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How to Make Luck Work for You

October 20, 2016

Blog Topic

This is not about winning a lottery, though the main truth about that is if you’re not in it you can’t win it.how-to-make-luck-work-for-you
This is about how, in work and general life, you can influence luck to help you.
I should know, even though I’ve never won a lottery, sort of.
On reflection, I think I’ve won eight ‘lotteries’.
Here are three of them.
The first occurred when I chose not to wear my seat belt. I was in my early twenties and the seat belt law had just become mandatory.
At the time I didn’t believe in the need for seatbelts.
I was travelling along an interstate highway towards a bend. An oncoming truck crossed the line and hit me head on, driver to driver. The truck jack-knifed and my car went under the trailer slicing the roof off at bonnet level.
Had I been wearing a seat belt, I would have been kept upright and decapitated. Instead I was thrown forward and went under the slicing trailer. Though I smashed my head into the steering column, I kept my head.
The second event still amazes me. We were conducting a 24/7 surveillance operation on a known heroin importer.
Towards the end of a surveillance shift my vehicle-mounted team lost the target’s vehicle in heavy traffic as it headed towards Mascot from Leichhardt.
It was at a crucial time during the operation. We believed the target’s next heroin importation was due shortly by sea. We needed eyes on him now.
I believed the target’s movement towards the airport was not as significant as a move toward the harbour. So I decided to let that moment go and think about a recovery before the next shift took over.
To help me think, I drove out along William Street, intending to go to the park at Rushcutters Bay. I often went there to think, looking out at the view.
On a sudden inexplicable whim whilst still in William Street, I turned right and headed for the heart of Surry Hills. As I approached the corner of Waterloo and Sophia Streets, I saw the target’s distinctive vehicle ahead parked further along Waterloo Street.
Driving closer I confirmed the vehicle’s plate number. We had no previous record of his presence in Surry Hills. It was not somewhere that we’d logically go to find him. We had recovered the target.
The third event is the one that has had most impact on me.
By now I was involved in commerce, and after having some minor success in business, I thought I could leverage it by floating two companies, one in bio-technology, the other in medical equipment. I failed and went bankrupt for $6.5 million.
I can’t express the despair I felt during that time. I lost my family, and most of my ‘friends’ abandoned me.
A remaining friend asked me if I’d speak to an MBA class about the human face of entrepreneurship. I asked ‘Why me, I’ve just gone bankrupt? He said “That’s what they need to hear about.”
I spent the next ten years telling my story at that MBA program.
During that time, as I told my story, I developed a vision, the one that I live today: Helping leaders be the best they can be, to achieve their vision, helping their people be great.
My business is built around that vision. I have a great family, friends and clients, all who inspire me.
At an event I attended recently I was asked “How did all that happen?”
That was a great question.
I thought initially that it was just luck.
When I unpacked the events I considered were ‘lottery’ wins, I realised that luck, in my experience, doesn’t just happen.
Luck happens when one or more of the following are present:

  • You are prepared: You have a plan A and a plan B, perhaps even a plan C.
  • You are alert: You watch for things that you might need to respond to.
  • You are agile: You can rapidly shift your position and keep moving forward.
  • You are decisive: Even if you make an erroneous decision, because you have a plan and are alert and agile, you can correct your decision and keep moving forward.

In my first example, had I simply followed the law, I’d be dead – decapitated.
In my second example, had I not changed direction and remained alert, I would not have recovered the target.
In my third example, had I not been responsive to the learning that I was experiencing, I would not be enjoying what I am today.
Luck doesn’t happen, it’s made.
By you.
What do you think?

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