Why the ultra rich get rich, explained in two charts | Brian Klaas

Why most billionaires aren’t geniuses and most geniuses aren’t billionaires, explained by political scientist Brian Klaas.
Subscribe to Big Think on KZbin ► / @bigthink
Up next, 3 game theory tactics, explained ► • 3 game theory tactics,...
Not all rich people are geniuses - most of them are just lucky.
Professor and author Brian Klass joins us to debunk a common misconception about wealth - that all those who have it are smarter than average. Klass uses probability to explain that though this is an easy assumption to make, it’s technically not correct.
He points to Elon Musk as a case study, noting that while Musk's skills have contributed to his achievements, his success also depends on his pre-existing resources and collaboration with others. In situations where Musk has worked individually (such as during his acquisition of Twitter), he has seen less success, and, ultimately, less profit.
The key takeaway here is that wealth is not directly correlated with wealth is not directly correlated with brain power. Thinking smarter and working harder does not always make you rich; most of the time, it’s just about being positioned at the luckiest spot on the bell curve.
Read the video transcript ► bigthink.com/series/devils-ad...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go Deeper with Big Think:
►Become a Big Think Member
Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. members.bigthink.com/?...
►Get Big Think+ for Business
Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. bigthink.com/plus/great-leade...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About Brian Klaas:
Brian Klaas grew up in Minnesota, earned his DPhil at Oxford, and is now a professor of global politics at University College London. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic, host of the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, and frequent guest on national television. Klaas has conducted field research across the globe and advised major politicians and organizations including NATO and the European Union. You can find him at BrianPKlaas.com and on Twitter @BrianKlaas.
His most recent book is Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters available here ► www.simonandschuster.com/book...

[@Riggsnic_co]

These are very valuable rules for anybody who wants to get rich. Unfortunately, most people who will watch this video will not really be able to apply the principles. We may not want to admit, but as Warren Buffett once said, investing is like any other profession-- it requires a certain level of expertise. No surprise that some people are losing a lot of money in the bear market, while others are making hundreds of thousands in profit. I just don't know how they do it. I have about $89k now to put in the market.

[@Ashley186fre2]

Understanding personal finances and investing will most likely lead to greater financial independence. By being knowledgeable about money and investing, individuals can make informed decisions about how to save, spend, and invest their money. I know someone who made over $350k in this recession influenced market, but to the best of my knowledge, it was through a financial advisor.

[@LindaHaire]

Exactly why i enjoy market decisions being guided by a pro , seeing that their entire skillset is built around going long and short at the same time both employing risk management and market experience , been using a portfolio-coach for over 2years+ and I've netted over $3million in that time frame.

[@JacquelinePerrira]

Impressive can you share more info?

[@LindaHaire]

Credits to 'Carol Vivian Constable' she has a web presence, so you can simply

[@JacquelinePerrira]

She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran a Google search for her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing.

[@KevinBauman]

A study found that players in Monopoly, who were given way more money to start, thought they won because they were smarter, not because they had been given an unfair advantage. That's why sayings like, "Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple"

[@williamburton757]

And a lot of other people accept having to round all the bases as an excuse for quitting the game and cursing the name of people who win the world series, regardless of where that champion started. Their luck doesn't justify your excuses.

[@KevinBauman]

@@williamburton757 the guy born on third would definitely complain if required to run all the bases like everyone else.

[@LucianoCantabruel]

@@williamburton757 there are people full of excuses, but there are plenty of people who do the hard work and have the same talent as the best, or the one born in third base, that does not make the majority billionaires. In fact, I bet most people in this chat aren't billionaires, which is what is the point of this vid: probabilities and reality. People have different motivations, billions of money is not the necessary element for happiness, if it were, we would be all fxscked.

[@williamburton757]

@@LucianoCantabruel it's not about hard work either. You can work every minute of every day, but if you're susceptible to the instant gratification trap or you're simply afraid of the risk of investing, then you're not going to make it. Long term wealth/success is a combination of inherent and learned traits. Intelligence (common sense mostly), self discipline, responsibility, risk-acceptance, foresight, personality, etc. You could be born wealthy, but if you're entirely absent one of those, you won't stay that way. Flip side, if you're born poor but develop the right character traits, you can become wealthy regardless of your "luck." The video is flawed because they say "born with talent" like the word "talent" is characterized by a single ability or proficiency, when it's not. The "talent to build wealth" is a lot of individual skills and attitudes that play off each other in balance to make a person successful. You miss one brick and the wall crumbles. So, simply put, the premise of the video is still dogshit.

[@AhirZamanSairi]

​​​​@@KevinBaumanI think they have the right to complain, but not the right to give up if they want success. And since complaining only demotivates and infuriates, best to just focus on the prize and at least 'try' to smile along the way. I bet if you try, that smile just might widen and widen. Maybe not though, doesn't matter. Giving up is the sole guarantee of failure. I think accepting bad circumstances and focusing on success still, has great grace. Easier said than done though, there's a reason most are average.

[@Brennanoliver775]

If life gives you lemon, you make lemonades, so at this point instead of waiting for stocks to crash or recovery, focus on how to profit off the current market, Bloomberg, WSJ, BBC business(just to mention a few) have been recording cases of folks averaging 350k in 12weeks, so there's money being moved around if you know where you're looking.

[@Erickruiz562]

Although the stock market is continuing rallying, there is a risk of reversals in the key indexes, sectors, and top stocks in particular. I advise you to consult a broker or financial counselor for advice.

[@_EduardoAzevedo]

I agree just reached my goal of $500k monthly trade earnings. Setting realistic goals is an essential part of trading

[@DanielFerreira596]

Smart, If i wanted to do the same with my retirement funds too, how do i get started trading?

[@_EduardoAzevedo]

There are a handful of experts in the field. I've experimented with a few over the past years, but I've stuck with ‘’ Jennifer Lea Jenson” for about five aiyears now, and her performance has been consistently impressive. She’s quite known in her field, look-her up.

[@WyattSmith-v]

Thanks, I saw Jennifer Lea Jenson googlel, read through her credentials on her webbsite and it's top-notch! I wrote her an email, hopefully she’s accepting new intakes.

[@kleckerklotz9620]

What I find most interesting is how incredibly far away a billion actually is. To visualise what this actually means, it helps to compare it with time. One million seconds is 11.57 days. And one billion seconds is 31.71 years.

[@arsenal0095]

Damn that's a huge difference

[@michaelallen2358]

Whoa 😯

[@normlang1994]

The time analogy is great. A millionaire spending $100,000 a day, would be broke in less than 2 weeks. It would take a Billionaire over 27 years spending at the same rate. Elon would still be a multi-billionaire after 5,000 years.

[@felixpaniagua6018]

@@normlang1994 no

[@LeeLLewis]

Thank you for breaking that down for us. 🙂

[@posthocprior]

Big Think: if an academic paper is referenced in a video, as it is in this video, it's polite to link to it in the description. (Btw, almost every KZbin channel does, from my experience.)

[@sateIIitepilot]

Or you could just find the study yourself and not all youtube "videos" link studies in the description

[@Heldimar4633]

@@sateIIitepilot one could but its always optimal to chose the path of least resistance

[@sateIIitepilot]

@@Heldimar4633 Well "always'" is an absolute so your sentence is inherently flawed

[@spoopyscaryskelebones3846]

@@sateIIitepilot get a life

[@sateIIitepilot]

@@spoopyscaryskelebones3846 Why do you think I don't have a life? Because I'm obviously smarter than you? Lol

[@victoriaabott]

I realized that the secret to being rich is saving for a better investment, and investing right. for instance, When I started investing last year, I avoided significant mistakes. I've focused on investing modest sums in stable businesses for the long term. If stocks perform well, I hold onto them; otherwise, I reinvest losses into profits. Recently, I made $9.5k from a $4k investment in NVIDIA.

[@kurtKking]

Exactly!!! a good number of people discredit the effectiveness of financial advisor, but over the past 10years, I’ve had a financial advisor consistently restructure and diversify my portfolio/expenses and I’ve made over $3million in gains… might not be a lot but i'm financially secure and that's fine by me.

