to run the Boston Marathon and failing
over and over again to qualify for
Boston is what taught me how incredibly
lucky I am the Boston Marathon is the
oldest and most revered marathon in the
world it’s also one of the hardest to
get into in order to qualify for Boston
you have to run another marathon in a
really fast time tens of thousands of
people try to do it every year I failed
to qualify for Boston in my first 19
marathons sometimes missing my time by
as little as thirty Seconds when I
finally qualified in my twentieth
marathon I made it by the slimmest of
margins only 22 seconds that’s half a
second for every kilometer that I ran
that day now as somebody who had always
been the smallest kid in my class and
had been picked last for every sports
team it felt like a huge accomplishment
and I worked really hard to achieve that
goal running Boston was a dream come
true
I’m actually pretty emotional in this
finish line photo after the race but the
greatest benefit of the whole experience
for me was all those times that I came
up short that’s what made me think about
how luck has shaped my life now there’s
a saying in running that if you want to
go fast the very first thing that you
have to do is choose the right parents
genetics play a big part in it
as they do in so many things in life so
I happen to be lucky enough that I was
just fast enough to qualify on in on a
good day in in a marathon I could just
make it over the the under the time that
I need it but you have to be lucky
enough to be running a marathon in the
first place
amateur long-distance running is very
much a first world phenomenon you have
to be born in a certain time and place
to train for a marathon 99% of the
people who have ever lived are so
exhausted by life they would never think
of going to the gym or going for a run
to burn off extra calories there weren’t
people signing up for marathons by the
tens of thousands during the Great
Depression running has taught me that
the single greatest factor in my life
has not been hard work it has been luck
and most of that good fortune was given
to me before I was even born this is a
picture from 1927 in fact it’s from 91
years ago this month this is a couple
getting married in Paris it’s an
incredible love story between a Chinese
man and a French woman I don’t have to
tell you how unlikely it is for these
two people to be marrying each other in
Paris or any other place in the world at
that time what makes the story even more
unlikely is the fact that the man in
this picture was born on an island off
the coast of Africa in 1902 the fact
that he’s even in Paris arises out of
the fact that his parents made the
unusual decision to have him baptized as
a Catholic and sent him to French
schools even though they were neither
French nor Catholic they didn’t do that
for any of their other eight kids just
him after they got married this couple
moved to China and the woman in the
picture said we were young we were in
love
and we thought it would be a great
adventure and it was a great adventure
but it lasted a lot longer than they
expected they thought they might go
there for about five years they ended up
staying for twenty because of the Second
World War and the Communist revolution
when they left they took only the
suitcases in their hands left everything
else behind and they moved to Canada and
I’m really lucky that they did because
these are my grandparents so as you can
see it’s incredibly lucky that I was
even born in the first place
my grandfather had to move from Africa
to France meet my grandmother get
married moved to China then they moved
to Canada with my mother where she met
my father who was also an immigrant to
this country now have you ever asked
yourself if you could live life over
again would you do it would you go
through all of this again I have to tell
you I would have to think long and hard
about going through my high school years
again remember I was the shortest kid in
my class so when we asked ourselves that
question and consider the answer we tend
to assume that we get to live the same
life over again or something very
similar maybe a few circumstances we’d
be different but by and large it would
be kind of what we have today when the
odds against that are actually quite
high just the chances of being born in
Canada as I was are about one in 400 so
think about that for a second there are
about 400 people in this room tonight if
all of us were to be born again tomorrow
only one of us and I think it’s I think
it’s that guy right over there would be
born in Canada what if I’d been born in
China or in Africa like my ancestors or
like so many millions of other people
what if some of the other circumstances
of my birth had been different I have a
mixed ethnic background but I was born
with a white appearance and a Brit
last name what if that hadn’t been the
case what if I had a Chinese last name
what if I had a Chinese appearance then
chances are I probably wouldn’t have
ended up being a talk-show host
or an entrepreneur it’s not impossible
but at the time I was born it would have
made it very unlikely luck is much more
than hard work what has made a big
difference in my life it’s really what
has put me over the top in both my
Boston qualifying marathon and in life
this is something that warren buffett
calls the ovarian lottery i won the
lottery
the day that I was born I didn’t get
handed a check for a million dollars but
I was given an opportunity that was
worth at least that much now in a
marathon everybody starts at the same
time when the gun goes off we all have
an equal chance of running a good race
and getting to the finish line
in fact in big races like this one or
the Boston Marathon they give you a
little chip that you can put on your
shoe so that if you do start way back
from the start line because there are so
many people in front of you they don’t
start counting your time until you
actually cross the start line that way
it’s fair for everybody but life isn’t
like that if you don’t start at the path
at the front of the pack you don’t get a
computer chip that levels the playing
field there are so many ways that luck
creates advantages and disadvantages
from the day we are born if you aren’t
born in Canada or another Western
country then you start farther back if
you’re a visible minority you start
farther back if your parents are poor
you start farther back if you have a
physical disability or you develop a
mental illness then you start farther
back and in so many places in the world
if you’re a girl you start
they’re back and again there’s no
computer chip that evens everything out
you carry that disadvantage for your
entire life even right here in Canada
there are so many ways that you can be
born into advantage or disadvantage
right here in Ottawa one in four
children start grade one without the
basic tools that they need to be
successful only 43 percent of people
with disabilities participate in the
workforce more than half of the
indigenous children in our community
live in poverty and women as you know
typically make 26 percent less than men
now there are dozens and dozens of data
points that I could share with you that
would show that the odds of doing well
aren’t the same for everyone
