Siduri Poli is an entrepreneur, investor and author who knows how to get things done. Here, she shares her number one career tip for making the most of 2022
I was asked to write an essay about my best career advice for 2022. And my best advice to making it big is easy: be sure to get lucky. I know, this advice is a little controversial - lots of people truly believe that hard work and dedication is the only ingredient you need to succeed with your dreams. So is this the worst professional advice you have ever gotten? Maybe. But I can tell you this: it is also the realest.
And, there are things you can do to make yourself more likely to strike it lucky.
Before I was an entrepreneur with several startups, best-selling author, tech-investor and cofounder of an organisation supporting 1,800 entrepreneurs on my resume, I too thought that my own abilities were all I needed to make it big in this world. The world however, had another point of view and slam dunked it in my face as soon as I felt a small, almost unnoticeable breeze pushing me forward. “Oh, you think you’re something?” The world whispered in my ear while shedding ice on the road I was driving on, so bad that the police had to stop the traffic that would make me miss "the meeting that was going to change my life".
Photo: Daniela Spiroska
Luck. Some people have it so much that I sometimes wonder what makes them stronger when literally nothing in this world is trying to kill them. But some are born with less luck in the sense of a lack of network, money or a family who can’t support even mentally. Being a woman, with a non-Nordic heritage, does not give you more luck either. We all know the sad numbers around inequality in the business world. We always just seem to miss the bus with destination Lucky Island - mostly because we never got the invitation card in first place.
So how the heck do we unlucky bastards make it? Are we doomed to our destiny of trying over and over and over again? Will we let our backgrounds of growing up in non-privileged areas, with a network of non-professional contacts and living in an underrepresented body have us say sayonara to our dreams? I mean, it would be the perfect excuse to settle for less.
But is unluck a possibility, or even a responsibility to reverse your fortunes? I’d say both. If you won’t go out of that door to make your dream come true for yourself, do it so you’ll have a reason to inspire others with “If I can, you can”.
Photo: Daniela Spiroska
The question remains, how do we get lucky?
If you asked Pharrell he’d say that “we’ve come too far to give up who we are”. If you ask me, I’d say it’s all about the community you create around you. The better community, the more lucky you’ll get. I hate the idea of one (wo)man shows, since I strongly believe that nothing is as powerful as building things together with other people.
In my book How to Make it in a White World, I write about the word self-made, and how it belongs to the past. The new term is community-made. I’d be nothing without my community of changers pushing me forward. You can create your own community digitally, find it in your school or join co-working spaces where you can exchange support from others. In Changers Hub you can apply to get a personal coach or attend to our events, and on Instagram there are plenty of community accounts such as Business and Dreams, Her Online Network, Womenisa and Carrus Network.
The second piece of advice is to jump out of your comfort zone. For me, it was all about going to stiff mingling events, invited or not, to make sure my phonebook would get an upgrade with numbers I might need in the future. To do this you first need to know what your comfort zone is, write down all the things you’re scared of and, as a KBT therapist would say, start doing them.
And last, but not least; know your privilege and work with what you've got. We all have the p-word, for instance if you live in Scandinavia you are the lucky one thriving in a free country with endless opportunities to make any dream come true.
The other part is to find your superpower, train it, activate it and when needed, use it to make sure you’ll have it your way. If you are unsure of yours, approach people in your circle and ask them what they think your strengths are. My power is that I’m good with words, so good, that even when the police shuts off the road for The Meeting That Was Going To Change My Life, I managed to talk my way out of it so they let me pass red stop signs and road closures, ensuring I made it in time.
We’re now entering a new year which is a perfect moment to "raise the bar, and our cups to the stars" - it’s your turn to get lucky. Go get it baby.