100%. In theory almost nothing we do comes without “luck” or whatever a person wants to call it. Effort does not guarantee specific results, it never has. It is just generally far less likely to get certain results if one makes no effort.
So it isn’t fair to say that no one born into the Walton Family (the people that own Walmart) or a Lehman etc. has to work hard towards their goals- but it’s also not really fair to say that being born to a wealthy and connected family with a history of business success and a huge fortune doesn’t give you advantages, or that they still don’t require luck in business.
By the same token- a child born in an underdeveloped country into poverty who manages to climb out of poverty and create a fortune, there is still luck in that story full of hard work. Most of us fall in between on privilege and such, but simply being born when and where we were to be in a position to put that effort forward involved luck. That you weren’t hit by a car or involved…
.. in a tragedy that cut your dreams short or may have stopped you is another form of “luck.” Every day behind the curtain are dice rolls and coin flips of sorts- a man survives a gunshot to the head doctors are baffled by one place, in another a woman pushes a man on the street and he hits his head and dies. One person wins the lottery against astronomical odds and another has a blood vessel burst in their brain out of nowhere with no history or indications. A restaurant opens and people love it and it gets rave reviews and the owner works hard… and it fails. Another near identical one succeeds well enough to become a franchise in malls across America. There are elements of chance to all we do. In a business like dining, you’re more likely to fail in your first year than succeed. Simply succeeding means you’ve beaten statistics, but it isn’t all hard work. How many places closed because of covid? Would working harder have saved them?
So it isn’t fair to say that no one born into the Walton Family (the people that own Walmart) or a Lehman etc. has to work hard towards their goals- but it’s also not really fair to say that being born to a wealthy and connected family with a history of business success and a huge fortune doesn’t give you advantages, or that they still don’t require luck in business.
By the same token- a child born in an underdeveloped country into poverty who manages to climb out of poverty and create a fortune, there is still luck in that story full of hard work. Most of us fall in between on privilege and such, but simply being born when and where we were to be in a position to put that effort forward involved luck. That you weren’t hit by a car or involved…