4 ms·

Luck is not a factor.. except when it comes to getting hired by your dream company, getting venture capital, getting acquired, and getting a hot girl to say "Ye

Luck is not a factor.. except when it comes to getting hired by your dream company, getting venture capital, getting acquired, and getting a hot girl to say "Yes".

outworlder 13y ago
And is any of that... "luck"? What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? What skills and networking have you had previously before being able to convince VCs? If that hot girl said "yes", doesn't it mean you had to approach her first and manage to convince her? There are thousands of opportunities passing us by every year. But we are only prepared to recognize a handful and even less prepared to take advantage of them. Now, the specific circunstances that lead to, say, Instagram's acquisition can be called "luck", in hindsight. But they were in a position to take advantage of the deal, it is not as if they just found a lottery ticket on the street.
- AznHisoka 13y ago
  Of course, luck isn't the sole factor, but it's a factor, and a major one. Luck was a factor for you being alive right here and now, and for Earth to be a hospitable place to live. It's everywhere.
- mpyne 13y ago
  > What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? Qualifications (and really, all the stuff you mention) simply punch you a ticket to the race. But those things don't give you victory, and you often don't even know or get a chance to compete on many of the other factors that get you chosen (consciously or unconsciously). E.g. the 'hot girl', if you're 5'8" and she prefers a guy who is 6'2", good luck "working hard" to overcome that. The same applies in reverse, how many girls have been rejected because they are flat-chested or have the 'wrong' hair color? How many otherwise qualified candidates have been rejected because they didn't have the right 'intangibles'? How many people have screwed up networking because they ordered the wrong kind of drink? How many pitches have gone awry because a carefully-rehearsed presentation team had the pitchman get sick in the hotel? Sure, you could wear an anti-microbial mask to try to prevent that, but at some point luck will track you down. Operational Risk Management isn't about eliminating chance, it's about mitigating it. But in the end you're still crossing your fingers, and that applies everywhere in life.
vinceguidry 13y ago
If you believe any of that is luck, well, then it might as well be. Those of us who believe in taking effective action, though, know otherwise.

Luck is not a factor.. except when it comes to getting hired by your dream company, getting venture capital, getting acquired, and getting a hot girl to say "Yes".

outworlder 13y ago

And is any of that... "luck"? What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? What skills and networking have you had previously before being able to convince VCs? If that hot girl said "yes", doesn't it mean you had to approach her first and manage to convince her? There are thousands of opportunities passing us by every year. But we are only prepared to recognize a handful and even less prepared to take advantage of them. Now, the specific circunstances that lead to, say, Instagram's acquisition can be called "luck", in hindsight. But they were in a position to take advantage of the deal, it is not as if they just found a lottery ticket on the street.

AznHisoka 13y ago
Of course, luck isn't the sole factor, but it's a factor, and a major one. Luck was a factor for you being alive right here and now, and for Earth to be a hospitable place to live. It's everywhere.
mpyne 13y ago
> What about the qualifications you had in order to be hired by the dream company? Qualifications (and really, all the stuff you mention) simply punch you a ticket to the race. But those things don't give you victory, and you often don't even know or get a chance to compete on many of the other factors that get you chosen (consciously or unconsciously). E.g. the 'hot girl', if you're 5'8" and she prefers a guy who is 6'2", good luck "working hard" to overcome that. The same applies in reverse, how many girls have been rejected because they are flat-chested or have the 'wrong' hair color? How many otherwise qualified candidates have been rejected because they didn't have the right 'intangibles'? How many people have screwed up networking because they ordered the wrong kind of drink? How many pitches have gone awry because a carefully-rehearsed presentation team had the pitchman get sick in the hotel? Sure, you could wear an anti-microbial mask to try to prevent that, but at some point luck will track you down. Operational Risk Management isn't about eliminating chance, it's about mitigating it. But in the end you're still crossing your fingers, and that applies everywhere in life.

vinceguidry 13y ago

If you believe any of that is luck, well, then it might as well be. Those of us who believe in taking effective action, though, know otherwise.