Thor Muller

Muller and Becker's "Get Lucky" provides a good introduction, for those unfamiliar with the topic, to ways that we can through a variety of common-sense actions increase our luck in business and other endeavors. Among those foundational elements, not surprisingly, are the need for preparation so we can take advantage of opportunities as we come across them; casting a wide net to develop connections with others whose skills might combine with ours to produce results otherwise unavailable to us; and taking actions that draw people to us because we appear to be the beneficiaries of particularly good luck. One strength of the book is that is rich in examples. The book, on the other hand, is far less compelling to those who have done even a moderate amount of reading on creativity, collaboration, and serendipity, for much of what is offered here repeats familiar stories and adds little to work like Jim Collins' "Great by Choice," Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," Frans Johansson's "The Medici Effect," and Jonah Lehrer's recently published and quickly withdrawn "Imagine." (For a more in-depth examination of the book, please see the article in ASTD's online "Learning Circuits" publication at http://www.astd.org/Publications/Newsletters/Learning-Circuits/Learning-Circuits....… (meer)