Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success. Richard St John is the author of Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and Rich: Spike's Guide to Success. It was filmed in Feb 2005. Here are the scripts: This is really a two-hour presentation I give to high school students, cut down to three minutes. And it all started one day on a plane, on my way to TED, seven years ago. And in the seat next to me was a high school student, a teenager, and she came from a really poor family. And she wanted to make something of her life. And she asked me a simple little question: she said, what leads to success? And I felt really badly, because I couldn't give her a good answer. So I get off the plane and I come to TED. And I think, geez, I'm in a middle of a room of successful people. So why don't I ask them what helped them succeed and pass it on to kids? So here we are, seven years, 500 interviews later and I'm going to tell you what really leads to success. The first thing is passion. Freeman Thomas says, "I'm driven by my passion". TEDsters do it for love, they don't do it for money. Carol Colleta says, "I would pay someone to do what I do". The interesting thing is, if you do it for love, the money comes anyway. Work. Rupert Murdoch said to me, "It's all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun." Did he say fun?! Rupert ...
