I was born into a working-class, immigrant family. I lost my dad when I was 13. We had little money and I had no network or roadmap for success, and no idea how to navigate the professional world.

I was born into a family that believed in aspiration and hard work. I had the fortune to be born in a stable democracy where education was provided for free and employment was relatively easy to come by.

Both of these stories are true. Which one should I believe in?

Often, the temptation is to focus on the adversity of our lives, the challenges we had to overcome to succeed. We love a rags to riches story, especially if it’s our own.

Yet this can also create a sense of exceptionalism. A belief in our own specialness that overlooks the support we had in our lives, and the role that we can play in supporting others.

To paraphrase Brian Koppelman: “White, male, American… I was born on the ninety-yard line.”

What advantages, luck and privileges got you to where you are today?