[@Kaustavpatell]

ue to my demanding job, I lack the time to thoroughly assess my investments and analyze individual stocks. Consequently, for the past seven years, I have enlisted the services of a fiduciary who actively manages my portfolio to adapt to the current market conditions. This strategy has allowed me to navigate the financial landscape successfully, making informed decisions on when to buy and sell. So yes i think every investor should consider a similar approach.

[@frankedwardark]

How can I reach this advisers of yours? because I'm seeking for a more effective investment approach on my savings?

[@Kaustavpatell]

Her name is. 'MICHELE KATHERINE SINGH’. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.

[@frankedwardark]

I just curiously searched her up, and I have sent her an email. I hope she gets back to me soon. Thank you

[@ChristopherRoss.]

Vonnegut said: “America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand - glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register. Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.” Steinbeck said: "The poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

[@stalledparade]

Или такие дела 😉

[@bernardoluz3381]

America is the easiest country to become rich, if you have this thought about america imagine how hard should be to become rich in other countries

[@gw9363]

@@bernardoluz3381 In America, you can attain a level of wealth that basically no other country in the world can replicate. The thing is, your odds of doing that are less than 1%. Hence why the richest people are in the top 1% of the 1%. America used to be a country where anyone could become rich. While that is somewhat true, as time goes on and generational wealth persists. It is much more about being born in to wealth than “working hard” or being the smartest. Being smart and working hard increase your chances of becoming rich. But there are many dumb wealthy people who are wealthy by virtue of birth.

[@jimbarnhill9131]

I was never more disillusioned when I read C. Write Mills' The Power Elite. Apparently, "The American Dream" or intergenerational social mobility became an illusion sometime around the Civil War. I'd like to see if money was traceable to any social attributes or any allusion could be made at all to a set of values with as much objective data and analysis as possible - maybe this is as close to such a thing as I'll find.

[@Giovanniditessitore]

All of this was exported by the British.

[@YoungParis-ss7fx]

Your videos were great!! I'm one of your viewers and have been watching your videos lately. I would like to invest, but I still can't find the right investment to commit to. I will appreciate any help here.

[@workjax]

I always wanted to trade crypto for a long time but the volatility in the price has been very confusing to me although I have watched many KZbin videos about it but still find it difficult to understand.

[@AugustinaOtito]

It makes sense that BTC and crypto are of helping to regulate, rather than pretend it won't ever happen. The big institutions getting In is the catalyst that will laugh us made they grow used to it becomes a nonissue usually because of their fears never materialize. And benefits they were unaware of before turn out to be more beneficial

[@LeoRaphael-rn3ee]

Trading is easy, but trading the right coin without a time-tested strategy is incredibly hard.

[@FredMeyer-no3ji]

I've been in touch with a financial advisor ever since I got into the market. Knowing today's culture The challenge is knowing when to purchase or sell when investing in trending Crypto, which is pretty simple. On my portfolio, which has grown over overboard and been making about $1 500 bi-weekly, What I'm trying to say is the 5% of traders in the world that are consistently profitable are very reserved, they are just random/lowkey people no one even expects. My account manager chooses entry and exit orders

[@DesTiny-jh4cn]

How can someone know a professional broker when legit once are hard to find this days

[@X64813]

Remember that the most intelligent people tend to congregate into the academic space. They become professors and researchers. The CEO's who run companies are not usually the most intelligent people in that field.

[@toddbellows5282]

"Remember that the most intelligent people tend to congregate into the academic space." A fallacy perpetrated by academia. It takes great faith and little intelligence to be a Marxist, as is the bent of the majority of academia. Except for STEM, most of academia are puppets who repeat the same tropes taught them by other Marxists.

[@snowflakemelter7171]

True but most CEO's have charisma, crazy work ethic & can manage other people/delegate. Those are really important soft skills in the business world that most professors & researchers don't have.

[@stevemyers2092]

They don't need to be; talent is readily available for a wage.

[@joshuaohuka7719]

​@@snowflakemelter7171a crazy work ethic is not unique to CEOs... And what use is charisma actually...

[@gaspardleroy8354]

as if all type of intelligence were academic and mesurable one, completly dumb assumption

[@dryzalizer]

So glad he included the GREED part, that's just as important as being lucky.

[@MikaelJSandersson]

The interesting part is that what he calls greed, I call "drive". He claims that a billionaire asks how they can get more money, but do they really? Is that their motivation? Do we know or is that an assumption? Perhaps even a myth revolving rich people?

[@fburton8]

@@MikaelJSanderssonOne way to tell greed and drive apart might be the willingness to countenance giving money away. Doing so goes against greed whereas someone who is driven shouldn’t care as much.

[@tcookoye]

The money is a way of keeping score of the outcome of their drive for success in whatever endeavour they pursue.

[@fburton8]

@@tcookoye Then it’s just the number that’s important, not the money itself.

[@MikaelJSandersson]

@@tcookoye Not necessarily. Musk has claimed that buying twitter was not to make money. So this video claiming that he failed with twitter because the company has lost value is missing the whole point and wildly oversimplifying what success means to people.

[@TheVinitGosalia]

Its not about luck playing a small or a significant part. The fact that luck exists and nothing can escape it, is what he's trying to say. If you try something and with complete accuracy, still there's a minute amount of risk of things going wrong, if things do go right, then that risk is called as luck. So to put it plainly, everything depends on chance, the more chances you take, the more your odds of getting lucky increases. Taking calculated risks again and again is what increases your chances of success. Lastly, you only have to get lucky once, so make sure you take mighty risks but in a way that you can still be in the game if luck isn't in your favour.

[@stevemyers2092]

correct, "risk" is inherently part of any project or business or activity one will do. Always and forever, there is never a RISK FREE endevor. Risk can only be managed so far...past a certain point it is a very large reality. Ask any investor or banker.

[@aryangod2003]

Poor Example Elon Musk might not be John von neuman or Einstein, but by standards of Billionaires he IS pretty intelligent, in a sense genius at organizing talent . Myu father (Mechanical Engineer, Stanford Educated) worked for three decades as Lead Engineer of Rolls Royce Jet Engines, and watched multiple dozens of his videos giving multi hour talk on Astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, Engine design, Aerospace engineering and he has thorough grasp of these topics. Unless you work in these domains or industries you cannot even understand the magnitude of his contributions . He has direct input on design decision, and sits in every design review. For example electric motor actuated grid fin in Starship as well as stainless steel construction was his input. He also asks detailed technical questions in interview. He also got lucky yes. In case of Elon Musk it is a combination of Talent, AND luck (but greed plays no part, otherwise he would not consciously burn billions of dollars of Twitter, he said He knew VERY well his decisions could bankrupt the company).

[@glenndewulf4843]

I'm pretty sure being a genius doesn't mean that you believe your talent will pull you through. I think it's the opposite. Being a genius means you'll doubt yourself endlessly. Question even the way you formulate your questions. And be furthermore endlessly surprised at the sheer audaciousness of other people's self confidence. I think it takes a long while before even a genius realises: these people are confident because bravery and stupidity are closely related. Just my two eurocents.

[@abrtn00101]

That's not being a genius, though. That's being self-aware and wise. History is full of geniuses who sometimes had flawed overconfidence in their own talent - sometimes leading to their undoing. Yes, there are geniuses who are aware of their own limitations, but growing up a genius is extremely isolating and being the smartest in the room most of the time can instill a sense of distrust in the capabilities of the people around you. It was always frustrating when people couldn't see what I saw and would stumble toward a goal that seemed clear enough to me or when I would get into fights with teachers who thought they knew better. Even being proven right was extremely unfulfilling because it happened way too often. It became normal to be so overly reliant on my own talent that I often completed group projects on my own in college and actively chose people to be in my group who I knew wouldn't volunteer to do anything. It worked well for me until it didn't and I realized I had isolated myself from everyone - including some of the friends who had selflessly stuck around and helped me in the past. The disconnect between genius and wisdom gets even more obvious when you start to account for the neurodivergent geniuses out there - autistic geniuses, idiot savants, reclusive geniuses, etc.

[@LOKESHNAIK619]

When you see self-confident person, it means the person has built a coherent story in her mind. But it does'nt necessarily mean the story is true ;-) -- Daniel Kahneman (not his exact quote. Original's wording is different)

[@Shm00ly]

Ironically. When it comes to survival and quality of life. The wise man would float somewhere in the middle quietly. You don’t put a target on your back and everything you do doesn’t carry enormous scales of impact. It might not feel that way with how society pushes hyper wealth and hyper success and hyper fame as the goals, but in reality the real winners are those who are comfortably in the middle quartile and not killing themselves with stress.

