Roy Williams, men’s head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, recently won his 600th game, becoming only the 33rd coach in NCAA Division I history to win that many games. When asked about the milestone Williams replied, “Six hundred wins means I’ve been very lucky. It’s a lot of great players and great assistant coaches.”
A couple of things interested me about Williams’ response. First, here’s a guy who just became the third-fastest NCAA Division coach to reach 600 wins and he’s chalking it up to luck. He’s saying that it’s good fortune that allowed him to be so successful. Second, he’s sharing the credit with the hundreds of players he’s coached and the dozens of assistants he’s worked with in his 21-year career. In other words, “it’s not me, it’s us.”
In a world where athletes are quick to pound their chests and tout their stats, it’s refreshing to hear a guy who has succeeded at a very high level for a long period of time (he’s averaged 27 wins per year over his 21 seasons as a head coach) respond so humbly when asked about his achievement. It reminds me of what Harry S. Truman said: “You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit.”
Coach WIlliams’ response to his success also reminded me of the description of the so-called “Level 5 Executive,” the top level in Jim Collins’ hierarchy of leadership in the book Good to Great. A Level 5 executive is described as someone who “builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.” Now I don’t know Roy Williams, but based on his success over a long career and his response when questioned about that success, I’d say he’s likely a Level 5 leader.
In “Good to Great” Collins writes that those who worked with or wrote about the top leaders “used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth.” It seems odd that the most successful people in their professions are notably humble. What’s the correlation between humility and success? Could it be that a leader’s humility and sincerity inspired others to work tirelessly on their behalf? Or could it be that this type of leader puts the organization and others above himself and, therefore, is more likely to succeed? I don’t have the answer, but I’m intrigued by the questions.
Luck is also something that the top executives interviewed by Collins for his book talked about often. Like Coach Williams, they attributed their success to luck — being in the right place at the right time, having great colleagues, and plain ol’ good fortune. It’s another way of demonstrating humility. If not good fortune, it must be me! And this type of person, this type of leader, is unwilling to say that.
According to Seneca (5BC-65AD), “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” In my estimation, this helps explain why so many successful leaders refer to luck when questioned about their accomplishments. These leaders meticulously prepare, and when an opportunity presents itself, they’re ready. This is what likely led Thomas Jefferson to observe, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” You see, hard work and luck are linked!
Remember the old Hee Haw skit “Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me?” C’mon, I’m not the only one who remembers Hee Haw on Saturday nights. Anyway, a number of cast members and/or guests sang about how bad things were and how bad their luck was. Here are the lyrics from the chorus of the song they’d sing:
“Gloom, despair, and agony on me! Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all! Gloom, despair and agony on me!”
That line — “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!” — sums it up for many people. They don’t think about their own lack of planning, effort, or preparation. They believe their own lack of success is always tied to external factors beyond their own control. Instead of taking responsibility for the actions and the results, they do neither. They just attribute their failures to bad luck, guaranteeing the cycle will continue because their is no self-improvement in chalking up failure to unlucky circumstances.
I believe luck plays a part in our lives, but it has a way of finding the diligent and ignoring the lazy. If we want to be successful, if we want to be lucky, it takes tremendous effort. But if we prepare and work hard, luck will likely find us as it did Roy Williams.