Lewis Howes interviews Stanford entrepreneurship educator and author Dr Tina Seelig about her framework for “luck”, which she distinguishes from “fortune”. Seelig defines luck as “success or failure apparently caused by chance” and argues that, once “you pull back the curtain”, people can identify controllable actions that set conditions for opportunities. She outlines a sailing metaphor: build the “ship” (internal preparation), recruit the “crew” (relationships), and hoist the “sail” (daily behaviours that capture opportunity).
Seelig places relationship-building and appreciation at the centre of her approach, describing a LinkedIn “luck makeover” workshop where participants reported concrete benefits after expressing thanks, and she argues “luck seldom sail solo”. She warns against a transactional view of “networking”, instead advocating trust built over years, illustrated by stories of long-term contacts leading to jobs and other opportunities.
The discussion turns to values and ethics: Seelig says unclear values can put people on a “slippery slope”, and she recounts being asked early in her career to misrepresent herself at a conference to “spy”, saying she was caught. Seelig and Howes also discuss risk-taking across domains (social, financial, emotional, political), small experiments (“pritoype” tests), and reframing problems (“frametorming”) before rushing to solutions. Seelig is sceptical of manifestation as a substitute for action, describing it instead as setting intention and then doing the work.
The episode includes mid-roll advertisements for T-Mobile 5G home internet and Airbnb hosting.
Stanford entrepreneurship educator Dr Tina Seelig tells Lewis Howes she was asked in her first job to misrepresent who she worked for at a conference, posing as being “from Stanford” in order to “spy a little bit”. Seelig says she complied, was “caught”, and describes it as a failure to check the request against her core values.
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