325: Harvard Business Review Writer: The Goal You Just Set Only Has a 34% Chance of Success | Kyle Austin Young
Kyle Austin Young, award-winning strategy consultant and author of Success Is a Numbers Game, shares why most people dramatically overestimate their odds of achieving the goals they set. In this episode, host Damon Lembi and Kyle explore his probability hacking framework—a practical system for mapping what has to go right, identifying hidden risks, and increasing the likelihood of success. Drawing from a decade of advising leaders and organizations, Kyle explains why positive thinking alone can actually lower your odds, how to spot the “averaging trap,” and what to salvage when a goal falls apart.
Read the full breakdown of Kyle Austin Young’s episode on Learnit.
Key Leadership Lessons from Kyle Austin Young’s Journey:
Calculate the Real Odds Behind Your Goals – Learn how to break a goal into the conditions that must go right so you can see where success is most vulnerable.
Stop Averaging Away the Risk – Discover why looking at averages can hide the one weak link that causes an otherwise strong plan to fail.
Use Failure as Data – Understand how to salvage what worked, learn from what didn’t, and repurpose setbacks into a stronger next attempt.
Connect with Kyle Austin Young:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/760298/success-is-a-numbers-game-by-kyle-austin-young/
The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision by Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna
Kyle Austin Young is an award-winning strategy consultant for leaders and teams in a wide range of fields. At the core of his methodology is a powerful system for accomplishing big, meaningful goals that focuses on understanding and changing your odds of success. The nicest compliment Kyle has ever received happened unexpectedly when the phone rang during dinner. The biotech CEO on the other end was brief. “I just felt like I should tell you that you’re the first consultant we’ve ever worked with who did exactly what he said he was gonna do.” That was nearly a decade ago, and it has set the tone for everything since.
Explore more episodes of the Learn-It-All Podcast™ on Learnit.com to gain leadership insights from top experts.
Learn more about how Learnit helps organizations and follow the Learn-It-All™ podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.