Luck and Leadership

“Optimists believe in good luck, pessimists in bad.But if it’s all a matter of perspective, does luck even exist?”

Luck is often described as the meeting point between opportunity and preparedness. Yet for many high-performing leaders, luck can feel like an uncomfortable concept. They would rather attribute success to discipline, hard work, commitment, and determination, and rightly so. But that does not mean luck has no role to play.

The truth is, luck is often misunderstood.

Some people dismiss it altogether. Others use it as a throwaway line when things are going well. “She’s so lucky.” “He was in the right place at the right time.” But leadership is rarely that simple. There is a powerful relationship between luck and leadership, and the leaders who understand it often move through the world differently.

Luck is not just about chance. It is not passive, random, or reserved for a select few. More often than not, luck is shaped by perspective, awareness, openness, and action. It is the ability to notice opportunities that others overlook. It is the courage to move when a door opens. It is the willingness to embrace change, back yourself, and remain open to what is possible.

That is what this chapter is really about.

It is about developing a new perspective on luck. It is about recognising that luck can be cultivated. It is about creating the kind of mindset and environment that allows opportunity to find you, and more importantly, allows you to recognise it when it arrives.

For leaders, this matters deeply.

Because when you expand your view of luck, you expand your view of possibility. You become more willing to take bold risks, more able to see options where others see obstacles, and more prepared to act when the moment presents itself. Luck, in that sense, becomes less about waiting and more about readiness.

And perhaps that is the real invitation here: to stop treating luck as something external, and start seeing it as something you can influence.

Is It Luck, or Is It Hard Work?

Throughout my life, I have been told I was lucky.

Lucky to have certain opportunities. Lucky to perform certain roles. Lucky to be where I was. Lucky to have achieved what I achieved.

And while I understand the sentiment, I have often found myself questioning it.

Was it really luck? Or was it work?

As a dancer in my teens, I was fortunate enough to win competitions and perform lead roles in productions. From the outside, that may have looked lucky. But what people did not always see was what sat behind those moments: the early mornings, the endless rehearsals, the corrections, the setbacks, the repetition, the falling down and getting back up again. They did not see the hours spent in the studio refining one movement until it became second nature.

That was not luck. That was grunt.

It was the quiet, unglamorous work of wanting to do better, be better, and perform at the highest level possible. It was doing a plié over and over again until my body knew what to do without conscious thought. It was repetition, discipline, and devotion long before applause ever entered the room.

Leadership is no different.

From the outside, some leaders appear lucky. Opportunities seem to fall into their lap. They are invited into the right rooms. They meet the right people. They seem to be in the right place at the right time.

But is that luck?

Or is it that they have been paying attention? Is it that they have built credibility, stayed open, kept showing up, developed their capability, and positioned themselves so that when opportunity appears, they are ready?

We often call someone lucky when we did not witness the preparation.

We see the breakthrough, but not the build-up. We see the opportunity, but not the years of effort that made that opportunity matter. We see the result, but not the resilience, discipline, and persistence that came before it.

That is why luck and hard work are not opposites. More often, they are partners.

Hard work builds the foundation. Luck creates openings. Perspective helps you spot them. Courage helps you take them.

So perhaps the better question is not whether luck exists. Perhaps the better question is this:

Are you living, leading, and preparing in a way that allows luck to find you?

Create Your Own Luck

There is a body of research that suggests luck may be far less random than we think.

Some studies have found that people who consider themselves lucky tend to share certain behaviours and habits. They are more open. More observant. More willing to engage. More likely to notice opportunities, take social risks, and act on instinct. In other words, what looks like luck from the outside is often the result of mindset and behaviour.

This is good news for leaders.

Because it means luck is not fixed. It can be fostered.

Here are four ways leaders can create more of it.

1. Increase your exposure to opportunity

Luck rarely finds people who stay hidden.

If you want more opportunities, you need more places for opportunity to meet you. That may look like attending events, joining industry conversations, putting your hand up for stretch projects, saying yes to rooms that challenge you, or having conversations that expand your thinking.

The more visible, engaged, and curious you are, the more likely you are to come across ideas, people, and possibilities that can shift your path.

You do not need to force every outcome. But you do need to increase the surface area for serendipity.

2. Develop a growth mindset

Lucky leaders do not expect every situation to go perfectly. They expect to learn.

A growth mindset allows you to see setbacks as information, not identity. It helps you stay open when things do not go to plan. It builds resilience, adaptability, and perspective, all of which are essential when opportunity arrives disguised as challenge.

Many of the best opportunities in leadership do not look lucky at first. They often look inconvenient, uncomfortable, or risky.

A growth mindset helps you stay in the game long enough to discover what they really are.

3. Stay curious and open

Curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership advantages.

Curious leaders ask better questions. They explore rather than assume. They stay open to different perspectives, new information, changing conditions, and unexpected ideas. And because of that, they often see things others miss.

Openness creates range.

It broadens your field of vision and increases the likelihood that you will notice an emerging opportunity, a meaningful connection, or a fresh solution before everyone else does.

Closed leaders wait for certainty. Curious leaders move with possibility.

4. Build strong relationships

Luck often travels through people.

A conversation, an introduction, a recommendation, a passing comment, a moment of support. So many opportunities arrive through relationships we have invested in over time.

Leaders who build strong, genuine relationships create networks of trust, insight, and support around them. They are more likely to hear about opportunities early. More likely to be thought of when a role, project, or invitation emerges. More likely to receive guidance, encouragement, and perspective when they need it most.

Relationships do not just open doors. They help you know which doors matter.

The Leadership Lens on Luck

When leaders adopt a more expansive view of luck, something shifts.

They become less rigid and more aware. Less cynical and more receptive. Less focused on controlling every variable and more focused on developing the mindset, habits, and readiness that allow them to respond well when the unexpected appears.

That does not make them passive. It makes them powerful.

Because they stop waiting for perfect timing and start creating the conditions for progress.

They understand that luck is not a replacement for effort. It is what effort makes possible.

So yes, work hard. Prepare thoroughly. Build capability. Stay disciplined. Do the grunt.

But do not dismiss luck.

Notice it. Respect it. Create space for it.

Because some of the most significant moments in leadership do not arrive with certainty.

They arrive as chance encounters, untidy opportunities, off-script conversations, and unexpected openings.

And the leaders who go furthest are often the ones who know how to recognise them.

My 2 Cents worth

If you believed you could create more luck in your life and leadership, what would you do differently?

Would you be more visible? More curious? More willing to take the meeting, ask the question, pitch the idea, start the conversation, or back yourself before all the evidence is in?

Would you stop calling other people lucky and start looking more closely at how they prepared, positioned themselves, and stayed open?

Luck may not be entirely in your control. But how you think, how you show up, and how ready you are when opportunity arrives, absolutely is.

And that might be the most empowering truth of all.

If you would like to book in a time to speak with Ally: CLICK HERE.

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Ally Nitschke is a best-selling Author, an award-winning Thought Leader and Speaker. She has been working with leaders and as a Leader for over 20 years.

She is on a mission to change the way we communicate at work, to lean into those uncomfortable conversations and lead with courage.

Ally is a Keynote Speaker at conferences, delivers Transformational Programs & highly engaging workshops as well as provides Executive Coaching.