The Dangerous Lie Business Owners Tell Themselves About Success
Luck and execution are not enemies. They are partners. But let’s be clear: execution is the senior partner. Luck may get invited to the boardroom, but execution owns the building, signs the cheques, and knows where the bodies are buried. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman argues that extreme success often involves a significant element of luck. Outcomes also tend to regress toward the mean over time. In plain English: not every winner is a genius, and not every loser is a complete turnip. That matters because we love explaining success after the fact. A company wins big, and suddenly everyone says, “Brilliant strategy!” Maybe. Or maybe they had good timing, a favorable market, a weak competitor, cheap capital, a lucky introduction, or they accidentally launched the right thing just as customers were desperate for it. Business success is often part strategy, part execution, and part standing in exactly