[@Shm00ly]

Just to add, if you’re in the middle and don’t chase an unsustainable lifestyle, but one that liberates you from debt and enables you to save effectively for the future and provide a helping hand to your children is the real cracked approach.

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

This whole video is based on a false premise, and feeds too badly into what many people want to believe about the world and why they aren’t more successful. There’s a simpler reason for geniuses to have more self doubt… For all that they have thought, they usually haven’t done enough of it to give them a grounded sense of self confidence. In the absence of life experience, there are too many unknowns, too many ideas that may or may not work, and very little surety on just how much you’ll have to overcome to achieve a goal. What defines Musk more for example, is his willingness to give it his all. Both personally and in terms of all the resources he can muster. It’s his repeatedly going all in and fighting as hard as possible that made him succeed where everyone thought that he would fail. His self confidence to learn “difficult” subjects on his own and not just bowing to “common sense” that said that his ideas were impossible also made a difference. The Twitter complaint is also barely valid. He did manage to make it live and actually improve in some ways. The outcome in terms of riches is yet to be determined. Although, the goal there was never profit in the first place. And maybe he will end up ruined some day… But his contributions will still have been great and worthy.

[@thomasscottwilliams6672]

Generational wealth is integral to the British class system still.

[@cienciabit]

...and most of the world.

[@SmugAmerican]

You can probably draw a line from wealthy whites on the east coast straight back to slave holding land owners.

[@joecurran2811]

Lord Cameron

[@The_Red_Off_Road]

What was the law they passed around the world wars (in the UK) that almost eliminated most of the “generational wealth.” Was it an inheritance tax?

[@Stafus]

@@The_Red_Off_Road that doesn't apply to the unregistered people who own a third of the land in the uk.

[@bu7511]

The misconception that equates billionaire status with genius. This topic not only intersects with societal perceptions of wealth and intelligence but also touches on broader implications for global issues such as conflict resolution and peace.

[@aryangod2003]

Elon Musk is not John von neuman or Einstein, but by standards of Billionaires he IS pretty intelligent, in a sense genius at organizing talent . Myu father (Mechanical Engineer, Stanford Educated) worked for three decades as Lead Engineer of Rolls Royce Jet Engines, and watched multiple dozens of his videos giving multi hour talk on Astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, Engine design, Aerospace engineering and he has thorough grasp of these topics. Unless you work in these domains or industries you cannot even understand the magnitude of his contributions He also got lucky yes. In case of Elon Musk it is a combination of Talent, AND luck (but greed plays no part, otherwise he would not consciously burn billions of dollars of Twitter, he said He knew VERY well his decisions could bankrupt the company).

[@roxyb03]

A lot of billionaires and wanna be billionaires seem to think greed is a talent.

[@maemilev]

Talent to save costs on useIess employee like you. Utilizing you as a tooI.

[@kingfishers84]

Im guessing you’re a socialist Woke type. Let’s see what happens when entrepreneurs start using robots so your entire labour exploitation argument won’t stand.

[@NicholasLacourse-yz6iz]

@@maemilev I think they were just attempting to be joyful with the joke, and you got salty about it. Grow up, or not. Still a kid in my eyes.

[@Sceptis]

I see a very strong correlation between what is being said here about the private sector and what is observable in the political sphere. Like this man, I am a trained political scientist - in my field, I work with local governments and elected representatives daily. Over time, I have noticed what is commonly known as the "Dunning Kruger Effect" be expressed frequently in the elected officials, most of which are wealthy and have an unshakable belief in their abilities and _inspired insights._ In truth, more often than not their talents pale to those of their expert staff and agency supports, whom are trained and educated to be more effective at navigating the warrens of political life (with some notable exceptions on both sides of the equation, it should be said). I suppose a difference in individual nature, IE: being self serving/success oriented or public service oriented is likely what maintains this rather backwards dynamic - the professional staff, analysts, and executive leaders should be calling the shots by right of experience, expertise, and proper disposition.

[@oguiobe]

“Fooled by randomness” Nassim Taleb Nicholas touches on the same topic. Most successful people tend to minimize the role played by luck in their success

[@IamPapas]

The guy in the video is what taleb calls an IYI

[@clarkdavis1779]

@@IamPapasyea this speaker is an idiot fs. Thinks this finding is profound. Obviously luck is a factor but hard working ppl are more likely to get lucky. Why did Edison have so many parents? He got *lucky*? So dumb

[@Heldimar4633]

Doesn't that result in nepotism, lobbying and bribery?

[@moh6410]

@@Heldimar4633 even nepotism, lobbying and bribery need LUCK

[@pay_it_forward_franklin4469]

especially when you factor in inherited &/or generational-wealth

[@emilyemr2591]

yeah, that's in the video. you should watch it.

[@WiwatChang]

Yeah, today I saw an article saying that NO billionaire in the world under 30 are self-starters

[@blueandgreenslacks]

@@WiwatChangI read the same article. As a 99%er I say it’s about goddamned time for a wealth tax increase.

[@Kushagra.j]

86% of millionaires are Self Made but ok. Even more skewed data for Billionaires against your point.

[@Kushagra.j]

​@@blueandgreenslacksthey'll all leave and you be far poorer and worse off than before

[@kariannecrysler640]

Not just luck, lack of scruples. Not everyone is willing to sell out others for self gains.

[@cybertobify]

Yeah but the others are willing to be lazy and leach on a big company not carring the load because they think they are entitled to it

[@mrdeanvincent]

Yep. The luck of being born into generational wealth is one huge factor, and having 'dark triad' personality traits is another.

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@mrdeanvincent so true

[@cherubin7th]

Also important: giant wealth often has its root in the family. Like the grandpa was very poor and became average, his son got wealthy, and his son became a billionaire. Also the more often you roll a dice that has little loss but high potential gain, the more likely you will succeed and business is often like that. A failure is just a bit of wasted time and some money and a success is a lot of money.

[@RS8XB]

My tax attorney once said, :if I were a little dumber in this world, I could have been very wealthy". I agreed.

[@izenhow4775]

I don't understand why? So he is not going to be attorney and be something else ?

[@MrCizzie123]

No he’s saying he would be acting more blindly and take more risk hence roll the dice much more than being risk adverse and logical all the time

[@theberserker_of_falconia]

​@@MrCizzie123thats gambling😂

[@logicaldennis1245]

Understanding how to build and use your “network” is way more important than most people think…many rich people have figured out how to leverage other rich people’s networks, while the poor and middle class have, for the most part, not. I went from poor to upper middle class through an understanding of networks, but billionaire status is a leap probably not happening to most because of who you know. Challenge accepted!

[@dan23563]

ah yes, completely off topic to what was discussed in this video. >:D

[@logicaldennis1245]

@@dan23563 did you miss at 2:55, he mentions “whether you had a network that supported you”

[@logicaldennis1245]

@@dan23563 at 2:55 he discusses networks as an advantage

[@VestaRoleplay]

@@dan23563 No it's not off topic because part of what constitutes the social hierarchy is indeed networking. This is the reason why the social hierarchy does not look like the bell curve in the video. Luck, like mentioned, plays a role, but so does networking, so does competence (talent), so does your starting point. That's why the social hierarchy is a pyramid and not a bell curve.

[@logicaldennis1245]

@@VestaRoleplay thanks, and at 2:55 he mentions “networks” as a factor.

[@besknighter]

I agree that there's a self selection happening that usually makes greedy people more common at the top, the same happens with narcisist in positions of power (both corporation and politics). But I also find it unfair to assume that they are all like that. When you get 1 billion and thinking "how can I get 2?" does happen and is mostly motivated by greediness, but I can definitely see how it can also not be the case. We must be really careful when doing such generalizations, they commonly come back to bite us in the ass.

[@bobcornwell403]

Old joke: "If you're so smart, how come you aren't rich?" New joke: "I you're so rich, how come you aren't smart?"

[@CatherineBates-bg4fc]

The only American who won't acknowledge this Administration's failed economic policies is Joe Biden. "Shrink-flation' is the least of our worries compared to rising rents and stagnant wages, but it is an undeniable indicator of how bad our inflation has gotten. I have $100k that i like to invest in a non-retirement account, any advice on that?

