Last week’s Lottomax draw in Canada had a $50 million prize. For a $5 ticket you had a 1 in 28 million chance of winning the grand prize. Yet someone did. I have been on projects where:

• the regression test just had to be 100% clean the first time, and it was
• the person you didn’t have time to interview,you took a chance on just their CV and they turned out to be a  star
• the client that after you explain why you need this $4 million change order says “ok, let me sign it”
• you chat with an unknown seat-mate in a cross country flight and at the end of the flight you have a new multi-million dollar project and a long term friend.

So it’s just pure luck. Or is it?

That regression test was the product of good team work, a good quality culture and good engineering discipline. That CV was well written, honest and the reader was getting skilled at looking for the key points and assessing veracity. The client that approved that change order without a fuss, trusts you and your judgment and you had already earned that decision. The 5 hours on a flight wasn’t just idle chatter. It involved rapport building, some quality consulting insights and appropriate influencing.  None of them are really luck.

In consulting there is no Lottomax win scenario. Our success is defined by our skill that is built on a foundation of personal and corporate integrity. That’s what makes us successful against all odds.