Luck vs Hard Work: 2 Case Studies of Career Success

Can you succeed without luck?

When it comes to building a career or wealth, luck and hard work both have an impact.

This is something the greatest investor of all time, Warren Buffett, often talks about. He admits that his success is also a matter of luck. After all, he applied the same investing strategy as his mentor Benjamin Graham.

But Buffett achieved better returns because of when he started. Graham had to invest through the most treacherous times for securities, the 1930s. But Buffett admits he was lucky in more ways than that. In his 2014 annual letter, he said:

“Through dumb luck, Charlie [his business partner] and I were born in the United States, and we are forever grateful for the staggering advantages this accident of birth has given us.”

But what about hard work? Didn’t Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger also put in the work?

It’s the age-old discussion of luck vs hard work. What matters more? Do you need both? Can you still succeed without much luck?

In this article, we’ll look at two people who are highly regarded in their field. One experienced luck much earlier than the other. But they both succeeded at what they wanted to do.