They say fortune favors the brave, but little is said about the brave being lucky. Think about it. Most anyone with good fortune will tell you they also had good luck, but rarely do people with good luck end up tallying a good fortune. This isn’t just poetic theory. Inc. magazine reported that 95% of new products fail. Even new grocery items, many of which are created by big conglomerates, fail almost four out of five times. How can this be?
Welcome to Outsmarting Luck, a platform designed to tackle such critical thinking and published by an organization that has helped businesses and brands reduce luck from marketing equations for nearly 70 years. Our job is to help brands become more successful far more often. The only thing ironic about it all is our name – Luckie.
Luck can hide in many places within brands and while each situation is different, here are seven principles we’ve found to reduce luck the quickest:
1) Stare at the problem: Spend the time and energy on the real problems to solve. To us, this means business over brand and need over want.
2) Bring method to madness: Innovation loves gut instinct, but true engineering of success follows process and constitution.
3) Know what you don’t know: Assumptions are fair and often healthy, but always put them in a different bucket than facts.
4) All voices matter: Collaboration and integration are critical to get started and broaden thinking.
5) Project outcomes: Don’t spend a dime without a clear, data-driven projection of return. It’s hard but necessary.
6) Poke, punch, pick: Pressure test the idea at every turn and never be too proud to punt. What pains your heart can save your soul.
7) Seek professional help: The most successful people are the ones smart enough to ask for help the most often.
If you believe your brand could have better fortune and worry that too much luck is creeping in, we’ve developed a free “Luckie 7” audit to help rule out chance. Just reach out to [email protected] to learn more. If you are comfortable with your current path, we wish you luck. Well, you know what we mean.
