The stories these senior people told about luck illuminate this important and often overlooked ingredient in career success. There was the lawyer whose long held ambition was to be a barrister until they filled an unexpected and urgent opening to become a judge.

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Then there was “Wanda” who was pursuing musical ambitions until her family immigrated to Australia. Once here, she was able to study medicine, a pathway that her country of origin blocked for women. She became a doctor.

Sometimes the lucky break presents as a career epiphany, or a sudden insight that you really should be doing something else.

“Nola” had this experience while being interviewed for a legal position, she recalled: “And I sat in the interview and I had - it might sound a bit extreme, but literally had an epiphany. I was sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this! This is not for me at all!’” She ended up being a very successful administrator instead.

In a world of careers advice that emphasises having a plan, setting goals and generally treating career advancement that is something that can and should be controlled, it is worth reflecting on the role luck plays.

Importantly, it is worth working on ways to improve one’s luck. If being in the right place at the right time is such a common cause of good luck, maybe it is worth thinking about how you can increase your chances of being in the right place, and trying to guess when will be the right time.

Some strategies include getting out more, turning up to things, saying yes to invitations and assignments (as long as the assignment promises to place you in the action if the action is good, or well away from the action if the action is bad).

Sometimes bad luck brings good luck. As Andrew Leigh relates, in 1940, Robert Menzies lost three of his cabinet when the Hudson plane carrying them crashed into a hill in Canberra.

It allowed Harold Holt to be plucked from relative obscurity into the cabinet, and ultimately when Menzies retired, Holt became prime minister. Leigh speculates this would not have happened with the bad/good luck of the crash. Of course Holt’s career was going swimmingly until he had his own dose of bad luck.

Successful careers are a matter of both luck and judgement. So, are you ready to get lucky?

Dr Jim Bright, FAPS, is a director at IWCA and is Director of Evidence & Impact at edtech start up BECOME Education. Email to [email protected]. Follow him on X/Twitter @DrJimBright

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