I was not implying cronyism (alone). Human lives are deeply affected by relationships - personal, business, or lack of. For example, what if Jobs had not known

I was not implying cronyism (alone). Human lives are deeply affected by relationships - personal, business, or lack of. For example, what if Jobs had not known Woz? What if Bill Gate's family wasn't super established in the way it was? What if Softdisk had not employed the crew that became Id software? Etc. This does not mean an individual contributor can't come up with something groundbreaking locked away in some closet. But generally, that is million to one even in a population of over achiever engineers.