ROL: Return on Luck

In what is now one of my favorite business books, Great by Choice, Jim Collins introduces the concept of Return on Luck (ROL). He describes ROL as such:

Our research showed that the great companies were not generally luckier than the comparisons—they did not get more good luck, less bad luck, bigger spikes of luck, or better timing of luck. Instead, they got a higher return on luck, making more of their luck than others. The critical question is not, Will you get luck? but What will you do with the luck that you get?

This is what I was getting to several months back when I wrote the blog post, Why I don’t believe in luck anymore. And there was so much debate about that post that I wrote a follow up post to continue to try to make my point.

My general viewpoint: By and large*, we all get the same amount of “luck” and its what we do with that luck which determines whether we will be successful or not.

And its not just optimism I’m talking about. Its so much more than simply perceiving something as good or bad luck. It’s more of an actionism viewpoint!

Is the glass half full or half empty? Who cares, I’m going to fill it up to the top!

* As I wrote previously, I’m referring to “luck” as events that come your way throughout the course of trying to accomplish something great, and that, because of my personal privilege, I receive more opportunities than most people. I have won the Ovarian lottery (ala Warren Buffet), and I recognize (as much as I can) the massive amount of advantage that I receive because of that.