[@AlejandraIgnacio-vv8tx]

would avoid index funds, mutual funds, and specific stocks for the time being. Right now, the best option is a fixed income of five percent. Put money aside for the times when the market really starts to bounce back

[@JaneGallagher-ur9jp]

A lot of folks downplay the role of advlsors until being burnt by their own emotions. I remember couple summers back, after my lengthy divorce, I needed a good boost to help my business stay afloat, hence I researched for licensed advisors and came across someone of utmost qualifications. She's helped grow my reserve notwithstanding inflation, from $275k to $850k

[@RebeccaSheer]

This is definitely considerable! think you could suggest any professional/advisors i can get on the phone with? I'm in dire need of proper portfolio allocation

[@JaneGallagher-ur9jp]

Viviana Marisa Coelho is her name. She is regarded as a genius in her area and works for Empower Financial Services. By looking her up online, you can quickly verify her level of experience. She is well knowledgeable about financial markets

[@scottjuarez9549]

She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran an online search on her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing

[@clemente6624]

I think that the lightning strike framework is misleading because assumes that every individual would react the same way when hit. You need have some talent to be well positioned in order to receive these strikes, something analogous to a lightning rod. In other words, you need to be aware that a door opened for you and you need to have skills to seize the opportunity. Sure, not necessarily you need to be a genius but be in the upper 20% for sure. Additionally, ideas by themselves are worthless without proper execution.

[@mattstanbridge]

So really you need to be lucky with your characteristics too.

[@cnrspiller3549]

​@@mattstanbridge well duh! But now you are simply howling at the moon about some form of cosmic injustice. Seriously, we have all already won the most unbelievable lottery just by being born humans in a world where we get given pocket-sized magic screens that let us talk crap to the entire world. You won the lottery by not being born into poverty so grinding you don't know where your next meal is coming from. You won the lottery by not being born in some earlier time where a life of back-breaking serfdom was a near certainty. You won the lottery by not being born as a chicken or a tree or a piece of fungus growing under your middle toenail. You won the lottery by not being spaffed out by your dad into an old sock when he was a teenager. Stop moaning you lucky baby.

[@lewisburton1852]

That’s what he said in the video! The majority of people are talented and have everything needed to be successful it’s just that lightning ⚡️ struck for some individuals (luck) when it could as well been anyone else.

[@nicohaab9967]

Agree. I've worked with top actors from Hollywood, and I can tell you that people will find reasons not to do the things that will make them successful because it's mentally hard to get up and do it, mostly because of videos like this one here. They tell the population that the likelihood of high outcomes is low, and that therefore your life is not in your hands but in the hands of luck. Don't fall for it. Successful people know what they did and will silently cringe at this video. It's mostly factor analysis on what makes someone successful. Successful people work on getting every factor right. They'll simply do anything it takes.

[@clemente6624]

@@lewisburton1852 my point is that the majority of people is not talented. To be talented means to be better than the majority.

[@pacmech100]

Ambition and persistence matter as well.

[@paulpease8254]

He said that, like every third sentence (he used the word “talent” as a catch all for someone’s inherent traits).

[@TheRealTomWendel]

Very high levels of wealth can certainly be attributed to being born wealthy. After that, there’s a form of genius (if we can call it that) involved- it’s the ability and willingness to game the system, usually in violation of common ethics and often in violation of the law.

[@aryangod2003]

Poor Example Elon Musk might not be John von neuman or Einstein, but by standards of Billionaires he IS pretty intelligent, in a sense genius at organizing talent . Myu father (Mechanical Engineer, Stanford Educated) worked for three decades as Lead Engineer of Rolls Royce Jet Engines, and watched multiple dozens of his videos giving multi hour talk on Astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, Engine design, Aerospace engineering and he has thorough grasp of these topics. Unless you work in these domains or industries you cannot even understand the magnitude of his contributions . He has direct input on design decision, and sits in every design review. For example electric motor actuated grid fin in Starship as well as stainless steel construction was his input. He also asks detailed technical questions in interview. He also got lucky yes. In case of Elon Musk it is a combination of Talent, AND luck (but greed plays no part, otherwise he would not consciously burn billions of dollars of Twitter, he said He knew VERY well his decisions could bankrupt the company).

[@lewisburton1852]

🙄 what common ethics? Full of excuses. Who do you work for?

[@TheRealTomWendel]

@@lewisburton1852 Common ethics refers to straightforward behaviors like honesty, integrity, respect, accountability, compassion, trustworthiness, etc. This is differentiated from professional ethics which can include advocacy, loyalty, and adherence to policy. Many so-called geniuses in the private sector make big money by violating common ethics. That’s my point. I don’t work for anybody. I’m thankfully retired.

[@lewisburton1852]

I understood your point initially, but I appreciate the detailed explanation. My perspective is that those in leadership positions often set the tone for the organization, affecting your ability to earn a comfortable salary, regardless of whether you agree with their methods. This raises questions about who you work for or have worked for in the past. Take Tesla, for instance. The company may have faced challenges with older partners who adhered to traditional, gentle, and ethical practices. However, progress and success often require a more assertive approach. It's frustrating because I naturally tend to be considerate and accommodating, but I've observed that those who surpass me often exhibit a more ruthless demeanor.

[@DanielleJemny]

I've been thinking about whether I should hire a financial advisor. Are there any real benefits to it, or is it just an added expense?

[@GabrielKevin-cw8jx]

Actually, using a financial advisor can be incredibly beneficial. They can help you create a personalized financial plan tailored to your goals and risk tolerance and also provide valuable insights and advice on investment strategies, retirement planning, and tax optimization.

[@DanielleJemny]

I want to be a billionaire, top 1%

[@FudgeMichael-zy5xf]

How can I double or triple my $300k investment portfolio to become a billionaire?

[@GabrielKevin-cw8jx]

Melisa Aurora Benadivez background in finance is extensive, look her up online. it should be easy to find her

[@JamesKevin-pc9ui]

I'm not yet a billionaire but I have about $450k distributed across various investment portfolios. By my estimate i should make my first billion Q3 2025. Following the strategic plan of Melisa Aurora Benadivez.

[@AlKey3]

5:23 "I would give away most of my money". I call bullshit...

[@grit1679]

Absolutely reeks of it.

[@sirij8784]

the is such a woke gross analyzation of the subject. Elon bought twitter for free speech not to make a quick buck. This guy sucks!

[@AbdallahBotan]

Hey, @BigThink, do you name this series after that Alpacino movie?

[@MuaathAlkhattab]

🤔 Really good and well put together video. I was hoping you delved in to the determining factors of social networks, family status and wealth being bigger factors than most other things.

[@LuccaWeber1]

As an investment enthusiast, I often wonder how top level investors are able to become millionaires off investing. I do have a significant amount of capital that is required to start up but I have no idea what strategies and direction I need to approach to help me make decent returns

[@ohioveteran]

Proper research, good analysis and luck is what you need to make profit in this constant market decline. It's all about finding the right moment to take advantage of and generate colossal profit, which is why you need to do your research

[@emmaarmando]

Even with the right technique and assets some investors would still make more than others, as an investor, you should’ve known that by now, nothing beats experience and that’s final, personally I had to reach out to a market analyst for guidance which is how I was able to grow my account close to a million, withdraw my profit right before the correction and now I’m buying again.

[@noah-greene]

@@emmaarmandoHow can I participate in this? I sincerely aspire to establish a secure financial future and am eager to participate. Who is the driving force behind your success?

[@emmaarmando]

"Gertrude Margaret Quinto" is the licensed advisor I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment

[@spacecadet6]

Her website appeared right away, You've saved me several hours of research, I appreciate it.

[@Arowx]

Can I put forward a counter argument, lottery winners who a few years later are broke. If you have low talent with money and or IQ but get lucky, surely the odds of you keeping or building up more money will be dependent on your talent/IQ. Or there must be some talent/IQ correlation which will help the lucky grow their money or at least maintain it.

[@ChrisPollitt]

Good point

[@extremeoem]

In the lottery it's different, because the winner often doesn't feel like he deserves all this wealth, so he's encouraged to spend it all. Furthermore, he knows that he can survive without all this money and having a high net worth is generally something absolutely unexpected for him. On the other hand, the billionaire who benefited from better conditions firmly believes that his billion came from merit, which makes the money more valuable to him. Added to this, he knows that this first billion is the best tool to get the second. And it is clear that the lack of financial education plays a fundamental role in cases where a lottery winner loses everything.

