The economist and professor has spent a decade researching how unexpected moments can create new opportunities.
(Photo: Mari Zakharav/private [M])
Dusseldorf “We all like to have a plan,” says Christian Busch, but at the same time raises a thought-provoking question: “But how much control do we really have over our lives?”
Busch is an economist and has spent a decade researching how unexpected moments can create new professional and personal opportunities at the London School of Economics (LSE) and New York University (NYU).
The professor is convinced: “Coincidence is often the decisive factor, the force that makes the biggest difference in our lives and our future.”
The bestselling author (“Success Factor Coincidence”) also knows that people often prepare for sudden events, but primarily for the negative ones, not the positive ones. So many people would still look to the left and right when crossing a green traffic light to see if a car might be coming. You wouldn’t expect to find money on the street, though.
“We always perceive the unexpected as an enemy,” says Busch. If you keep your eyes open, you could see the potential in it. The new podcast episode of Handelsblatt Rethink Work is about how this can be achieved.
Busch explains how coincidences are best provoked, for example with the “hook strategy”, and he explains how, as a “secretly introvert”, he uses the hook in a conversation to avoid strenuous small talk – but also why that Impostor syndrome and fear of rejection prevent many people from doing just that.
He also tells how he became the person he is today through “a chain of coincidences” – and what that has to do with rebellion, a car accident and his great love.
More: Listen to the previous episode of Rethink Work here