I fear that winning the genetic lottery is more than just a simple advantage. In the case of being born into a wealthy family, it turns the situation from "it's all up to you to succeed" into "all you have to do is not fuck up." Since tremendous luck, good or bad, is relatively rare the condition from generation to generation just doesn't change much - regardless of hard work - except in so much as society itself grows wealthier.
mmjaa 8y ago
>You have little control who comes into your life outside your 1st and maybe 2nd degree of separation. I have not found this to be true, personally. I've established my own network over 30 years by having an attitude entirely opposite to that which you profess is the natural order of things - if you work hard to network, you can make contact with a great deal many people, and luck has nothing to do with it. We're not all pushed around by the fates. Some of us, push the rock hard. There really are a different set of results in both spheres.
- blackflame7000 8y ago
  For someone like myself who is still young, what would you say are the keys to becoming a better networker?
  - TrinaryWorksToo 8y ago
    1. The less judgemental you are the more people you'll allow yourself to talk to. 2. Lots of people want to be talked to but they don't want to take the risk of approaching and getting rejected. Master the art of gracefully accepting rejection and you'll feel confident in approaching people.
    - mmjaa 8y ago
      I totally agree with you - prejudice is the #1 enemy of the positive networker. I would add this: Learn to experience things from the perspective of the other person with whom you are attempting to network without giving up too much of your own personal identity in the process, and you will go very far.
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> You have almost no control over who will be assigned your freshman dormmate, your instructors, or even your boss You can, however, randomly go up to people and say “hi”. Most people don’t do this. (Which is why it works.)
- BerislavLopac 8y ago
  Randomly... First of all, it's rarely really random -- you will approach people based on your internal biases, whether you're aware of them or not. And second, even if you did manage to do it truly randomly, that just proves the GP's point.
shubb 8y ago
The counterargument to this is that enterprise sales is a job. If you've worked alongside these people you watch them do it. They go to events, identify useful people, create a relationship with or without introductions, use them to access decision makers... The fact is, people make a career out of creating connections from nothing and using them to land buisness. A lot of people.
- blackflame7000 8y ago
  Yea that's a valid point. The thing about sales that always bothered me is that the psychology often borders on sociopathy. How can you love your fellow man while simultaneously seeking to get the better of him?
  - TrinaryWorksToo 8y ago
    You're not seeking to get the better of them, you're seeking to get a fair trade and for startups one that will save them a significant amount of money.

TAForObvReasons 8y ago

The luck really starts with your parents and grandparents, as their financial status generally determines your early social network. http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ discussed some of Gates' early advantages, like having a trust fund to fall back on if risks don't pan out.

blackflame7000 8y ago
But that excludes countless counterexamples with people being born with nothing and becoming self-made millionaires. Again that's not luck its a product of work.
- TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
  And that excludes even more countless examples of those who work hard and fail. There are vastly more of the latter than the former. Work - if it’s the right kind of work - can only ever increase your odds. It can never guarantee success. What’s needed is hard data about the relative influence of market fit, hours worked, personality, network and wealth of origin, and so on.
  - BkBlue 8y ago
    Analysis paralysis is arguably as dangerous as survivorship bias. Of course winning the genetic lottery bestows tremendous advantage. And of course luck is a huge variable. But the intersection of luck, preparation, and willingness is serendipity. And every successful entrepreneur has that in spades in the end, regardless of where they started. Sure that sounds like another empty platitude, but the fact of the matter is there is no formula or one simple trick.
    - civilitty 8y ago
      I fear that winning the genetic lottery is more than just a simple advantage. In the case of being born into a wealthy family, it turns the situation from "it's all up to you to succeed" into "all you have to do is not fuck up." Since tremendous luck, good or bad, is relatively rare the condition from generation to generation just doesn't change much - regardless of hard work - except in so much as society itself grows wealthier.

mmjaa 8y ago

>You have little control who comes into your life outside your 1st and maybe 2nd degree of separation. I have not found this to be true, personally. I've established my own network over 30 years by having an attitude entirely opposite to that which you profess is the natural order of things - if you work hard to network, you can make contact with a great deal many people, and luck has nothing to do with it. We're not all pushed around by the fates. Some of us, push the rock hard. There really are a different set of results in both spheres.

blackflame7000 8y ago
For someone like myself who is still young, what would you say are the keys to becoming a better networker?
- TrinaryWorksToo 8y ago
  1. The less judgemental you are the more people you'll allow yourself to talk to. 2. Lots of people want to be talked to but they don't want to take the risk of approaching and getting rejected. Master the art of gracefully accepting rejection and you'll feel confident in approaching people.
  - mmjaa 8y ago
    I totally agree with you - prejudice is the #1 enemy of the positive networker. I would add this: Learn to experience things from the perspective of the other person with whom you are attempting to network without giving up too much of your own personal identity in the process, and you will go very far.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago

> You have almost no control over who will be assigned your freshman dormmate, your instructors, or even your boss You can, however, randomly go up to people and say “hi”. Most people don’t do this. (Which is why it works.)

BerislavLopac 8y ago
Randomly... First of all, it's rarely really random -- you will approach people based on your internal biases, whether you're aware of them or not. And second, even if you did manage to do it truly randomly, that just proves the GP's point.

shubb 8y ago

The counterargument to this is that enterprise sales is a job. If you've worked alongside these people you watch them do it. They go to events, identify useful people, create a relationship with or without introductions, use them to access decision makers... The fact is, people make a career out of creating connections from nothing and using them to land buisness. A lot of people.

blackflame7000 8y ago
Yea that's a valid point. The thing about sales that always bothered me is that the psychology often borders on sociopathy. How can you love your fellow man while simultaneously seeking to get the better of him?
- TrinaryWorksToo 8y ago
  You're not seeking to get the better of them, you're seeking to get a fair trade and for startups one that will save them a significant amount of money.