Luck is Neutral

This latest piece comes from a coaching call this past week. I was speaking with one of my clients and the subject of the economy came up. As I’ve talked about recently, for this client, the tide seems to be shifting from, Rising to Receding, particularly in relation to his new business development and sales.

Our discussion focused on improving performance and the topic of luck came up. I’ll be the first to admit that luck is absolutely a part of business performance. And by that, I mean that luck is what happens when the normal course of events, or expectations of results, experiences a sudden and/or unexpected and significant change.

That sudden event, or change, is absolutely neutral. Some people will catch the wave for the change it represents, respond to it, and ride it to gain better results. Others will be caught a bit off guard and react, rather than respond...and make it through. While still others will not be prepared and will fail to react or respond and will be swept under.

So, was that sudden change/event, Good Luck, Bad Luck, Better Luck, Worse Luck? It’s all in your Planning and Preparation.

As much as we would like to believe otherwise, none of us are good at predicting the future. We really aren’t that good at predicting “Black Swans” (and yes, I did steal that from Nassim Taleb’s, The Black Swan!).

We can only control what’s in our control right now. And that affects Planning and Preparation. The more we do when we have the time and opportunity to do them, the better we are able to take advantage of those unexpected moments of luck to make it, Good...or at least, Better, or Less Painful than it could have been.

Anyone who was in business in March of 2020 knows EXACTLY what I mean. The same is true of 2008. And will be true of the next few months to a year.

So what are you doing to ensure that the sudden event or sudden change, the discontinuity or Black Swan event is more in your favor?

You still have time!

And, of course, give me a call if you would like to think out loud for a bit!