One of my favorite lessons from Wharton has less to do with business and everything to do with people and how they perceive themselves.
Two maggots are sitting on the rear bumper of a garbage truck when its wheels strike a pothole, hurtling the maggots into the air. One falls into the pothole, the other lands on the street just a few feet away. This second maggot crawls on the hot pavement, and being a maggot it takes him hours to reach the edge of the pothole. Dehydrated, withered, and weary, the second maggot looks into the pothole and sees his friend, plump and happy eating the garbage that surrounds him. Amazed, the second maggot calls down, “Look at you, so big and healthy, and me up here practically dead. How did you do it?” His friend looks up, smiles and with all sincerity answers, ”Brains and personality, my friend, brains and personality!”
The course wherein this parable served as introduction was international finance. The lesson referred to advantages of certain nations over others due to resources and prior events. It pertains to individual luck – of inheritance and other facets unrelated to merit – even more poignantly.