What does it take?
Becoming successful in the UK today
WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
Becoming successful in the UK today
WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
Becoming successful in the UK today
What is the secret to success?
When it comes to secrets, the ones about success are notoriously poorly kept. The internet is flooded with an abundance of listicles, books, TED Talks and more that claim to have discovered the ultimate formula for achieving success.
Yet whether it is getting up at 5am, spending 10,000 hours doing the same thing, or indefatigable self-belief, many of the proposed solutions fall into a few big categories. Frequently, individuals take a meritocratic and personalised view believing that their hard work, drive and ambition, propel them to succeed. Others suggest a more outward-looking approach with treating other people well engendering our own success. Somewhat less prevalent is the idea that our success might be down to structural factors like our family background, networks, or inherited wealth. Few (if any) entertain the notion that it might be mostly a matter of luck.
The UK public view echoes the mainstream perspective found online: meritocracy matters. Three-quarters (77%) see hard work as being essential or very important to getting ahead in life, and around two-thirds credit an individual’s skills and talents, education and ambition as essential or very important factors.
They are far less likely to see structural factors over which people have less control as being essential for getting ahead in life. Half (46%) say it is about “knowing the right people” and around a quarter feel the same about their parents’ educational levels or familial wealth. The idea that luck is essential or very important to getting ahead in the UK is least popular, with just a fifth attributing a large role for chance here.
There is significant resistance to the idea that family wealth plays a crucial role in achieving success, with almost half (46%) expressing that it is either not very important or not important at all.
However, the most important factor for success overall is treating other people well – seen as essential or very important by over eight in ten of the UK public. These findings depict a highly pro-social and meritocratic perspective of what it takes to get ahead: be kind to others, work hard and you will be rewarded.
“Whether it is getting up at 5am, spending 10,000 hours doing the same thing, or indefatigable self-belief, many of the proposed solutions fall into a few big categories.”
However, there are indications that this consensus is less stable that initially perceived. Firstly, the importance of connections appears to have grown over time. When a similar version of this question debuted on the British Social Attitudes survey in 1987 the results were broadly similar despite the different methodologies, with education and ambition being the most essential attributes and family background and wealth being less so. But the proportion who see “knowing the right people” as being essential or very important has slowly risen, from four in ten 36 years ago, to almost half today.
“Those who see themselves as less successful attribute a significantly larger role to external circumstances.”
Secondly, significant disparities appear when we look at the perspectives of people who consider themselves more (and less) successful. While there is agreement at the surface level that treating others kindly and working hard are crucial, those who have achieved higher levels of success are more likely to select merit-based factors as being key to getting ahead. For instance, over 80% of those who rate their own success highest (nine-ten out of ten) emphasise the importance of hard work, and three-quarters mention their skills and talents compared to the overall rate of 64%.
Those who see themselves as less successful attribute a significantly larger role to external circumstances. This is especially true for connections – just a third of highly successful self-rated people say “knowing the right people” is essential or very important to getting ahead, compared with two-thirds of those who consider themselves less successful (rating their success as zero to four out of ten). This latter group is also four times more likely than the former to attribute family wealth as a key factor to getting ahead in life.
What does it mean?
Public views on the secrets of success echo the meritocratic narrative that dominates in wider society: getting ahead in the UK is a product of hard work, education and concern for others’ wellbeing, with family background playing at best a supporting role. Few see (or admit) that luck might be an important determinant of success.
“Lived experience of success plays a fundamental role in shaping our expectations.”
But as we explore in other chapters of this report, lived experience of success plays a fundamental role in shaping our expectations. This is especially true when we consider the powerful geography of success in the UK: Londoners and southerners see fewer obstacles than those in the north (and the north-east specifically). However, people are less likely to credit their success (or lack of it) to their circumstances. It is unsurprising that more successful people see their own hard work and positivity as the cause, while those who feel left behind prefer to blame their circumstances rather than their actions.
The implications for politicians, brands and government are clear: recognition that people want to feel they are in control of their destinies is fundamental. Those who feel more successful will see their actions as the reason for their advancement and will not welcome this being brought into question. And while those who feel less successful want to improve their lot, they will want to feel they have done so through their own efforts, rather than the action of others or society.
