Glenn Llopis - Earning Serendipity: 4 Skills for Creating and Sustaining Good Fortune in Your Work 

SKILLS for CREATING and SUSTAINING
GOOD FORTUNE in YOUR WORK

GLENN LLOPIS

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press
Austin, TX
www.greenleafbookgroup.com

Copyright 2009 Glenn Llopis Group, LLC

All rights reserved under all copyright conventions.

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Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group LLC

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)
Llopis, Glenn.
Earning serendipity : four skills for creating and sustaining good fortune in
your work / Glenn Llopis. -- 1st ed.
p.; cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60832-153-7
ISBN-10: 1-60832-153-3
1. Success in business. 2. Success--Life skills guides. 3. Self-actualization
(Psychology) 4. Serendipity. I. Title.

HF5386 .L56 2009

650.1 2008941988

Part of the Tree Neutral program, which offsets the number of
trees consumed in the production and printing of this book by taking
proactive steps, such as planting trees in direct proportion to the
number of trees used: www.treeneutral.com

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

09 10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

The words of this book began to be written on October 5, 1966. This is the day I was born into your arms. Since that day, you have always guided me rightly. You gave me a path and the tools to understand the complexities of life. The results were discoveries of hope, inspiration, and belief in myself. You taught me to trust my brand and to share it with others (with no scorecard attached). You gave life and meaning to my immigrant perspective. You wired me to not fear but rather seek my deepest desires. You taught me how to challenge the status quo responsibly for the betterment of all. You gave me the eyes to navigate the obstacles and with each, discover new adventures. Your teachings made me realize that business is a civic responsibility, that enterprise is about the advancement of people not brands, and that brands serve as identifiers and society builders. With all you have taught me, I seek to make these things so.

Dad, thank you for enlightening me with your soul, your wisdom, and your treasured discoveries. With your permission and in your honor, the education that transpired from our indescribable relationship will now be shared responsibly with society. Your lessons have prepared me to lead in a world of uncertainty and to reshape it. They taught me to discover my own purpose and develop a methodology to propel innovation in business and in everyday life. As such, in your name, I shall now embark upon my own journey: to lead a movement to propel innovation the world over. You trained me to inspire, mentor, and teach others. This is what I set off to do for the rest of my life, but the task at hand demands more than just me. As you have taught me, my journey is a quest to meet and discover people who seek responsible innovation and desire the discipline to see, sow, grow, and share the harvest of their good fortune. I call these people serendipiters, and it is now my duty to help unite business and society to build a community of serendipiters that stands for a common language and breeds global innovation. I can only hope that the momentum of my earned serendipity will connect me with influential leaders in business, government, and society who will help me propel the awareness and creation of this serendipiters community. But dont worry, Dad, I will forever pass on, for generations to come, your lessons and inherent wisdom. You are the ultimate serendipiter!

As I close this dedication to you, I will share your favorite Spanish proverb because I promised you that this book would convey its message hidden within each chapter.

El vivo vive del bobo y el bobo de su trabajo.The wise one lives off the fool and the fool lives off his job.

Dad, you are my hero and guiding light. I will continue to serve as your proud son, a devoted husband and father, and a highly responsible citizen of society. Thank you for teaching me how to live wisely and allow others to join me. With all of my love, Glenn.

Those that earn serendipity
see what others dont,
do what others wont,
and keep pushing when prudence says quit.

Chapter 1 Broadened Observation:
Seeing with Circular Vision

Chapter 2 Extensive Innovation:
Sowing Entrepreneurial Seeds

Chapter 3 Strategic Focus:
Growing Seeds of Greatest Potential

Chapter 4 Generous Purpose:
Sharing the Harvest

We have skipped two chapters, for the one who learns to create and sustain a momentum of good fortune possesses the power to leap ahead.

You may not know it until you read this book, but you have just earned serendipity. You bought this book.

The concept of earning serendipity, on its surface, seems internally inconsistent. How can one earn luck? But as Glenn explains, serendipity is not pure luck.

Prior to becoming a professor, I spent eighteen years as a Wall Street investment banker, followed by seven years running a major homeless agency in Los Angeles. During my career, I have met many successfuland unsuccessfulpeople. And at the surface, the successful ones often appear luckier than those who didnt achieve success. (You will note that I dont use wealthy and poor herethose words are not always the best measures of success.)

But as I learned more about both groups, I came to understand that what looked like pure serendipity was actually the result of a better understanding of how the world worked. The successful folks seemed to be able to see things and put things together in a different manner. It appeared as though they had some secreta method of becoming lucky. However, it wasnt until I met Glenn and he explained his methodology that I realized that what truly successful people knew was how to earn that serendipity.

When I first met Glenn, I knew within a few minutes that he was someone who not only had achieved success but also understood the methodology of earning it. The better I got to know Glenn, the more I was convinced that he belonged to a rare breed. Glenn was able to clearly articulate how what appeared serendipitous was actually the result of a different way of viewing the world and therefore of living in it. He was able to map out the steps, explain the process, and communicate clearly. But most amazing, he was willing and eager to share his methods.

How can that be? I asked Glenn. Many of those who appeared successful on the surface viewed the world as a zero-sum gamein order for me to win, you have to lose. Why would Glenn, an obviously successful person, be willing to let others in on his secrets? The answer, he explained, was that sharing his harvest was actually one of the steps to achieving success in the first place! Lucky us!