Decoding the Effort-Luck Equation: A Trillion-Dollar Question for Professionals

It was the early days of my career; since my professional life has been dominated by media, my journey began there. I was part of a new product launch within the Business Publication Division of The Indian Express. At that time, the primary way for an organization to generate a response was through print media. Since both the product and I were new, I was unsure how to approach organizations for space selling or even which types of organizations to target. After spending months on the job and facing a great deal of rejection, I learned that I was part of the B2B media landscape and began to understand the different types of media available.

With this basic understanding of how media works, I started hunting for greener pastures. Through my connections, I went through a series of interviews with the arch-rivals of The Indian Express: The Times of India. Despite multiple efforts to break into The Times of India, I failed every time. Luck, it seemed, did not favor me.

In 1982, I got a break at Cyber Media, which was the top IT B2B media house at the time, holding a monopolistic position. This was a rare occasion where I considered myself lucky. Because of its dominant position compared to The Indian Express, things were smooth, and I earned a promotion within a couple of years. Still young in my career, I realized that Newton’s law of gravity applies to life as well: whatever goes up must come down. Things were on an upswing before they started to decline; eventually, they recovered, but the recovery was not particularly impressive. As the West was the weakest market, the opportunity to lead sales was difficult, and subsequent structural changes left me stagnant.

My next move was to transition beyond media into the marketing department of an IT company. However, despite my best efforts, I could not secure a marketing profile, even while my peers from media were successfully making that transition. Years later, I did secure a role as a Marketing Director in a Fintech firm under the leadership of a prominent CMO from a big IT multinational. Unfortunately, it lasted only nine months. While that role could have been the capstone of a marketing career, I had to return to media sales. Once again, it felt as though luck was not with me.

Another significant turning point was with ICICI Bank within their large corporate division. I am to blame for not moving out of a zone that was uncomfortable. I eventually quit ICICI Bank and started working as a freelancer. However, realizing that I would not be able to sustain myself as a freelancer, I started looking for a full-time job. I had two options with reputable organizations where I had previously worked. My package negotiations were complete, yet unfortunately, I was rejected by both at the final stage. One of those organizations was later acquired by a multinational company; had I been there, I would have either been part of a global firm or gained significant compensation through ESOPs. Instead, I ended up returning to Cyber Media, which by then was in extremely bad shape. In my "second innings," I moved into Digital Marketing via Cyber Media Services, but things did not go as planned. Had that clicked, I might have been leading a major digital agency today. It seemed luck had stopped supporting me.

There are many such incidents on the official and personal fronts whether connected to my son, my parents, or my wife. On a lighter note, I have never even been lucky enough to win a lucky draw or a prize in Tambola.

If luck had been on my side, I would be in a different position today. However, I am a firm believer that luck only follows effort. The question then arises: Am I not putting in the effort for luck to follow? That is definitely not the case. What is in my hand is the effort; you cannot always control the circumstances to make them conducive to the results you desire.

Even in our current sales projects, I have qualified for certain targets, while in others—despite putting in the same level of effort I have fallen short. Does this mean luck follows only selected efforts? No. It means we have not yet fully analyzed the constituents of effort that cause luck to support them.

The fact is that successful people are in the minority. Does that mean luck only supports a few? No; luck supports those efforts that are moving in the right direction with the right constituents. One cannot depend on luck for success, but effort is required for luck to have something to support. The trillion-dollar question remains: how do you identify the exact constituents of effort required for luck to follow?