Welcome to Edition #60 of Did You Know? (DYK), the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold story of how someone (or something) became successful—and what you can do to follow in their footsteps.
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Did You Know? You can get luckier!
(1) A story from the past
Did you know? One of the world’s most accomplished researchers is also one of the luckiest.
The world has seen a ton of societal progress over the last few hundred years. In fact, societal progress is actually accelerating—as you can see in the graphic below.
(Don’t care for context? Just skip to the part after the image. But remember… being curious might help you in your career, too.)
It took 3,000 years after the beginning of the 1st Agricultural Revolution for humans to discover pottery. It took less than 50 years for humans to go from inventing the telephone to inventing the PC.
Though not depicted on this chart, humanity has benefitted from a ton of other advancements, including the discoveries that…
- …breast cancer is caused by the “breast cancer gene” (and isn’t a viral infection)
- …hearing loss and deafness can also be genetic
- …schizophrenia could be caused by genetic mutations
- …missing persons can be identified by analyzing the DNA in their teeth
The individual behind these discoveries? Her name is Mary-Claire King.
King did something special—that isn’t specific to science or research—which all of us can learn.
That career success is a formula, and it’s this:
SKILL = How good you are at something.
- Skill comes from both nature and nurture. Someone as short as I am can still get good at basketball, but will I make it in the NBA like Air Jordan? Not likely.
DRIVE = How ambitious and persistent you are (and you need both).
- Ambition is how high you set your goals. Persistence is how hard and consistently you work to reach those high goals. In the case of basketball, you’ll only make it to the NBA if you strive to make it… and work hard every day to make it.
LUCK = Whether you’re the right person at the right place at the right time.
- For example, it probably doesn’t hurt if you know an NBA scout or are friends with someone who knows an NBA scout (someone paid to go out there and find the next player to recruit onto a team). (Or, if you happen to be the son of another NBA legend like Bronny James.)
These 3 variables have cross influence:
- The more skill you have, the easier it is to find the drive
- The more drive you have, the faster you’ll improve your skills
- The more luck you have, the easier it will be to build your skills and confidence (which can, in turn, influence your drive)
These 3 variables also have factors outside of your control:
- The more early exposure you had to something, the sooner you can start building your skill
- The more early reinforcement and confidence building you had to something, the sooner you can start honing your drive
- The more access you have to something, the more you have access to luck
But, as King can show us, luck—which seems the wild card in all of our lives—isn’t totally out of our realm of influence. Not if you have an eye for opportunity, a willingness to ask, and an openness to saying yes.
For example:
- King was pursuing a PhD in statistics at UC Berkeley until she discovered genetics.
- What was outside of her control: Her undergrad advisor encouraged her to try taking a genetics course.
- What was within her control: Even though genetics had nothing to do with statistics, King said “yes” to giving it a shot.
- King focused her career on finding the genetic origins of cancer.
- What was outside of her control: Her childhood friend died of cancer.
- What was within her control: This devastating experience inspired King to apply to be a postdoc with UCSF researcher Nicholas Petrakis.
- King secured a massive grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund her research, which eventually led to the discovery of BRCA1, or “the breast cancer gene.”
- What was outside of her control: NIH shortlisted her grant proposal for her research.
- What was within her control: She flew to Washington, DC to interview for the grant despite her husband leaving her and her house being broken into.
- King got unprecedented access to data from 1,500 women with breast cancer to fuel her research.
- What was outside of her control: NIH was already working on a research effort on breast cancer which had some of the data that King needed.
- What was within her control: King asked the NIH to add a research question about family history to support her research.
- King got connected to Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a nonprofit that sought to locate babies stolen by Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s—through which King used dental DNA to identify missing persons and match family members together.
- What was outside of her control: “Friends of friends” introduced King to the organization.
- What was within her control: King made friends and talked about what she was working on with them.
So what? Mary-Claire King was no doubt lucky, but there’s a difference between coincidental luck and manufactured luck. As King’s story shows, coincidental luck is necessary but not sufficient. Imagine all of the people who found themselves in similar circumstances but didn’t spot the opportunity, didn’t ask for help, and didn’t say “yes.” That’s why there’s King… and then there’s everybody else.
(2) A strategy for your future
Did you know? You can increase your luck!
King is a great example of how much we can all accomplish if we harness the power of SKILL x DRIVE x LUCK.
Got skill and drive… and want to have more luck?
Do what King did and ask yourself…
1. What opportunity do my mentors keep suggesting to me… but that I keep ignoring?
- This could be the genetics course and NIH interview that changed King’s career!
2. Who is someone I’d like as a mentor… but who I am too scared to contact?
- This could be the UCSF researcher who shaped King’s career!
3. What’s something I want… but that I’m too scared to ask for?
- This could be the breast cancer dataset that made King’s research possible!
4. What opportunities do I want to come my way… but aren’t showing up (yet)?
- This could be the Argentinian service opportunity that further put King on the map!
I know it because I’ve experienced it: When The Unspoken Rules was still a measly business school independent project, a manager in a part-time job I held insisted that I talk to her high school friend. I dragged my feet for weeks… and then said “Yes.” Fast forward, and this person ended up introducing me to my now literary agent. The rest is history.
Create your own luck!
Gorick
