CHAPTER 17
LUCKY LEADERS
Napoleon famously preferred generals who were lucky. Until he met Wellington. But are leaders lucky? Most leaders are very ambiguous and unhelpful on the matter of luck. If you ask them, their standard response will be: “I have been very lucky, but of course I made most of my luck.” So was that luck or not? It clarifies more or less nothing.
Arnold Palmer, the golfing legend, shed some light on the matter when he declared, “The harder I practise, the luckier I get.” In other words, a putt with a 20% chance of success, becomes a 40% chance with practice. The 40% chance becomes a 60% chance and the 60% chance becomes an 80% ...
