What kind of kids do you think will be the most successful in the long run?

People who fucked around in high school and early college and went to a mediocre state school to graduate without debt and still don't know what they want to do with lives. Ahem.. here's to being hopeful.

Those who have the most connected families would be the best guess.

the insecure ones.

I also agree with the part about failing. We all fail at some point, either personally, professionally or both. The earlier that happens, and thus we can learn our proverbial lessons, then the more time one has to become successful as a wiser person.

Those who have accumulated assets early in life. The power of compounding is a strong force.

Those who are well endowed. I mean, in their pants.

Success is extremely relative.

How to be successful:

• Work hard / hustle to allow yourself to be given opportunities to succeed.
• When opportunity arises be aware and savvy enough to make the best of said opportunity
• Rinse / repeat

My best friends dad is the CFO of a F50 company. He has always said that to be very successful you have to have 2/3 following traits-extremely bright, very likeable and hard working. Those kids with all three are almost unstoppable.

Hard-working, motivated, and politically-savy

I think that we focus a lot on the outliers, i.e. the CEOs of F500 companies and those few entrepreneurs that reach stratospheric success. But realistically, most of the people who we knew from high school that will become successful will be "ordinary" (ex. secure $250k-$1m annual salaries by their mid-late 30s). And if I were to predict those in my high school who are most likely to be successful, I think the top three traits are:

1) Went on to complete college- Yes, some famous entrepreneurs never finished, but frankly, they're in the minority. Completing college requires some degree of intellectual capacity and drive. This is probably the key indicator in most cases--for most people, the lack of a degree severely limits your opportunities. And yes, the engineering or accounting major is more likely to attain financial success than the music or art history major.

2) Likable disposition- Be careful to differentiate between "disposition" and "personality." I think that you can improve your personality in college to become more likable; but dispositions are more innate and difficult to change. Those who have always been bitter, excessively-sassy, cynical, overtly "fake", or otherwise unlikable face some serious headwinds in college networking and in employment interviews. That said, they can't just be blithely likable, there needs to be some savvy mixed in there too.

3) Supportive families/friends/significant others: Those from "good families" will naturally tend to have more opportunities, better connections, financial support, and proper guidance. But even in the absence of a supportive family, those who surround themselves with like-minded high-achieving friends or have a significant other who "gets it" will be better-positioned than those who associate with less-than-ideal individuals.

Usually the ones from affluent/supportive families or the trouble makers that aren't in prison.

Kids from affluent/supportive families becoming successful was explained great by the poster above.

Trouble makers usually are the ones that are not afraid to to take the big risk in their late teens early twenties.

in general? the WASPs, like many of the people at top universities with mad connections however, many hardworking poor kids can make it too

definitely agree with the OP about the poor (smart) kids who've hustled all their lives. massive chips on their shoulders and no entitlement issues. as long as they can fit in culturally, those kids will thrive anywhere and everywhere.

Lot of good posts on here, I tend to agree with Jake Flash. Though to the OP's original question, I would say a big part of it is just raw intellectual power and the desire to turn it on. I know of a few people who were bums through high school and college but were blessed with high IQ's. One of them became extremely determined when he was in his mid 20's and is now ridiculously successful in his early 30's. There is no way he could have done what he has done without having an IQ north of 130. Similar to pro athletes who don't start playing their sport until their senior year high school. It doesn't matter for some how far they are behind because they can make it up with their god given ability. Of course that alone won't cut it. They do have to be personable as well.

interesting write up. would like to hear some insight from more seasoned folks

Determination & the will to succeed under any costs, passion & love for what you intend to do in life and being likable are most important to succeed in life.

Confidence and a gun.

Smarts and work ethic are way overrated; I learned this the hard way. That is not to say that they are useless. To the contrary, they are very useful when one has a very specific, life changing task to achieve. This is when one puts one's nose to the grindstone and carries on.

//www.youtube.com/embed/99KChczCPpg

The two most important things are: #1 Like ability and networking skills to get into the right place at the right time. #2 The will to act on opportunities and the intelligence to execute (See above).

For #1: Read any of the @"CompBanker” posts on the topic to get an idea of how it works.

Number 2 describes me perfectly. Anyone want to give me a rundown on what they think of a guy like me from a recruitment perspective?

1:55 to 2:05 (but you gotta watch from the beginning to get his reference)

//www.youtube.com/embed/Wd4XSY6xZ20