Page 228 - Free the Idea Monkey

Chapter 16

How To Witness Serendipity

Have you ever noticed how great things always seem to happen to
the same people over and over again? I did, so it made me think hard
about the concept of serendipity. For you who love trivia, Horace
Walpole coined the term Serendipity in 1754, as he wrote about a
“silly fairy tale” from his youth, The Three Princes of Serendip. The
story is about three heirs to the throne who frolic around the coun-
tryside while good things just seemed to happen around them.

As a kid, I was fond of saying, “man, are you lucky!” I’d say it
whenever something good happened to a friend. As an adult, I very
rarely use the phrase anymore because after hanging out with so
many highly innovative people, I’ve become aware that the luckiest
people to most, aren’t actually lucky at all. As Louis Pasteur said: “In
the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.”

Pasteur’s quote makes perfect sense to (Ring)leaders. You work
and work and work and work and eventually, when you get an
opportunity, you are prepared. You seize the opportunity and make
something of it.

Think about the luckiest person you know in business. Now
think about how hard that person works. Turns out it isn’t chance
after all, but rather hard work that makes her “lucky.”

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