PERSPECTIVE
Luck: The Most
Underrated Card!
By Andrew Riungu
I
n the last 9 months since I published
my last article I have spent time
thinking about luck and if it really is
the savior, and to some extent an enabler,
in our irrational behavior. It has been days
and nights thinking about this and only
now is when I feel comfortable putting my
thoughts to paper and sharing with you
what I have concluded.
As much as we may hate to believe it,
luck is and has been a core ingredient in
the pursuit for success or failure, both in
personal and work life. When we look
at brand building as well, luck has had a
hand in the way things have panned out
for countless brands. Bad or good, luck
has been there. Yet I wonder why it is
rarely given the credit it deserves.
In my view, “luck” is what I believe to be
the most underrated and undervalued card
in the set of cards that this game of life has
dealt us. Nearly all the books and thought
leaders that talk about brand building and
consumer behavior have mentioned luck
in some way or form, though I can only
recall one book, ( Jim Collins - How the
mighty fall) that unequivocally gives luck
and good fortune the credit it deserves, and
how its importance cannot be overlooked
or understated.
Similar to her cousin, irrationality, luck
is often seen as something that happens
very rarely, and often the bad side of it
is what is acknowledged… yet the word
itself is used countless of times to describe
a myriad of situations that yielded either a
positive or negative outcome. If someone
is on a winning streak, we say “wow…
luck is on their side”. But then later we
rationalize that response by linking the
positive outcome entirely on the ability
and effort. We often start such defenses
of personal ability with “To be fair, they
did do xxxx”.
If you don’t believe in luck but rather
the power of divine intervention, I hate
to break it to you buttercup, but it’s still
the same thing. In essence, they both
work/occur under the same condition or
mindset, i.e. a strong belief that something
You can do things to have luck on your
side but it’s not the same as “making
your own luck”. That is why even after
months and years of hard work, training
and planning, the line “Good luck” is said
so effortlessly when individuals or teams
are down to that crucial moment.
44 MAL33/19 ISSUE
other than your human capability had
something (not entirely) to do with the
outcome you got.
So for the purposes of this thought piece,
“luck” can be easily interchanged with
blessings, mother nature, acts of God,
prayer etc. If it relies on a belief or some
influence that you have never seen, or can
neither comprehend, then its luck… or
whatever you chose to call it. “Luck” is a
core ingredient in our irrational behavior
- that “instinct” behavior that drives 70%-
90% of our decisions every day.
What about making your own luck? “You
make your own luck… no such thing
as luck.” I see how this thought and
definition has manifested over the years
that people actually believe “luck” does not
exist or you simply make your own luck.
This recent shift in the definition of what
luck truly is reminds me of how the word
“priority” changed to “priorities”, and all
of a sudden we now think we can be great
at doing loads of things half-assed, rather
than one thing really well with undivided
focus and attention.
You can do things to have luck on your
side but it’s not the same as “making your
own luck”. That is why even after months
and years of hard work, training and
planning, the line “Good luck” is said so
effortlessly when individuals or teams are
down to that crucial moment.
But if the outcome is successful we often
don’t say “wow lady luck was really on our
side today.” No we don’t. Instead, we go on
giving each other hi-fives, bear hugs and
reminiscing on how much work was put in