Good Luck: Alex Rovira and Fernando Trías de Bes on Making Your Own Fortune
Long ago, in a distant kingdom, Merlin summoned all the knights who lived within its borders and told them that in seven nights the magic four-leaf clover, the one that brings its owner unlimited good luck, would sprout in the Enchanted Forest. That is how Good Luck, the inspiring and universally applicable fable by Alex Rovira and Fernando Trías de Bes, begins.
Authors: Alex Rovira and Fernando Trías de Bes
Title: Good Luck: Creating the Conditions for Success in Life and Business (Spanish original La buena suerte, 2004)
Format: English Kindle edition (Jossey-Bass), about 160 pages
Scope: Short business and self-help fable about the difference between chance and good luck
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/B001GCVH9Y (ASIN B001GCVH9Y)
Who Will Accept the Challenge?
Who will dare to venture into the Enchanted Forest in search of the Magic Clover? Only two knights take up the challenge, and the fable follows how each of them goes about it. In the English edition the legend is framed by the story of two old friends, Max and Jim, who meet again by chance in Central Park fifty years after they last saw each other as children, and whose lives have gone in very different directions.
The fable has become, for many readers, an explanation of why some people succeed in life. Its pages hold the keys to a prosperous life, and years after its first publication its simple message still resonates strongly with readers of every age and culture.
Some See It at Once, Others Never Do
Among those who set out to find the clover, some see the solution immediately while others take longer or never find the answer at all. In a simple and brief way, anyone can uncover the basic principles the story sets out and compare the different ways its characters face the same situation. And, logically, by the end of the book the reader will have found the solution too.
A Story Inside a Story
The fable is framed by the meeting of two childhood friends, Victor and David, who run into each other in a park in New York after half a century. One has lost everything; the other has built a successful life. The successful friend tells the story of the knights and the clover to explain the difference between them, and the frame gives the fable a personal, almost confessional tone.
The Rules of Good Luck
At the end, the authors distil the story into short principles. Luck does not last, because it does not depend on you; good luck is created by each person, so it can last forever. Many are those who want good luck, but few decide to pursue it. If you do not have good luck now, perhaps it is because the circumstances are the same as always, so create new ones. And preparing the circumstances does not mean seeking only your own benefit: creating conditions in which others can also win brings good luck too.
Two Business Thinkers
Alex Rovira and Fernando Trías de Bes, both from Barcelona, are economists and business-school lecturers who have written widely on management and marketing. La buena suerte became an international bestseller and has been translated into many languages; Trías de Bes later wrote El vendedor de tiempo and Rovira La brújula interior, both also reviewed on this blog. The English edition, published by Jossey-Bass, keeps the brisk, parable-like tone of the original.
Luck Versus Good Luck
The book’s central distinction is between two kinds of fortune. Luck exists: it can be fleeting and unpredictable, like the luck of games of chance. But there is also the good luck that appears when we create the right circumstances for positive things to happen, and that kind depends on us.
It is a quick read, perfect for a single sitting, and useful to hand to a colleague or a young person who is waiting for something to happen instead of preparing the ground. Business readers will recognise the lesson about preparation and persistence; everyone else will simply enjoy a well-told fable.
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Part of the reading recommendations featured on books.sapiensverbum.com.
