A couple of thoughts: Hard work != smart work. Given a group of people with a common field of expertise, some of them will seem to be more efficient and natura

A couple of thoughts: Hard work != smart work. Given a group of people with a common field of expertise, some of them will seem to be more efficient and naturally better decision makers than the average expert in the group. In some cases this may be fluff, but still believable enough to climb the corporate ladder. In order to achieve certain goals, nurture may be as important as nature. An engineer in a rich country doesn't have to be especially brilliant to outperform a brilliant engineer who lives in a developing country in terms of wealth and quality of life. If you are experienced and have decent social skills, you can move to a less developed country and "reach the top" with relative ease. The top will of course be lower than in your country, but it will still be the top for the local observer.