Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business

Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business

Released April 2012
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781118249758

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Book description

A guide to getting luck on your side

As the pace of change accelerates and the volume of information explodes, we're under great pressure to connect just in time with the people and ideas we need to thrive. But we can no longer plan our way to success—there will always be factors beyond our control. This uncertainty, however, cultivates one of today's key drivers of success: serendipity. More than blind luck, serendipity can produce quantifiable results: breakthrough ideas, relationships that matter, effortless cooperation, synchronized market timing, and more. Get Lucky shows businesses how to succeed by fostering the conditions for serendipity to occur early and often.

  • Distills planned serendipity into eight key elements: preparedness, motion, activation, attraction, connection, commitment, porosity, and divergence

  • Features stories of serendipity in action at well-known companies including Avon, Target, Steelcase, Google, Facebook, Walmart, and more

  • Written by serial entrepreneurs and cofounders of Get Satisfaction, a breakout platform for online customer service communities with over 100,000 clients

Planned serendipity is not an abstract, magical notion, but a practical skill. Get Lucky is the indispensable resource for anyone who wants to learn this skill and to make serendipity work for them.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Chapter 1: Prepare for the Unpreparable
    1. Luck Is a Four-Letter Word
    2. Stickier Than It Looks
    3. Good Luck Is Hard Work
    4. Science Gets Lucky
    5. Spinning a Rattleback in Rotterdam
    6. Serendipity at Work
    7. Bringing Lucky Back
    8. Skill 1: Motion
    9. Skill 2: Preparation
    10. Skill 3: Divergence
    11. Skill 4: Commitment
    12. Skill 5: Activation
    13. Skill 6: Connection
    14. Skill 7: Permeability
    15. Skill 8: Attraction
    16. Caught in a Double Bind
  7. Chapter 2: Skill: Motion
    1. Creative Collisions
    2. Let's Get Moving
    3. Motion by Design
    4. Risk and Reward
  8. Chapter 3: Skill: Preparation
    1. The Case of the Floppy-Eared Rabbits
    2. What's the Difference?
    3. A Mind for Serendipity
    4. The Zen Master
    5. Amplifying the Weird
    6. Going the Distance
    7. Every Project Is a Side Project
    8. Strength in Numbers
    9. In Practice
  9. Chapter 4: Skill: Divergence
    1. Straying the Course
    2. A Low Tolerance for Creativity
    3. A Show of Confidence
    4. Branching Out
    5. Growth Strategies
    6. Divirtuoso
  10. Chapter 5: Skill: Commitment
    1. No Turning Back
    2. Serendipity Suppressed
    3. Commitment Issues
    4. Habits Born of Commitment
    5. How Does Your Garden Grow?
  11. Chapter 6: Skill: Activation
    1. Activation by Design
    2. The Ambient Shift
    3. The Temporal Shift
    4. The Social Shift
    5. The Emotional Shift
    6. Embracing Our Limitations
  12. Chapter 7: Skill: Connection
    1. The Network to the Rescue
    2. 4.74 Degrees of Separation
    3. Working on a Chain Gang
    4. The Department of Good Ideas
    5. The Best Place to Find a Needle
  13. Chapter 8: Skill: Permeability
    1. Soaking It All In
    2. You're So Far Away from Me
    3. Ride on the Cluetrain
    4. Satisfaction Guaranteed
    5. Feedback Formula
    6. Patients and Patience
  14. Chapter 9: Skill: Attraction
    1. Come Together
    2. A Teachable Moment
    3. Where There's a Will
    4. Hack Things Better
    5. Come Out and Play
    6. The Creative Act
  15. Chapter 10: Unraveling the Double Bind
    1. Survival Skills
    2. To Paradox Is Human
    3. Creation Myth
  16. Serendipiography
    1. 1: Prepare for the Unpreparable
    2. 2: Skill: Motion—Breaking Out
    3. 3: Skill: Preparation—Anatomy of a Geek Brain
    4. 4: Skill: Divergence—The Garden of Forking Paths
    5. 5: Skill: Commitment—Burning the Ships
    6. 6: Skill: Activation—Church vs. Stadium
    7. 7: Skill: Connection—Needle in a Haystack
    8. 8: Skill: Permeability—Storming the Castle
    9. 9: Skill: Attraction—Magnetic Fields
    10. 10: Unraveling the Double Bind
  17. Acknowledgments
  18. About the Authors
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2012
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781118249758