History is crowded with countless individuals who set out to find something but ended up finding a variation of what they were seeking. Columbus happened upon the Americas while looking for the Spice Islands of Asia. Edison discovered that bamboo was a more efficient material for the light-bulb filament than cotton. These discoveries were part of an iterative process. The discoverers knew what they were looking for, more or less, and they made informed decisions to guide their way.
However, history is also populated with many individuals who happened upon something that was completely unexpected, previously unimagined, and altogether novel. Let’s call these episodes of history “lucky links.”
There are two types of the lucky link. The first type happens when a breakthrough creates a new and previously unimagined application. The analogy is someone traveling down a road and then unexpectedly discovering a new road that leads to a new destination.
The second type of lucky link happens when a new and previously unimagined element provides a breakthrough to solve a solution. The analogy is someone traveling down a road and then unexpectedly discovering a new vehicle that transports them to their destination, like maybe a helicopter, jet pack, or magic carpet.
An example of the first type is Viagra. Yes, I’m talking about the little blue pill that for decades has delivered new excitement to relationships, new material for rappers, comedians and politicians, and new spam to your email in-box.
The potent ingredient in Viagra is called sildenafil and it was first synthesized by researchers working for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The substances helped dialate blood vessels in lab-test animals and showed promise as a treatment for high blood pressure and cardiac ailments. However, when researchers tested it on men, it gave rise to something else. It gave rise to an unexpected, a reliable erection.
Pfizer thought they had a blood-pressure pill, but they realized they had a boner pill. In this way, Viagra can be considered both a “lucky link” and also a “get lucky link.”
An example of the second type of lucky link in the world of pharmaceuticals is penicillin. In 1928 Scottish physician Alexander Fleming went on vacation and returned to make an astonishing discovery. Some mold had grown in a petri dish that he had been using for research on the flu virus. The mold appeared to be inhibiting the growth of the Staphylococcus bacteria in the dish. As it turns out, the mold produced a chemical that could kill bacteria. He named the chemical penicillin.
Fleming said, “One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”
You may view Viagra and penicillin as simply random occurrences that came out of the blue, as incidents that were beyond the influence of the individuals involved. You may be tempted to view them as things that happened to the individuals, rather than things that the individuals created. They may seem to be unrelated to your own activities.
But this view overlooks a crucially important element: intent. Both examples highlight unexpected developments in work that was already in progress. Dr Fleming and the Pfizer researchers were already deeply involved in their work when the lucky links occurred. They remind me, luck is the intersection of preparedness and opportunity.
Or, stated differently, the harder you work, the luckier you get.
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