# What is the number one reason why some people succeed in life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994 "2008-12-19T23:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/181 "2009-01-01T01:32:21Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > A few years ago, my father and I argued about this. We were talking about what we would do and how we would fare if civilization ended. > > His position was that we (meaning, comfortably middle class people with educations and material possessions) would do alright. > > My position was that we would be the first to die. Sure, I have a computer and an advanced degree, but I don’t know how to garden or hunt. I’ve never handled a gun. I’ve never built a shelter. I don’t know how to jerry-rig machinery. I’ve never gone to bed hungry or lived without running water. Without books detailing how to go about doing these things, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. And by the time I’d figure everything out, I’d be dead. > > There are no doubt true “win at all costs” kind of people who are biologically and psychological driven to succeed and do well (though they probably aren’t very fun to hang out with). But most of us are specialists. We do well in our niche–in the context that we’re most familiar Put us in a drastically different context and we will probably do poorly. > > Can you really see William Buffet or Bill Gates being any more successful on a deserted island than any randomly selected Doper? I can’t. But I do imagine some illiterate guy from a third world country doing comparably better than all of us. I’m not talking deserted Islands. Look at the people who had to flee Cuba or some other revolution. They didn’t go to a deserted Island. They went to Florida. But. You know what? It doesn’t matter. You take a few hundred or a few thousand people and send them to a deserted Island and those who were natural leaders before will be the leaders after. They do not need to know how to hunt tigers thee any more than they need how to fix cars here. They will be the leaders and organizers and they will delegate that stuff to others. Successful people are not the ones who know how to fix an electric switch or a car clutch. They are the ones who are the leaders and bosses of those who can do that kind of thing. I am sure Bill Gates would do very well under any circumstances. He’s led and managed thousands. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/182 "2009-01-01T02:02:10Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > I’m not talking deserted Islands. Look at the people who had to flee Cuba or some other revolution. They didn’t go to a deserted Island. They went to Florida. > > But. > You know what? > It doesn’t matter. > You take a few hundred or a few thousand people and send them to a deserted Island and those who were natural leaders before will be the leaders after. They do not need to know how to hunt tigers thee any more than they need how to fix cars here. They will be the leaders and organizers and they will delegate that stuff to others. Successful people are not the ones who know how to fix an electric switch or a car clutch. They are the ones who are the leaders and bosses of those who can do that kind of thing. So we’re now equating “success” with leadership? I thought we were talking about people who have had a positive impact on millions of people–from scientists to artists to statesmen. Not just people who can effectively order people around. If that’s not the case, my bad. The concept of a natural leader is an interesting one, but I need some evidence of such a thing before I’ll buy it. I’m having a hard time seeing Bill Gates effectively ordering Italian mob bosses around, for instance, or even being a good director of a day care center. Just curious why you think Gate’s a natural leader rather than someone who learned, through trial and effor, how to be a good leader in his field. I’m actually trying to think of _anyone_ who has shown him/herself to be a superior leader in multiple arenas, and I can’t think of any. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/183 "2009-01-01T12:25:33Z")
Leadership, like many things, can be learnt but it helps if you have a natural talent. I have no doubt people like Bill Gates or Barack Obama would always come out on top after any kind of shakeup. They can lead a corporation or a political party or a non-profit or any large group one hundred times better than your average person on the street. I think the average person often just has no idea of the qualities it takes to lead a large group of people and often overestimates technical knowledge while underestimating personal and social abilities. A person who is focused and persistent in his aims has better ability to inspire others to follow, help and cooperate. Successful leaders move from the military to private industry to politics to writing books… The average man on the street would not achieve that level of success in a single field. In any group of people (even in any group of mammals) there are natural leaders and natural followers. People who win the lottery generally do not suddenly find their position in life changes that much except in the aspect of having more money. They do not become more successful personally which shows luck really has little to do with it. Over a lifetime we all have opportunities and strokes of bad luck. It is what each one makes of each situation. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/184 "2009-01-02T02:27:06Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > I think the average person often just has no idea of the qualities it takes to lead a large group of people and often overestimates technical knowledge while underestimating personal and social abilities. People who are successful tend to be good at both. If you only focus on the technology, you often end up as a workhorse or a drone that people just dump tasks on. On the other hand, I’ve seen plenty of examples of clueless managers advancing very far because they can bullshit and navigate a beurocracy well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994.md?page=9)