Ancient Views on the Psychological Laws of Success, Modern Research on the Psychological Characteristics of Successful Individuals, and Methods of Selecting Potentially Successful Company Founders in the Slovenian Context

My observations from practice led me early on to the idea that there exist universal psychological laws of success in life, business, the economy, and politics. That there are certain universal rules of the game that increase an individual’s potential for success and determine their long-term breakthrough and persistence at the top. Rules of the game and psychological laws of exceptional success that matter regardless of how “players change and stages shift” (Aurelius, 2002), to quote the thought of an ancient emperor. I came to the idea that I could find more grounds to believe my hypothesis if I identified parallels between ancient and East Asian philosophical views on leadership, professional insights, and the practical observations of current politicians and business leaders in the Republic of Slovenia. At the same time, such a study would also provide a deeper insight into what these psychological laws of success are—universal across different spaces, times, and contexts—and could serve as a foundation for later developing models for selecting leaders with potential for long-term success.

A good leader, according to the reflections of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (2002), is someone who realizes that it is pointless to deal with things beyond one’s control. Someone who knows that one will reap what one has sown. The Roman emperor and Stoic writes in his Meditations (2002) about the importance of ethical service and service to others, emphasizing the significance of living authentically, in accordance with one’s true nature—which must be continuously cultivated and developed. He also writes about the importance of adapting to reality and the context of situations, about self-control over emotions and reactions, perseverance, and acting within the broader framework of a long-term perspective and personal vision. At the end of the Meditations (2002), he highlights that humans are primarily social beings and that we must never forget we are here to act within a community and give back to the society of which we are a part. The idea that implicitly arises from reading ancient literature is undoubtedly that there exist universal psychological traits among individuals who succeed across different contexts, eras, time frames, situations, and societies.

The Vedas (Easwaran, 2007) state that success is the result of right actions in this or previous lives. According to these ancient sacred scriptures, fortune follows those who live in harmony with the principles of nonviolence, truthfulness, purity, and righteous actions directed toward the well-being of oneself and others. The “favorites of fate” can be recognized by the fact that life bestows upon them confidence, optimism, willpower, beauty, material and spiritual abundance, easy and rapid spiritual development, and the ability to manifest their desires, goals, and dreams in life. Such a person becomes, either by birth or through self-construction (depending on the source of their pact with life and destiny), a “winner” in business and life—someone whom “fortune accompanies” wherever they go. In accordance with the Vedas (Easwaran, 2007), Fortuna loves those who live in harmony with nature and the essence of the universe, those who travel ever closer to it and cultivate within themselves an ever-greater absorptive capacity for intuition and the blessings of life. This universal energy, which they raise within themselves, blesses and energizes all their actions in this world, infusing their projects with “luck” and synchronicity with the cosmos: they intuitively sense in advance what certain situations will demand of them, and their inner intuition guides them toward success.

Daft et al. (2020) emphasize that the key qualities of a good leader can be grouped into three categories: technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills. They highlight that a good leader is distinguished by the ability to develop a vision, inspire and motivate employees, and make effective decisions across various contexts and situations. According to modern scholarship, flexibility, communication skills, and the ability to build trust, cooperation, maintain and create lasting alliances, and good relationships with partners and subordinates through high levels of emotional intelligence are crucial for a leader (Daft et al., 2020). Equally important are a high level of contextual and self-awareness, an understanding of organizational culture and the broader social environment in which one operates, the promotion of innovation, and the assumption of responsibility for one’s own mistakes, successes, and failures. The platform CultureAmp (n.d.) expanded Google’s list of eight key factors—derived from interviews with managers of above-average-performing teams—based on client feedback, developing a set of eleven key qualities of a good manager: showing care, regular coaching, effective and transparent communication, talent development, emotional resilience, fair and equal treatment of all employees, an inclination to foster innovation, overall managerial effectiveness, results orientation, technical skills, a clear vision, and the ability to set goals effectively.

I also happened to come into contact with selection processes for potential company founders in whom Slovenian millionaires would invest their capital, as well as data on the psychological traits they perceive as crucial for success or seek in their selection processes. The co-founders of these funds stated that the process is quite unstandardized and that they would like it to be more standardized, structured, automated, and faster—something that would help them more quickly, reliably, and validly discern the psychological traits to pay attention to, and that define an individual with the potential to rise to the top and remain there. At the same time, they wish for a process that would give them better insight into the substance of their decision and the strengths and weaknesses of the selected individual. The practical implications of this master’s thesis could therefore also apply to the development of selection procedures for potentially successful company founders of our time, enabling fewer type I and type II errors for investors themselves and providing deeper insight into the substance of their decisions.