In The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success, former physicist and current network scientist Albert-László Barabási describes these universal laws of success:
THE FIRST LAW
Performance drives success, but when performance can’t be measured, networks drive success.
THE SECOND LAW
Performance is bounded, but success is unbounded.
THE THIRD LAW
Previous success × fitness = future success.
THE FOURTH LAW
While team success requires diversity and balance, a single individual will receive credit for the group’s achievements.
THE FIFTH LAW
With persistence success can come at any time.
He applied rigorous mathematics to the question of what it takes to be considered “successful”, but is he right? Let’s consider his assertions against one of most indisputably successful people of the last fifty years: Michael Jordan.
Perhaps we should begin by asking what it means to be successful in the first place.