One of my college professors once said "I am the primitive of my way." It has taken me a long time to realize that people who are currently "successful" are not

One of my college professors once said "I am the primitive of my way." It has taken me a long time to realize that people who are currently "successful" are not necessarily people I should try to follow in the footsteps of. It is better to try to stand on their shoulders and see farther than they could, so to speak. They aren't where they are because everything they do is brilliant. A lot of what they do can be improved upon. Admiring their accomplishments is fine. Trying to understand their success is fine. But assuming that they are unequivocally better than me in every way is problematic and simply not true. I wish I had gotten the memo sooner that other people in positions of influence or whatever don't necessarily know more than me or have better answers than I have. It is a lot more complicated than that.