Lucky the car was dirty

Luck

It’s 1971 and Bill Fernandez would do something that would change the course of history. On that fateful day, Bill decided to go for a nice stroll with his good friend, Steve Jobs. As luck would have it, their walk took them pass the house of another of Bill’s pals, Steve Wozniak.

Luckily, Woz’s car was dirty and he was outside, washing it. Bill introduced the two Steve’s and they instantly hit it off. They both shared a passion for technology and practical jokes. Soon after, they started hanging out, collaborating and eventually working together to form Apple. The rest is history.

It’s incredible, in life and business, how powerful and important Luck is.

People who know me well, know that I’m an avid reader and one of the authors that’s influenced my thinking the most is the legendary Tom Peters – you know, of In Search of Excellence fame, among many other brilliant works.

Tom’s also a big believer in Luck. In fact, he believes it’s the most important factor in anyone’s success. I think he’s right. As he correctly points out in his ditty below, you make your own luck and, when you do, you just get luckier and luckier – which is an ongoing philosophy that helps you learn, change, grow and deliver.

So, today, I’m celebrating and counting my lucky stars. I know that luck is THE factor in any success (and failures) that I’ve had. Just consider…

Years ago, I started my career fresh from school at a prestigious consulting firm in downtown Toronto. As luck would have it, one of my Partners, Gus, gave me some brilliant advice. He said to me, “Mike you don’t know shit. The only way to learn is to read. Tons. I’ll make a deal with you. For every business related book you read, the firm will pay for it”. Luckily, I took the advice of Gus and this propelled me into life-long reading and learning.

Roughly 20 years ago, another massive jolt of luck helped me considerably. I was leading a team at a large Canadian retailer who would eventually design what we now call Flowcasting, along with delivering the first full scale implementation of integrated time-phased planning and supplier scheduling in retail.

The original design was enthusiastically supported by our team, but did not have the blessings of Senior Management. In fact, the VP at the time (my boss) indicated that this would not work, we’d better change it, or I’d be fired.

Luckily one of the IT folks, John, then said to me something like “this is just like DRP at store level. You should call Andre Martin and see what he thinks”. To which I replied, “Who’s Andre Martin and what is DRP?”. The next day John brought me copy of Andre’s book, Distribution Resource Planing. I read it (luckily I’m a reader you know) and agreed. I called Andre the next day and eventually he and his colleague, Darryl, helped us convince Senior Management the design was solid – which led to a very successful implementation and helped change the paradigm of retail planning.

As luck would have it, my director on that initial project would later become CEO of Princess Auto Ltd (PAL) – as you know, an early adopter of the Flowcasting process and solution. Given his understanding of the potential of planning and connecting the supply chain from consumption to supply, it was not surprising that we were called to help. Luck had played an important role again.

Luck also played a significant role in the successful implementation of Flowcasting at PAL. The Executive Sponsor, Ken, and the Team Lead, Kim, were people that:

  1. Could simplify things;
  2. See the potential of the organization working in harmony driven by the end consumer; and
  3. Had credibility within the organization to help drive and instill the change.

We were lucky that the three of us had very similar views and philosophy regarding change – focusing on changing the mental model, and less on spewing what I’d call Corporate Mayonnaise.

In addition to being like-minded, the project team at PAL were lucky in that they used a software solution that was designed for the job. The RedPrairie Collaborative Flowcasting solution was designed for purpose – a simple, elegant, low-touch, intuitive system that is easy to use and even easier to implement.

We were very lucky that as an early adopter, we were given the opportunity to use the solution to prove the concept, at scale. As a result, our implementation focused mainly on changing minds and behaviors rather than the typical system and integration issues that plague these implementations when a solution not fit for purpose is deployed.

So, my advice to you is simple. When you get the chance, jot down all the luck you’ve had in your career and life so far. If you’re honest, you’ll realize that luck has played a huge role in your success and who you are today.

And, by all means, you should continue to welcome and encourage more luck into your life.

Thank you and Good Luck!