[@DhruvPatel-mh5cj]

If you buy lottery tickets (emphasis on plural), you already a low IQ.

[@stefanogiorgetti417]

Thank you! One really has to stretch his argumentative muscles to say that wealth is acquired (let alone maintained) through luck…

[@ragus1416]

This applies to people born in both wealthy and poor countries. They have no control over their birthplace, and because of where they are born, they may or may not receive what they want. This also applies to their parents, whether rich or poor. Luck plays a major role.

[@gamal01]

I gave this a 👍🏾 because that was the most academic presentation of envy I've heard to date. I'm fascinated!

[@Crunch104]

This why we need social assistance! The hardest working, smartest people can have bad luck!

[@wackrapsatire]

schools play a major role especially in countries that aren´t well known for their education system. Promote those who have deep interest and "talent" in music, science, programming, math, arts or sports and focus on those who are left behind either because they don´t care about school or because they develop at different paces. Kids spend the vast majority of their 18 years in school, even more if they study and way too many people are failing this system not because they´re stupid but because those who should pay attention to the children aren´t. Later as an adult you get gratification through commitment and through sycophancy especially in large companies during work hours which again misses this idea because it doesn´t put the person itself in the spotlight but rather just his or her performance

[@SlickSkuddy]

Parker luck

[@Crunch104]

@@SlickSkuddy What is Parker luck? As in Peter Parker? :)

[@SlickSkuddy]

@@Crunch104 yes, exactly. 🤣

[@Crunch104]

@@SlickSkuddy Parker sure does have sh*t luck. That's for sure. lol

[@azieltobias]

Success depends on the actions or steps you take to achieve it. Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future.., I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life!!

[@lilyhershey1]

Starting early is simply the best way of getting ahead to build wealth , investing remains a priority . I learnt from my last year's experience , I am able to build a suitable life because I invested early ahead this time .

[@mellon-wrigley3]

Exactly ! That's my major concern and what lucrative investment can one venture into with the current rise in economic downturn

[@BaileyHoward101]

In fact, I had no prior experience or understanding when I began investing in 2018, but by the end of 2019, I had made a profit of almost $750k. All I had been doing was going by what my financial advisor had told me. This demonstrates that all you truly need is a professional to assist you; you don't even need to be a great investor or put in a lot of work.

[@sloanmarriott5]

​ *@BaileyHoward101* That does make a lot of sense, unlike us, you seem to have the Market figured out. Who is this consultant?

[@BaileyHoward101]

Gertrude Margaret Quinto is the licensed advisor I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.

[@XOPOIIIO]

Richness is the evaluation of how much value you brought to society. The more people you made happy, the richer you get. It doesn't matter how you achieved it, by being smart of by being lucky. And Twitter is a good example of your fallacy, first because Elon said clearly that that acquisition wasn't about money and second because you can't evaluate a business decision on such a short time.

[@nicohaab9967]

If everyone thought like him, no one would dare to do anything since it's all based on luck, then the world would fall silent. Success is more a character trait than intelligence. And anyone who has studied inventions and knows creative people knows that there is no such thing as a flash of inspiration that comes with an idea. Most of what society considers success lies at the heart of ambition.

[@WrestlingTournamentsDotCom]

But that doesn't make losers feel better about themselves.

[@nicohaab9967]

@@WrestlingTournamentsDotCom Unfortunately, you are right.

[@user990077]

Gather Ye not treasures of the Earth, which a thief can steal in the night, but treasures of the spirit, which are yours forever.

[@noahdoyle4723]

Beg to differ, who's to say all talent is distributed on a normal scale? For example for intellect, is "talent" based on raw power of your brain or is it based on the number of puzzles you can solve in a given time frame? Like how is talent supposed to be measured quantitatively?? The link here is that because a proportion of human attributes are normally distributed this must imply all traits are normally distributed, which I believe must be false. After all, for an example, there is a pretty vast difference between the population when it comes to taking a math test, or say, in musical ability between individuals in the 50th and 95th "talent", percentile, so how was this conclusion drawn?

[@farhangzia]

Why would a trait, any trait, not follow a normal distribution? Or give me an example of a natural human trait that categorically does not follow a natural distribution. I understand your point that it’s impossible to quantitatively measure talent, but assuming it was measurable, it’s completely intuitive that it would follow a normal distribution. Just imagine if it wasn’t - that would imply that the vast vast majority of people have 0 talent, and a very minuscule fraction of people would have 9999999999 talent. Does that make any sense at all?

[@johngreen2468]

he is just showing some random "talent" graph to conclude "since talent is normally distributed wealth should be too" which is just some commies talking point let's say we take skill and talent of running; olympic runners may only fractionally differ in speed between each other, but the winner can be only one; communists would say since they only differ fractionally there should either be no race or prize should be distributed to all participants; communists will always conveniently ignore that if they distribue prize equally or according to some stupid metric then people wouldnt be motivated to train to run and show their best selved; stupid metric can be eg like "how fast can you run? top1 runs only 5% faster than top20 so top20 runner will get 5% lower price" - but this way basically everone's prize is the same and its very low; so a lot of communist propaganda will go around similar metaphors like with running becaues this is zero sum game - winner can be only one; they hate that and will want to eliminate the race despite people wanna see players racing; so they will pretend like everything else like economy is also zero sum game because its convincing argument for many people; while economy is not zero zum because it leads to innovaction and increases in efficiency and new producs for everyone

[@farhangzia]

@@johngreen2468 wtf video did you watch? He never said anything “should” be a certain way. He just said that talent does not correlate with wealth. There are super talented people that are not crazy rich AND there are crazy rich people that aren’t super talented. He never said something should or shouldn’t be a certain way.

[@alessandromaniscalco1235]

From a society perspective yes it is more probable to find a medium talented person being lucky. However, for each individual, more talent means that you probably get more “lucky”.

[@soonny002]

I agree with everything said, but he left out the most important thing: you can't separate greed from competition. The most competitive are also the most greedy. Do you think Usain Bolt thinks of giving away his gold medal after getting one? No, he'll want another one again next year. And should we shame him? After all, why does he need another one? Now apply the same principles to billionaires. Give every racer a gold medal after every race, and you'll eliminate greed alongside any competitive spirit. But would you rather live in a world like that? I know I will garner a lot of hate by saying this because it sounds like I'm on the side of the billionaires, but what I'm really advocating for is a better system. You cannot eliminate greed and competition entirely, scapegoating the billionaires won't get you far either. But you can create a system that better distributes wealth according to talent. All I know is that giving everyone a gold medal is NOT the right way.

[@tswierczek]

A true genius would have little interest in becoming a billionaire. They're educators, philosophers, scientists or researchers. They're putting their genius to work.

[@yuzzi9190]

a true genius wouldn’t work to be poor

[@chriswilfrid]

True genius knows credential means nothing.

[@samet7422]

​@@yuzzi9190i prefer to be poor and contribute to society rather than acquiring meaningless wealth that doesn't serve me or anyone. after all, the digits are arbitary, what is real is your contribution to peoples lives. thus, rather than counting worthless money, i would give it to students and researchers that can transform it to something tangible.

[@ogechiekeanyanwu8231]

Geniuses know that wealth isn't everything. They work to make the world a better place and to reduce ignorance - like Albert Einstein.

[@chriswilfrid]

True genius don't work to be poor and credential means nothing. CredentialPaper≤ExceptionalWorks!

[@MichelleCarithersAuthor]

great video!! I agree, a so-called genius is delusional and damaging to the individual to "believe" this myth

[@jeffreystarits2783]

agread , motivation, hard work and willingness sacrifice is a MUCH bigger part . of it

[@annwe6]

@@jeffreystarits2783 Greed too, apparently.

[@wackrapsatire]

@@jeffreystarits2783 thats what the motivational speakers tell you you´ve been listenting to in the past few years as you wanted to learn what all these successfull people do to drive porsches and sailing coast to coast on big yachts with beautiful women on board. But guess what? It´s empty gibberish and as meaningful as saying "i´ve found the ultimate way to satisfaction in life" - which then again is not possible as there would only be one guidance and not 10.000 different ones. Stop faking yourself buddy, it s not worth it...

