Hard work or luck by chance!

If you are wondering how this question is relevant to you, think again. Majority of us irrespective to where we are on our career trajectory, often ask ourselves (mostly in secret), what is more important…luck or hard work? Is hard work enough to be successful or do I need luck?

Recently I came across an interview titled, ‘Want to Be Richard Branson? Here Are His Secrets to Success’ by Daniel Roth, Executive Editor at LinkedIn with Virgin Richard Branson.  Daniel had invited questions from LinkedIn members for Mr. Branson. Upon receiving several hundreds of them he had zeroed in four questions from members. And guess what! The first question Daniel chose to ask was, ‘What role does luck play? Mr. Branson promptly replied, ‘You do need lucky breaks to be successful.’ He admitted he had enormous amount of luck all through his life.

Luck in my mind plays a pivotal role in our career. Let me tell you my own story. It was the millennium year and the dot-com bubble was yet to go bust. My media career was going nowhere. All I had was loads of rejections and failures. It was a hopeless time with no signs of recovery in the horizon. Mumbai was brutally merciless on me. One evening when I got back home my wife said I have an interview call letter from a company (can you believe!!! actual posted letter). She informed me she had posted my resume to a certain P.O. Box address seeing a classified job ad on Times of India without asking me. I boarded an early morning local train to avoid any kind of delay. It was February and the weather was still pleasant in Mumbai. By 8:30 I was at the Interviewer’s office. It was a breezy 30 minute interview and by that time I was out of it I had a job offer from Dubai.

When I look back,  it still amazes me! There were too many right things fell in place on that week that ensured I have a confirmed ticket for Dubai. It could have been anybody on that day, perhaps more qualified and experienced than me. Then how did I land up with that offer? I still don’t know. Perhaps I was there at the right place at the right time. And that is luck to me. Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently had a submission in one of his blog posts about he becoming the CEO of Expedia. In his own words, ' I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to take over as CEO of Expedia.

Here is a word of caution though! Luck can give you a break or may help you to be in the right place on right time, but once in top, you still need to perform, you still need to sustain your performance, and you need to live up to the expectations. So while luck is important, there is no alternative to talent and hard work.