Success Isn't About Hard Work or Luck—It's About Who You Know
Your Key to Success Isn't More Luck or Hard Work
A new analysis of 21 billion Facebook friendships reveals that economic connectedness—having friends who earn more than you—is the strongest predictor of upward mobility, outweighing school quality and poverty rates. The effect is causal: a 2022 LinkedIn experiment showed that weak ties boost job mobility. The data suggests we've been optimizing the wrong lever.
The people who move your career and your income are usually not your closest contacts or your longest hours.