[@EcomCarl]

Really insightful! It’s crucial to recognize that while talent is important, much of success in wealth accumulation can indeed come down to timing and luck. Understanding this can help us frame our achievements and setbacks in a healthier context. 🍀

[@ChrisPollitt]

i never made this connection before. The bell curve of intelligence is very different from the wealth distribution graph.

[@selenemarinez2700]

I'm favoured, Getting my own Truck has always been my Dream for my business. I just acquired 2 recently, earning $32K weekly has been really helpful. I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support Charity Organizations. I really appreciate your videos

[@martinvaisman8578]

As a beginner what do I need to do? How can I invest, on which platform? If you know any please share.

[@scottreagan9796]

I'd really like to get into crypto Investing. I have about $145k set aside, but I don't know anything about this market. Would you please provide the best approach to make money as well as a trustworthy resource for advice? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[@jordangeorge403]

The very first time we tried, we invested $1000 and after a week, we received $7500. That really helps us a lot to pay up our bills.

[@richardsami9493]

Still regret that I sold my bitcoin early last year, even after my colleague insisted we shouldn't. Please Is Bitcoin still a safe buy to outperform the market this year? I still kept my money in the money market and with over $120k maturing soon, I plan investing well in it. Here for ideas

[@sophieberen883]

As a beginner investor, it's essential for you to have a mentor to keep you accountable. Myself, I'm guided by Deborah Davis. A widely known crypto consultant

[@thompsonharris5380]

I will be forever grateful to you, you changed my entire life and I will continue to preach on your behalf for the whole world to hear you saved me from huge financial debt with just a small investment, thank you Michelle Stewart.

[@alfredjason9168]

Wow. I'm a bit perplexed seeing her been mentioned here also Didn’t know she has been good to so many people too this is wonderful, I'm in my fifth trade with her and it has been super.

[@zoellahernandez1816]

She is my family's personal broker and also a personal broker in many families in United States, she's a licensed broker and a FINRA AGENT in United states

[@Luciakeskin310]

You trade with Michelle Stewart too? Wow that woman has been a blessing to me and my family.

[@JacksonSilva_]

I'm new at this, please how can I reach her?

[@Amygraslie]

I was skeptical at first till I decided to try. Its huge returns is awesome. I can't say much

[@bowlingguy7755]

I never watch information videos twice, but with this one, I did. It's an eye-opener. Thank you!

[@dadanny661]

However the lightning does not uniformly strikes anyone on the talent spectrum "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" however both preparation and being surrounded by opportunities are somewhat dependent on talent

[@barry1807]

Wealth is not supposed to correlate with talent. We want it to correlate with drive, ambition and value added. It does better on these fronts

[@bboyagua]

Getting rich is just like getting hit by lightning.... if you're only method is playing the Lottery. Can't believe he picked Elon Musk as an example of a mediocre mind. FFS, the Dunning-Kreuger is insane.

[@henrytep8884]

When did he say he had a mediocre mind? That’s a strawman if I ever saw one.

[@stefanogiorgetti417]

But still the argument was: people infer he’s a genius because he became rich but he was lucky - which is truly laughable….Really picked the wrong example there!

[@XOPOIIIO]

Real people who won real lotteries spend everything and got broke very fast.

[@andremanzo5048]

who set the systems, and teams, and who entrepreneured his businesses, he took a risk on his ventures and revolutionized the world in almost every way. he is the step father of cybernetics. sometimes when people cant understand something, they fear it or claim its not real and hook into random faith to cope with it. stop coping for being broke and create your own luck.

[@jamie_SF]

“Elon has had some success with cars…” bit of an understatement there 😂

[@jtremblay100]

Luck certainly explains trump. That and corruption.

[@raduchichi621]

Is it really greed if you deploy the money towards creating more valuable businesses? That’s philanthropy more than it is greed.

[@jfverboom7973]

That's not philanthropy, that's self-interest. Period.

[@rosolenn]

@@jfverboom7973 Self-interest is what makes capitalism work according to Adam Smith. We all should be self-interested enough to look after ourselves. But greed is when you want more than your fair share and push wages down or close an operation when you're making lots of profit. Greed is corruption and is killer of companies, societies. and countries. Russia is rampant with it and will become a North Korea because of it.

[@ambition4195]

Business means making profit and where word "Profit" comes in it becomes greed automatically

[@raduchichi621]

@@ambition4195 that’s not true. Capitalism of any kind relies on making profits. Profit is meant to represent the perceived value added to society. A business cannot sustain / grow itself without profits. The higher the profits, the higher the potential growth of the business and the impact, assuming the profits get put back into the business. We’d all collectively be much poorer if all businesses went bankrupt.

[@WrestlingTournamentsDotCom]

@@jfverboom7973 It's only self-interest if there is profit that is extracted from the business for the individual. A business that reinvests 100% is purely philanthropic.

[@rosolenn]

3/4 of the very wealthiest people inherited their wealth - the ultimate lucky break. But that knowledge doesn't stop them from thinking they're geniuses. The Ford, Rockefeller, Kennedy, Walmart Waltons, Romney, Amway heirs... don't do anything. Their investment companies look after their wealth and when they do meddle in business or politics, they're just as likely to screw it up as you or I would.

[@timbraun3716]

You are absolutely right. Luck is a huge factor.

[@soniad1]

All I can say is that something needs to be done about people accumulating 203.7 billion (guess who that is) on the basis of the minimum wages of his workers in his warehouses.

[@julian_hesse]

And use their wealth to convince that they know it better or to buy some wasteful status symbols like yachts or very big houses... So much wasted opportunity!

[@lamcho00]

That's not real money. It's the value of his shares. He can only sell small part of them at current valuations, then the price drops and he's getting less and less money. It's not his warehouse workers who made him a billionaire, it's the investors in his company, it's the government that's not splitting a monopoly and giving them tax reliefs. The money he gets from his workers is probably just a couple million per year. Still unfair and I'm not arguing against that. It's just his wealth is a function of multiple factors. The government backing played a huge role to not let the company go bankrupt during the first ~10 years it was running on a loss. Some politicians who bought shares became quite rich too. You can kinda see how the government doesn't serve all people, but a bunch of rich investors who pay politicians so they can give tax cuts to them in order to make even more money. The warehouse workers are still on timed bathroom breaks by the way.

[@bernardoluz3381]

why this is unfair? Would be better if they were not rich and everyone be poor?

[@julian_hesse]

@@bernardoluz3381 Why is everyone being poor the alternative? Also when everyone is poor then no one would be poor. It is a relative concept. There are only rich people if also poor people exist ;)

[@lamcho00]

@@bernardoluz3381 it is unfair, because someone is getting rich on the back of someone else. It's bad because this leads to productivity losses. Why put effort when you know you're only making your boss rich? The economic system is not merit based. That's the problem. There is some income mobility based on merit, but most of the wealth in the economy is inherited. So a predictor of how well you'll live, is not how much work you do, or how intelligent and knowledgeable you are, or how much risk you're taking. A predictor of how well you'll do is how rich is your father.

[@kevin_kk]

Thomas Sowell's book "Intelllectuals & Society' perfectly expounds on this "...just because someone is a genius on one sector doesn't necessarily mean they're the same on another"

[@gokou135]

It's interesting that so many people assume the thought process is as simple as "I have 3 billion, how can I get 4 billion?" For some, sure. But for many It's more like. "I have a successful product or service that helps people through life, or makes something more convenient or easy for them. How can I bring this to more people, and have it touch more lives in a positive manner?" and money then just comes from growing this thing, that people want and use and enjoy...... To assume that every single thing a person does is to get MORE MONEY.... That's oversimplifying a human life, and I imagine it makes you feel better that you supposedly "Aren't that greedy" Tons of reasons to get rich, that have nothing to do with greed. Just the love of growth and the desire to see people prosper.

[@gokou135]

Also. Twitter was a horrible cesspool that was burning tons of money long before Elon got there. Elon cleaned it up, and now has to start rebuilding. You wouldn't assume the Fire Fighters that are cleaning up the rubble were also the ones who set the fire..... But because you know nothing about business, you assume silly things. Musk is a genius. That doesn't mean he will succeed at everything he does, but it does mean he will succeed WAY more often than average people will. Genius doesn't mean "Never makes mistakes" 🤣

[@dem8568]

"And this creates a mismatch" gets my vote for top understatement of the millennium.

