Adaptive Path Blog

This line came up in a recent conversation:

“I want the group to make a fully informed decision, so that we better our chances of being lucky.”

This phrase struck me because I think when doing work in uncertain, ambiguous times, working to increase luck contributes to more inventive designs and more successful results then attempting to reduce risk. Some would say “designing for opportunity” rather than for luck, but I think luck is the better term, and I’m curious as to why it hasn’t been adopted with as much business fervor as the term “risk.”

The world according to Google :

• Results: about 325,000,000 for risk, business
• Results: about 43,900,000 for luck, business

That’s just sad. I think there’s something about luck that seems random…whereas risk seems predictable. So I did some poking around…

In his conversation with Peter, Michael Beirut had this to say:

It’s a dirty secret that much of what we admire in the design world is a byproduct not of “strategy” but of common sense, taste and luck. Some clients are too unnerved by ambiguity to accept this, and create gargantuan superstructures of bullshit to provide a sense of security.

And from Brandon:

“If I put on my Larry Keeley hat, my personal hunch-machine would tell me that innovation has a lot to do with creating your own luck. By asking the right questions up front, you can increase your luck by understanding where to aim and why, not just by increasing the number of shots-on-goal.”

Oprah Winfrey voices in with:

“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”

And in an interview with Fast Company, luckmeister Richard Wiseman (author of The Luck Factor) outlines four principles to create good fortune:

1. Maximize Chance Opportunities
Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing, and acting upon chance opportunities. They do this in various ways, which include building and maintaining a strong network, adopting a relaxed attitude to life, and being open to new experiences.

2. Listen to Your Lucky Hunches
Lucky people make effective decisions by listening to their intuition and gut feelings. They also take steps to actively boost their intuitive abilities — for example, by meditating and clearing their mind of other thoughts.

3. Expect Good Fortune
Lucky people are certain that the future will be bright. Over time, that expectation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because it helps lucky people persist in the face of failure and positively shapes their interactions with other people.

4. Turn Bad Luck Into Good
Lucky people employ various psychological techniques to cope with, and even thrive upon, the ill fortune that comes their way. For example, they spontaneously imagine how things could have been worse, they don’t dwell on the ill fortune, and they take control of the situation.

Can we increase our lucky chances? There’s a few themes…

Recognize Possibilities

• Ask the right questions
• Gain an understanding where to aim and why
• Listen to intuition and gut feelings
• Create, notice and act upon chance opportunities
• “You were lucky…you launched the right product at the right time.”

Create Positive Relationships

• Build and maintain a strong network
• Positively shape interactions with other people
• “You were lucky…you got stakeholder buy-in despite all the company politics.”

Be Open and Optimistic

• Be open to new experiences
• Adopt a relaxed attitude to life
• Be certain that the future will be bright
• “You were lucky…”

Don’t Dwell on Mistakes

• Persist in the face of failure
• Employ ways to cope with, and even thrive upon, ill fortune
• “You were lucky this time…not like last time.”

What else can we do to increase our luck?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 1:54 am and is filed under Experience Strategy, Idealism (Uncensored). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.