Sep '23 • 📚 Books, Podcasts, YouTube
9 Success Theories by Ludvig Sunstrom
Have you ever wondered what makes a person successful?
So have I.
I have read about this topic quite a lot and found many explanations.
Sure, there are easy answers, but if you’ve read self-improvement books and magazines, you probably know them already.
Then there are more nuanced answers. Depending on what line of work you’re in and what you want to do, those answers may differ.
This article is about just that — a variety of different examples in which the causes of success may differ.
I’ll go over 9 of theories of success:
Success Theory 1: Energy Levels
Success Theory 2: IQ
Success Theory 3: Conscientiousness
Success Theory 4: Grit
Success Theory 5: Ambition
Success Theory 6: Good Looks
Success Theory 7: Family
Success Theory 8: Luck
Success Theory 9: Stress-Tolerance
“It’s all about the Pentiums.”
Success theory #1: It’s all about energy levels
Having high energy levels and the ability to get by on low sleep. Which would amount to the ability to push yourself harder than the average person and get more work done. Especially during your 20s and 30s. And this would be a particular advantage in sales or non-creative lines of work.
Someone said America is ruled by the Frequent Fliers, the people who can make the 7 am flight to Dallas for a sales conference and get back in the afternoon for a dinner meeting, and do that several times per week for decades. This kind of schedule selects for people who can get by on little sleep, who take a nap whilst flying, and show up consistently. Like that saying from Woody Allen — “80% of success is just showing up.”
But not all professions are like that.
Success theory #2: It’s all about IQ
People who believe this usually say that success comes down to learning faster or interpreting complex concepts faster than others.
I think you want to be smart enough, but not too smart. Too high IQ or intellectual curiosity detracts from business success — by focusing on the “wrong” things (like a scientist or starving artist)..
Having too many interests is a good way to keep your brain active and healthy, but not necessarily good for making money.
Another drawback of being “too smart” is intellectual arrogance and overconfidence. These people think they are smart enough to predict everything and they make dangerous mistakes because of it. Especially in finance, politics, technology and other high-stakes areas.
Success theory #3: It’s all about conscientiousness
Conscientiousness — consistency, attention to detail, and hard work.
Like Rockefeller keeping his account book without fail for several decades.
People who believe in conscientiousness as a big factor of success, say that certain people have an affinity for working harder and being detailed, and others do not.
It’s easier for conscientious people to fit into an organization and rise to the top because they have an easier time putting their head down and doing the (hard) work than the average person or the entrepreneurial-oriented person.
Success theory #4: It’s all about grit
People who believe this usually say that the most important trait for success (over the long-term) is psychological resilience. That is, the emotional toughness to persist without giving up, not let yourself be defined by your past as a narrative, and to reinvent yourself boldly.
This may very well be true for entrepreneurs. I doubt it’s true for the average careerist or researcher. Maybe for inventors and scientists though. Definitely for traders and salespeople.
Success theory #5: It’s all about ambition
The genes of a megalomaniac and the willingness to take risk.
Or having a tough childhood and therefore being extra-motivated to succeed. Like 50 Cent, Nas, Dr Dre and Biggie, who said in an interview: “Nobody really influenced me or inspired me to start rapping, I was just trying to get off the streets.”
Success theory #6: It’s all about good looks
Good looks, plus some charisma does wonders for navigating company politics and being likeable. Or so I hear.
People who say this believe that the Halo Effect is one of the most powerful psychological principles. I know a guy whose main asset is his big smile. No joke. The Halo Effect is strong in that one.
Attractive people get treated better than ugly people. A hot girl only needs to do two things: take care of her body, and pick the right man. An ugly girl needs to go to university and study and work harder than the average guy. It’s pretty unfair. But humans are a malleable species, so we make it go around anyway.
I was at a dinner and heard an interesting thing by an acquaintance. She compared good looks and bad looks to the difference of rats and cats. Rats have to be extra resourceful and sneaky because humans find them disgusting, while cats receive preferable treatment and are kept as pets and given food because humans find them cute. Which animal is at an advantage?
Success theory #7: It’s all about being born in the right family
People who believe this usually say that the best advantage one can get is being born into a rich family; preferably with two above-average parents, attending Ivy League schools, being exposed to the brightest and most ambitious peers, and gaining a powerful network.
It’s hard to argue with that. At least with the exposure effect of peers and having a family network.
On the other hand, there are a lot of successful parents whose kids turn out mediocre. Like Tommy Hilfiger’s rapper-son Rich Hill.
This is especially the case in family businesses. There’s a reason wealth rarely lasts more than three generations. The first generation makes it, the second generation inherits it, and the third generation wastes it.
Success theory #8: It’s all about being at the right place at the right time
The simplest example of this is just pure luck. Like walking home one day and finding a winning lottery ticket. But that kind of luck is so rare that I don’t think it’s even worth considering…
A better example would be like the one I gave in my article about Lessons from History. I will quote it here:
The combination of genetic talent and new technology leads to a new distribution of wealth for each generation. A small percentage of young people are better adapted to the new paradigm and/or find themselves in the right place at the right time. Consider Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, they were both talented at the new computing technology and they were born at the point of its inception, gaining access to it years before their peers, thanks to growing up in technologically-savvy families. Bill Gates and Paul Allen also got early access to computers. So, of course, they got a head-start to their learning curve.
Inherent in this line of reasoning is the strong power of survivorship bias. Which, I should add, is only increasing in power in a global-village type world, amplified by improved distribution systems.
Once-in-a-lifetime events now happen weekly.
Peter Thiel noted:
Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.
On another note, I went out partying a lot the first 6 months of 2019. In the clubs they would often play the songs of the new artist Post-Malone.
Surprised by how popular his songs were, I looked him up. He is just 24 years old and looks like a bum. If you saw him in the street you wouldn’t think he’s a multimillionaire who got billions of views on YouTube.
[Laughing all the way to the bank at you fools while smoking weed.}
What exactly is the lesson to be learned by Post-Malone?
That you should have lots of tattoos in your face to increase your chances of going viral? I don’t think there is a lesson–at all.
Success theory #9: It’s all about stress-tolerance
The theory goes something like this: The higher up the ladder you get, the more stressful it gets. Especially in terms of psychological stress.
Consider the CEO of a public company under strong scrutiny of the media. Or the U.S President. Look at these images of Barack Obama and tell me stress doesn’t prematurely age you.
[Like the allostatic overload example in BOOH, about John McCain.]
Similar examples can be found if you google for George W. Bush and Elon Musk. Bush’s hair turned grey. Musk got fat and bloated. There’s no doubt they both have extremely high stress-tolerance, but everyone has a breaking point.
The point I want to make is not “don’t pursue high level positions because it will make you look ugly”. I’m saying, start out with the assumption that you need a certain genetic baseline level of stress-tolerance to even qualify for the position.
Once you’re in the position, your body can handle it, but it’s going to come at considerable cost to your health. And hopefully you deem that cost to be a small price to pay.
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9 Success Theories by Ludvig Sunstrom
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