[@oseiwalker7154]

I’ve heard this stance is often taken by academics as a means to justify why they haven’t capitalized on their intelligence. This equation doesn’t factor in risk tolerance, drive, ambition, leadership, or the functions that money, “wealth” and ownership play in the human species. Luck is definitely involved. The only thing to consider is luck coming to those who work to make their own luck. 🍀

[@abhishekdas4612]

he should also talk about all the hardwork the super rich do instead of just scrolling tik tok

[@basvoer-qp7qw]

Like playing golf? Attend donations dinners to get tax reductions?

[@abhishekdas4612]

@@basvoer-qp7qw Average people too try hard to get tax reductions it’s not just the rich, but what I’m taking about is that in this video he just talks about luck. But what Luck says is - I’m always there but I must find you working

[@josepheridu3322]

"lucky" is just a few variables with complex interactions that we ignore, not only "chance".

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

It’s true that the very successful aren’t usually geniuses. But that’s more to do with the definition and perception of genius. Habits, domain expertise, willingness to learn, ability to handle discomfort, Independence and faith in self, ability to get along with others and lead, not being overly conforming, being able to stay the course for a long time… There are a lot of traits that help with achieving success and maximizing the return from opportunities. Ultimately, having the right mix (for a market and opportunity) will give you an edge more than luck will. Almost everyone gets tons of opportunities. Very few have the ability to really take advantage of them.

[@muurlegacy4465]

lol I knew Elon was going to be the example!!!!

[@SIDotaku]

I think the one thing not mentioned here is that even IF you have all the opportunities and advantages, you STILL need to put in a relentless amount of effort and tenacity. That's why I will never reduce the efforts of billionaires to just luck (or predominantly luck) because a lot of them MADE their luck by pushing past limits and failures where most people quit. And side note: I don't think it's JUST greed that can motivate you to be a billionaire. Some people are just extremely driven and competitive.

[@axisapex]

I think you are confusing the building of wealth VS the capitalization of its power dynamics in all areas of life. So just issue it

[@RichardAmesMusic]

In the United States, wealth is not correlated with talent or intelligence or any other metric related to "smarts". It is correlated with ambition to generate wealth.

[@PaulADAigle]

I consider myself reasonably (or above-average) intelligent, and decently talented, but mostly a drastically different thinker. I am inventive, creative, and tend to try figuring stuff out. Now the fact that I am extremely poor means I'm not likely to enrich myself. Had I the money, I also would have built a Tesla company (EVs, Solar Panels/shingles, battery storage, AI), also Space Exploration has always been my interest, so I probably would have done that too. Neuralink is interesting, but I probably wouldn't have done that or started the Boring company (although vacuum tube transportation is interesting). I might have invested in Neuralink, but I doubt I'd have tried taking over the concept. I have no interest in Twitter. Basically, how many 'Elon Musks' are out there simply unable to take the reins due to financial limitations? If there weren't so many damn 'billionaires' hogging all the money and taking all the credit, not to mention a faulty system holding people back, we might actually be able to use our intelligence or 'different thinking' to advance in society. I guarantee there'd be almost no homeless.

[@cnrspiller3549]

I don't wish to sound rude but you really sound like a deluded narcissist. Seriously, you SO have this the wrong way around. Rich people don't hog anything, they share their capital out to create even more wealth. They enable more enterprise which creates more jobs, careers, training, valuable experience etc. Try making your own smartphone from scratch. You couldn't do it. You might be able to get a job in a smartphone factory, but then only thanks to the 'greedy' billionaires (and millions of other investors) that made your workplace possible. Capitalism creates great wealth which is why you get to live in such comfort now. Assuming you are a westerner (and judging by your entitled ignorance, you are), even if you are poor (relatively), you are unbelievably rich compared to most other humans who have ever lived. That's totally thanks to all the lovely capitalism powered by the immense wealth of rich people. I love billionaires, they're ace (although some of them are probably jerks in private eh 😉)

[@lewisburton1852]

Embark on launching a small service-oriented business, such as cleaning, just as I did. With your proclaimed intelligence, you have the potential to revolutionize this sector, as I have. I once faced similar challenges but navigated through them by starting with a mere $1k. Dismissing opportunities with claims of a rigged system is a lame cop out.

[@PaulADAigle]

@@lewisburton1852 Rigged system, bad area, impossible situation... take your pick. I've attempted to start numerous businesses. Game Tester as a kid in the '80s with computer knowledge (I bought my own computer at 12yo and taught myself how to program), inventing things - invention company designed to 'help' people with their inventions asked for over $1000 to start a patent process for my idea when I was 18 and broke so I took my new sunvisor idea directly to GM, right before the meeting they realized they couldn't even discuss it without a patent. 6-years later I ran across my sunvisor in a new car displayed in a mall showroom (apparently that "invention corporation" stole my idea when I couldn't spend the money on it). I've gone through copyright ideas (basically free patents on ideas), started numerous businesses, written stories, created websites, built servers, bought a family email. I could go on and on. There's not much I haven't attempted that didn't eventually or outright fail due to lack of finances, support, customers, or businesses. Feel free to choose 'what' was the cause of failure.

[@TheMTGMind]

it is the same with professional soccer players. it is not only talent (and hard work), it is also having a great game when a scout is watching this exact game for example (luck)

[@gs2tab]

Two big factors sort of covered, but not explicitly, in this is 1) the common personality traits of billionaires (typically risk takers, which creates a luck component), and 2) the nature of being an entrepreneur, which covers a narrow band of the population, where the spoils are wildly different to typical jobs. The general premise in this video makes sense, but Musk is not the best example. Most billionaires would be quite intelligent, albeit not geniuses. A better example is Trump; a risk-taker with a greedy mindset, born into wealth, who had luck to borrow more wealth to leverage investing in a growth industry, lucky in region and period.

[@jakester4239]

Something extremely crucial that this video is missing is that. Luck=persistence x talent. And Elon didn’t just “get lucky” he increased his odds of luck by working harder than anyone on earth in his respective area of industry.

[@trent4barnes]

Pleasure to see you are a clearer thinker.

[@DasRaetsel]

You mean the people who got him where he is today?

[@danizucchi]

He increased his odds of luck by being born into a rich family. 😂

[@Wandtket]

This type of video is completely unexpected from Big Think, here's hoping this becomes standard moving forward, debunking commonly held myths about the 1%.

[@Shrey_J]

One more thing I would like to add is doesn't matter what amount of talent you are born with, it's your actions that matter the most. Sure luck will still play a decent role, it if you keep at a problem for years and years then it's definitely your actions which have moved you further towards your goal with luck dropping in as a helping hand at random intervals.

[@kathiemihindukulasuriya1538]

Greed, which at this level is really a form of hypercompetitiveness, drives extreme wealth acquisition. I think most of us don't find money or competition more motivating than meaning and connection. Many who promote themselves as geniuses take credit for others' contributions and project their failures on to others. We could have a better society by spreading opportunities to more people - maximizing their ability to make a contribution instead of obsessing with efficiency, which leads to a dichotomy between the overworked and the underutilized, while introducing unnecessary fragility. It also leads to the squandering of talent, effort and resources to create products like cryptocurrency that have no value other than as forms of legalized gambling. If those resources were put toward human goals, we could improve our lives instead.

[@user-xv5lv3bh3k]

I disagree with the analogy using Twitter, if you look at all Elon Musk companies, it took a decade for them to be successful and they did struggle a lot before. Twitter just seems to be going through the same cycle.

[@jeremybracken3663]

I agree... Too early to tell. Plus we don't know how the synergies of Twitter/X it fits into his grand plan. Plus it's privately held now so we don't actually know it's true financial performance

[@karl-rickbizoza2029]

Now everyone thinks that they know better than him and are making fun of him for how they think twitter is doing right now.

[@factChecker01]

I have heard Musk try to explain something about space travel (I forget what) and I thought that his "explanation" was shockingly muddled.

[@ThunderLips730]

Do you think that's his fault or yours?

[@dogwalker666]

He was clueless about how rockets actually work in atmosphere, And how the air system works on Aircraft.

