125. Is hard work enough?

Gerard

What you’re saying is that hard work is the basis for change and achieving results and success. I watched a documentary about Joan Rivers last night, an American comedian who recently passed away. She was 75 at the time of the movie, but she was still working admirably hard. Whenever her schedule was empty, she’d phone her manager to ask for sunglasses to protect her against the blinding white empty pages. After watching the empty pages for a while, she wrote a play in which she starred as the main character. Just to create some work for herself at an advanced age. And last week I watched a documentary about Bob Marley, who I must admit I previously believed only slept around and smoked pot. But the truth is that he only slept a few hours a night and went over and over his songs again and again to perfect them while his band members were content after the very first revision. Just an example of two people at the top of their profession, two people willing to go the extra mile.

Then again these people had an edge because of their exceptional talents. With that in mind, is hard work enough when you have no talent at all? Is hard work enough when you were not born in the right environment? Women are often disadvantaged from birth. In some countries, they never get the chance to catch up. In other countries, there is a pretence of equal opportunities, but in practice this is a mirage. For example, The Netherlands is supposed to be an egalitarian country, but do you know any women in top positions here? I can barely think of any. An odd thing in an age when men are no longer as necessary as they were, given that manual labour is less prevalent than in the past.

So I do wonder if hard work is all that it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. You need to have a talent for some specific area such as amazing negotiation skills or a clear, fast-working mind. This needs to be followed by a great deal of hard work that will end up giving you the edge over others who don’t work as hard.

For instance, you named the two men who founded Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Both of their parents were prominent academics and they followed in their footsteps as regards their study area. Even in sports, there are countless examples of children imbued with the athletic ability of their parents. It’s just that you have to work harder than the others to put it to your advantage. Take Andre Agassi, trained from the age of three by his father; a former Iranian boxing champion. He succeeded just like Page and Brin did. They all made it to the top by a combination of talent and very hard work.

Regards,

Erik