now when the winner of the race comes
from the front of the pack that person
can say I trained hard I worked hard for
this
I ran well and that would be true but
that person would have a huge advantage
over somebody starting at the back of
the pack in everyday life that advantage
often plays a much greater role than we
think it does and we pay very little
attention to it now every once in a
while
the winner will come from the back of
the pack somebody in the back of the
pack will have an amazing race against
all odds we love those stories they
inspire us but in a way they also
mislead us into thinking that that means
the race is fair when it’s not those are
the exceptions not the rule the fact is
thousands and thousands of people who
start life at the back of the pack never
even have a chance
we put way too much emphasis on hard
work and we fail to recognize the role
of the ovarian Lottery that put so many
people including me at the front of the
pack in life in so many ways you can’t
win unless you start with a lot of luck
now two years ago in northern Alberta
the wildfires struck and Canadians rose
to the occasion donating millions of
dollars to the relief effort we are very
good at recognizing the role that
fortune plays in these circumstances we
can relate to these circumstances and so
we respond it’s the same whenever some
other crisis arises on social media or
in our personal lives somebody is the
victim of a natural disaster someone
loses their job or is diagnosed with
cancer or another devastating illness we
respond in those occasions because we
can relate to it and we’re very good at
that and that’s great but we aren’t
necessarily so good at responding to the
persistent problems in our society that
keeps so many people at the back of the
pack you know I work in the news
business it’s very easy to get people’s
attention over a sudden and immediate
crisis it’s a lot harder to mobilize
them over persistent problems in society
things like poverty racism and
inequality we all live in bubbles it’s
very easy to fall into the trap of
firstworldproblems let me give you just
one example of that three weeks ago I
was preparing for this talk and I was
really struggling with what I was going
to say I was putting a lot of time into
the speech that I was going to give
today don’t tell my bosses this but I
probably spend more time on this
15-minute talk than I do on a month’s
worth of talk shows okay and I actually
wrote an email to my wife my wonderful
patient wife who has indulged my
marathon running and has heard me
deliver this speech about ten times now
and in that email I wrote that this TEDx
experience was sucking the life out of
me
so I was complaining about having to
give a TEDx talk about how lucky I am so
why is it so important that we redesign
our thinking and recognize the role of
luck in our lives first of all it
changes our perspective when you see the
world through the lens of Merit
it makes us possessive and protective if
I earned it I should get to keep it it
makes us think in terms of scarcity
rather than abundance
it makes us talk about building walls to
keep other people out when you see the
world in terms of luck through the lens
of luck
it makes us humble kind generous it
makes us want to share our good fortune
to spread it around it makes us think
about opening doors to other people the
other reason is that it’s long overdue
with all the ingenuity with all the
genius the intelligence we have in our
time the innovation it still strikes me
as amazing that we have not fixed the
imbalances and inequities in our world
that arise almost entirely out of where
you were born who your parents are the
color of your skin and your gender why
for example in a community like Ottawa
I’ve never been able to figure this out
why do we still need in a city as
prosperous as ours food banks and
homeless shelters think about it this
way with all the ingenuity we have in
our time we have the power to change so
many things in the next 20 or 30 years
what would you rather see by the year
2050 a human being walking on the planet
Mars or solutions to some of the chronic
problems right here on earth that cause
so many people to live their entire
lives at a disadvantage there are three
reasons that I think we should all
consider helping people who
are less fortunate than us the first
reason is that it’s simply fair it’s the
right thing to do
the second is that it’s smart there’s an
extraordinary cost to everyone not
having an equal opportunity it’s a cost
that our entire society bears it’s a
practical cost and an opportunity cost
this is not a zero-sum game we don’t
lose if other people have a better
chance of winning in fact we all win
think about what could happen in the
next 20 or 30 years if everybody could
contribute to their full potential the
third reason is I think it will make you
happy my life is already so amazing
I could only incrementally improve it
from this point forward all my dreams
have come true I got to run the Boston
Marathon I’m actually doing it again
next month but I have the capacity to
change someone else’s life what would
bring you more joy and satisfaction
marginally improving your own life at
the front of the pack or reaching back
and helping to eliminate some of those
disadvantages that keep someone else at
the back what if we could redesign our
world to eliminate the role of luck in
so many people’s lives you could mentor
somebody you could give them
opportunities you could strive to
overcome the systemic and unconscious
bias that holds so many people back you
could think about investing your
philanthropic dollars in solutions to
long-term chronic problems that help the
persistently unlucky in addition to
responding to the immediate crises that
arise from time to time on May 27th the
largest marathon in Canada is going to
happen right here in Ottawa at Ottawa
race weekend about 5,000 runners will
participate
and I intend to be one of them but this
time I’m not going to start at the front
of the pack I’m gonna wait until three
hours after the gun goes off and I’m
gonna run my marathon no amount of hard
work or training will produce a fast
time for me in this marathon I’m not
going to qualify for Boston this time
around now think about what it’s like
when you run a marathon thousands of
people are cheering you on along the
course people are holding up signs some
very clever ones sometimes encouraging
you there are volunteers giving you
water helping you along the way that’s
what life is like at the front of the
pack now think about what it’s gonna be
like when I run my marathon parts of the
route are probably already gonna be
closed I’m gonna be dodging cars and
other traffic the water stations will
probably be closed most of the
spectators will have gone home when you
start life at the back of the pack you
get a lot less help and support often
you run alone my goal is to draw
attention to the fact that so many
people begin life at a disadvantage
compared to the rest of us I’m hoping
that my marathon and this talk will
inspire other people maybe even you to
imagine a world where luck is irrelevant
and all the children in the future can
start life with the same opportunity
thank you
[Applause] [Music]