IYO, what is the #1 driver of professional success?

ohm · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by gdl203

The poll results so far align well with the myth (American dream?) that anyone can be successful if they work really hard.

I voted hard work but I want to point out that hard work being the number one driver of success and anyone being successful if they work really hard are two wildly different things. Well, pretty different for the purpose of this poll anyway.

A lot of this is also about at what level you define professional success. I suspect that this board tends to be skewed toward the high end of income and education and that what's considered successful is going to be similarly skewed. As you increase the base level required to be considered successful hard work rapidly becomes a prerequisite and other things begin to differentiate the successful.

LA Guy · Apr 1, 2010

Good wrestling is key. Next is a decent chin and explosiveness. Then, good hands and footwork. Wrestlers with good chins tend to dominate the top of the ranks. Of course, there are outliers (and usually, these guys end up being the champions). Also, depends somewhat on weight categories. Good wrestling seems to be more important at the heavyweight and light-heavyweight.

Hany · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by Mark from Plano

I didn't vote in the poal because I don't think there is one thing. If I think of most really successful people I know they combine hard work with excellence in at least one other area. Hard work is key, but lots of hard workers I know will work hard at a middling job for the rest of their careers.

The people above me in my organization that I admire have the ability to quickly and clearly see and understand a situation and at a level that others don't and to decisively pursue solutions to organizational or customer problems based on that understanding. I don't have a name for that characteristic. I don't think it's intelligence exactly. When I think of intelligence I think of something else. But most successful people I know have it...along with being really hard workers.
Intelligence is the capacity to adapt to a changing environment. Therefore what you are describing is intelligence but not IQ.

mr.loverman · Apr 1, 2010

I think the correct answer is *****.

Milpool · Apr 1, 2010

Luck. Most of the big events that led to me getting where I am were due purely to chance. I sure didn't have connections. Hard work got me (and I'd say continues to get me) nowhere.

Connections/family power would be my second choice after luck.

Third choice would be being born well off (wealthy fits in #2).

Fourth is being well liked by people.

Only then would I get into personal characteristics like hard work, drive, ambition, motivation, intelligence, etc.

gdl203 · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by Milpool

Luck. Most of the big events that led to me getting where I am were due purely to chance. I sure didn't have connections. Hard work got me (and I'd say continues to get me) nowhere.

Connections/family power would be my second choice after luck.

Third choice would be being born well off (wealthy fits in #2).

Fourth is being well liked by people.

Only then would I get into personal characteristics like hard work, drive, ambition, motivation, intelligence, etc.

My thoughts are fairly aligned with yours

Piobaire · Apr 1, 2010

I've asked many people, over the years, what they think is the #1 reason people become wealthy (which I suppose is not a rotten proxy for "professional success&quot

and the two main answers I get are "lucky" and that they are crooked, corrupt, cheated, etc.

Hany · Apr 1, 2010

I'd like to believe that luck doesn't play a role at all. If you base your success on luck don't be sad if it never happens.

LA Guy · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by Hany

I'd like to believe that luck doesn't play a role at all. If you base your success on luck don't be sad if it never happens.

If you base your happiness on success, prepare to be sad. Often, hard work, intelligence, etc... is all needed, but none of that is of any use without some luck.

Piobaire · Apr 1, 2010

Can I just trot out the, "The harder I work, the luckier I get" line?

Actually, it has been said that the largest part of success is showing up.

Milpool · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by Hany

I'd like to believe that luck doesn't play a role at all. If you base your success on luck don't be sad if it never happens.

Chance favors the prepared. So yes, base success on luck. . . be open to the opportunities that chance drops in your lap.

Hany · Apr 1, 2010

How about calculate every step and make sure you follow them yet adjust when needed. Reason is a huge factor for success (I'd say it is THE factor) and I'm pretty sure no rational man would say that luck had any impact on his success.

Milpool · Apr 1, 2010

Originally Posted by Hany

How about calculate every step and make sure you follow them yet adjust when needed. Reason is a huge factor for success (I'd say it is THE factor) and I'm pretty sure no rational man would say that luck had any impact on his success.

Can I get a confidence interval on that? I went to a good business school, and probably the number 1 answer that the alums gave when it came to this question was "luck". Most all of them had a story about how life didn't turn out how they wanted/hoped/expected/planned, but they saw an opportunity show up by chance and they took it and ended up successful.

Mr T · Apr 1, 2010

I have succeeded by continually setting my professional goals as low as possible.

StephenHero · Apr 1, 2010

The most important characteristics for quantitative success (money, peer recognition) are intelligence and luck, with the former acting as a coefficient that multiplies or divides the number of those lucky instances.

(A hundred years ago, family background was much more important than intelligence but that is constantly changing.)

The most important characteristic for qualitative success (happiness; sense of accomplishment and self-worth) is hard work.

IYO, what is the #1 driver of professional success?

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