We analyzed the autobiographies of 55 "management laureates" to learn how their life experiences influenced their careers and intellectual contributions. Our results indicate the probability of becoming a management laureate is enhanced by (a) receiving a doctoral degree from a prestigious university under the tutelage of an accomplished scholar; (b) seeking out and affiliating with a hot group at the beginning of one's career; (c) devoting a majority of one's energy to research; and (d) pursuing a research agenda with long-term implications, as reputations are rarely established early in one's career.