[@dogwalker666]

@@ThunderLips730 Completely Musks, He isn't an Engineer and know very little about manufacturing or computing. He is a fraud.

[@gnocchidokie]

@@ThunderLips730 Do you think Elon was in there designing the rockets himself? His talent was puttinng a team of capable experts together, not rocket scince

[@ThunderLips730]

@@gnocchidokie that's an interesting point. In that case, anyone should be able to do it. Even you. 😉

[@hanchi8710]

Alexandr wang is the perfect example of a young genius billionaire

[@HasanAhmedhsahmed76]

the initial proposition itself at around 20 seconds is when this is lost: whoever assumes that someone is rich because they are a genius needs a reality check. japan is not the ordered society because japanese are cultured, but because the Yakuza has controlled and kept a check on things for decades. people get rich or talented not merely because of what they themselves are capable of but because of other factors that are systematic and not necessarily part of the value chain

[@FlavaTheRipper]

Would you not call a man who founds companies and bets all his money on himself a genius? To have the guts to risk it all in ventures no one else dares to attempt to succeed in? The only US car manufacturers to not go bankrupt in history are Tesla and ford 100 years before that. As well as SpaceX now being the world leading rocket launch company? launching more to space than the rest of the world combined? One company. Started by a university drop out and teaching himself rocket design through books he found at his public library as he couldnt hire anyone to be a lead rocket designer? Not wanting to risk working at a shit poor rocketry company most likely to fail. I'm not sure you picked the best example of someone to call a non genius.

[@Dimitris_Balf]

The best example is Elon Musk. Maybe the dumbest billionaire ever

[@lordhuck2689]

Why would you say that?

[@effervescentrelief]

Luck has everything to do with it. Granted being in the right time and the right place and having done some prep work ("luck favors the prepared" as they say) is a big major piece to that, but a cursory study of any of the super wealthy will show that almost all had some lucky break that set them on their path.

[@radiologicphysicist1083]

Yeah, Mark Cuban always comes to mind because he’s very open about how luck was an overwhelming factor in getting him billions. When asked if he could duplicate his billions if all of his money was taken, his answer was no…….and he went on to say that if you asked other billionaires they’d likely feel the same way.

[@LucianoCantabruel]

Interesting video, I agree with all, probabilities are always the closest to reality. But most people won't watch it, and if they did, lots of them would not understand it. This is excellent to confirm that what our intuition have told us is actually true. The world is divided between the ones that have the intuition to know this and the ones who don't believe it or don't even care.

[@SonySato81]

Brian Klaas talent is marginally above average, he got hit by a lightning and now he is on Big Think. - There are some dumb myths about genius billionares but (outside simple computer simulations in the real world) talent, inteligence, passion and willingness to work hard correlate probably have a decent correlation at least with higher income, and Zuckerberg, Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos and others alike maybe aren´t all geniuses, but their IQ is probably way above average and their talent and passion for work as well. - Being born wealthy and within a good family also correlates pretty strongly, for sure. And being born within a state which covers basic needs and easy access to higher education as well. - Social reality is multifactorial and ideological people tends to try to focus on only a few factors accepted within their tribe, while downplaying the few factors other competing ideologies care about. - There are a lot of free assumptions about why Elon Musks personality, talent and motivations going on in this video.

[@Swiftzly]

Looks like someone can't accept reality. Lol

[@FrankMichaelSmith]

Elon might be the worst possible example here. He’s proved his genius at 4 different companies

[@mattiastofte7457]

I agree, and his work capacity is insane. This man puts his sweat and blood into his companies, so a lot of his riches is deserved I would say.

[@edgarquintero2876]

He was rich from birth😂😂😂

[@DerekKwan]

And being rich from birth doesn’t help you launch rockets to space, bore tunnels under cities, build electric car empires, create a satellite network of thousands of nodes to give global internet connectivity and revolutionize solar power / battery power.

[@user-pe5yy6eh1g]

Hmm, sure about that, maybe you should do some research on CNN and almost every news source about Elon!!! hate! *and ret dation!!!

[@mrgreen2461]

Fell for that one did you?

[@peterpoloka7942]

The number of people who are of certain height in feet doesn't compare well with percent of total wealth owned by percent of all people. The wealth curve is also a bell curve with an extremely long right tail (as if some people could be 200 feet tall) if comparable units had been used.

[@brucewayne6611]

Nassim Taleb has pointed this out regarding both Musk and Buffet: Solid financial success is largely the result of skills, hard work, and wisdom. But wild success (in the far tail) is more likely to be the result of reckless betting, extreme luck, & the opposite of wisdom: folly. There plenty of people who are as smart and hardworking as Musk and Buffett but no one knows about them because they didn't get lucky.

[@biswajitkamal7756]

Brian is spot on with most of his analysis. Initially I though you had to excel at school and research to become rich. But as it turned out, valedictorian rarely become 'wealthy' although they have a higher chance of leading a 'good' life. The reason? Customers. Customers don't care about your degrees or academic achievement. They care about themselves. They care about what you can do for them.

[@tari8134]

You don't need customers to become wealthy. Entrepreneurship isn't the only path to wealth.

[@biswajitkamal7756]

@@tari8134 Okay, sir. Noted.

[@bubblybull2463]

Just looking at Trump is enough to know it is a laughable myth… 😂

[@Diddancing]

Trump has done a grea job of influencing the public's opinion by slowing shifting the narratives around his personhood depending on the context...speak of economics and his perceived stance against China and Russia based on foreign policy is generally highlighted to be good. In other words, focus on influecing percetion and the narrative takes form - even better when the nature of media reporting is paradoxical thanks to the domineering duopoly of democrat and republican ideologies that seeps into the rest of society while reinforcing cultural expectations. Fundamentally, we care about economics status relative to the established status quo of capitalism and Trump has specifically weaponised this delusion whether he knows it or not. That's why the perception of him being a billionaire persists yet.

[@magicsmoke0]

I agree in part with this video, namely the super rich aren’t the most talented or most intelligent. But they are definitely above average in those areas and more importantly, they are doers who take action and look for opportunities. Most people are too afraid to take risks or too lazy to put in the work to start something big that won’t see a return for months or years.

[@RealDealy]

@5:05 It may be "greed", or it may be "fear" I know for me, I don't care how much money I get, I will always have this little bit of fear that I can go broke again being that I was extremely poor in my early 20's after I thought I was good, which are the years that my brain was becoming mature meaning my character traits were locked in until I am forced to change, which also happened recently, but that fear is still there!

[@cedric-assehliemessing3053]

Well, isn't 'talent' also luck? In fact isn't it luck and randomness all the way?

[@mattstanbridge]

Absolutely. You don't choose what you were born with or even how you use what you were born with. All of our traits are pure chance. Some can be cultivated, but then you still need the ability to be able to work on areas of weakness.

[@JasonLee-pr4sx]

Yes, talent is a type of luck, perhaps one of the most important ones.

[@LOKESHNAIK619]

Kind of, when you see how 'talent' is given chance to build. I would suggest you to read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell for this topic. Its a highly interesting book suggesting how luck plays a part in success.

[@brianharris7243]

Musk was gifted money from his father.

[@jeffsteyn7174]

Then got lucky with PayPal. Where they fired him because he really was not that good. He was allowed to keep the shares though.

[@dogwalker666]

Yeah he hasn't earned anything.

[@daniel_brqlo]

First, there's no evidence for that claim. It could be true, but it's still unknown. Second, it's interesting how you make it seem so easy huh? I'd like to see you inherit some millions of dollars and you turning it into billions making yourself the richest man in the world whilest investing in inovative and previously unexplored fields.

[@daniel_brqlo]

@@jeffsteyn7174 then got lucky again creating a multi billion dollar space travel company from scratch, in a field that no one had explored before, almost losing everything. And then again making an electric car company, also from scratch. What a lucky bastard!

[@dogwalker666]

@@daniel_brqlo Musk isn't the richest man in the world, Far from it, Muskrats will believe anything he claims.

[@dem8568]

Zuckerberg's bellyflop with VR comes to mind...

[@Xonatron]

Your simulation only takes luck into account. Make one that takes perseverance and grit into account and see what happens. It will also map onto what we see. All success is half chance but it’s not pure luck.

[@Xonatron]

I do agree it’s not genius though.

[@SolaceEasy]

Anyone who is truly smart would not have spent a moment on this issue.