Success Equation: Skill Plus Luck
Have you read Michael Maboussin’s book —The Success Equation?
I have been reading different Michael Maboussin for a long time. He is a very successful investor who often writes about luck and its impact on investing and sports.
I find the intersection of these two disciplines fascinating.
Well, he is back out with another persuasive article. This time Maboussin presents compelling information on the need for more and more luck as the skill level of competitors increases. If skill intensifies in a discipline than we find ourselves back in a dynamic in which luck comes into play.
He calls this the “paradox of skill”:
“..This is one of the lessons of the paradox of skill. Getting better in an absolute sense doesn’t matter if it’s offset by the competition. Hitters today are much better than they were in the past, but so are the pitchers. The improvement is obscured by the interaction”
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