Reply to T or F. To make it to the top is 50% what you accomplished, 30% playing the game, and 20% luck (right place right time)

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Reply to "T or F. To make it to the top is 50% what you accomplished, 30% playing the game, and 20% luck (right place right time)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Disagree.

25% skill / talent 
25% EQ
[b]50% who you know or were born to. [/b]  [/quote]

This is such BS and an excuse for your own failures.  Knowing people is a very, very limited impact on your career, at least relative to being good at your job or good at people stuff.  At best, knowing people gets you in the door but doesn't ensure a career.  After that, it's on you to make sure you meet the right people to ensure your success long term.

[/quote]

DP and I don't know if I would allocate it that way (I think it depends on the industry and the person) but I think who you know matters a lot more than you realize. I used to think the way you do -- that at the end of the day it comes down to whether or not you are good. Now I'm older and realize it's more complex.

I went to public schools all the way through college. Good schools, and I did very well. In graduate school I made a set of friends, many of whom had gone to private schools, including especially elite prep high schools. They also mostly went to private colleges, but it was the prep school thing that really stood out. Because here's the difference between going to one of those schools and going to, like me, just a solid suburban public high school: if you walk into a room of 100 decision-makers in in law, finance, and many corporate industries, at least some of them will have gone to one of those prep schools and none of them will have gone to my high school. Which means the person from one of those schools is going to have something in common with at least a few people in that room, whereas I will not. Now, I can work to develop other connections. I went to a very elite graduate school, I have good social skills, I know how to work connections. But I recognize that there is no way for me to have those kind of deep connections that people who come from similar families and went to similar schools will have. It's just the reality.

I wouldn't say it's held me back, exactly, but I can see how it eases things for my friends with that background. There is just a familiarity, comfort, and confidence that will never exist for me. I always have to prove myself. They will more often get the benefit of the doubt. It matters.[/quote]

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